BARANGAY POLLS | Putting off barangay polls is an attack to grassroots democracy

BARANGAY POLLS | Putting off barangay polls is an attack to grassroots democracy – election watchdog

May 27, 2022 , 03:15 PM

By Beatrice Puente

(May 27, 2022) – Lawmakers should not pursue any proposal to postpone the village and youth council elections later this year for it would deprive voters of the chance to elect a new set of leaders in local communities, an election watchdog said on Friday.

The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) said the postponement would be unfair to voters since the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections have already been postponed several times. The elections are scheduled for December 5.

“We believe that the (barangay and SK elections) have long been overdue,” wrote LENTE in a statement.

“We see the further postponement of the barangay and SK elections as an attack against grassroots democracy and community power.”

Last week, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, poised to be the next House Speaker, floated the idea of postponing the said elections to save enough funds for the country’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Romualdez, a cousin of president-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, said the government can save over P8 billion if the said polls will be moved to a later date. He noted this can help fund a stimulus bill, named after his cousin’s initials BBM, which they plan to file as a priority measure in the 19th Congress.

But LENTE said the government can provide equal weight to both the pandemic response and the barangay elections.

“This delay contravenes the standard of periodic elections as provided in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although pandemic response should be a top priority, this endeavor should not have collided with the citizen’s basic right to elect barangay and SK leaders,” argued LENTE.

Some lawmakers have suggested extending the term of barangay officials by two more years, setting the next elections in 2024. But interior undersecretary Martin Dino recommended limiting the postponement to six months to give the poll body enough time to prepare for the elections.

Under Republic Act 11462, barangay officials are supposed to stay in office for only three years but many of them have already exceeded their supposed terms because of the repeated postponements. Four years have already passed since the last barangay and SK elections were conducted in the country.

In 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte postponed the election in May 2020. If the barangay election will push through, the newly elected officials will begin their terms of office on January 1, 2023, as the triennial polls will be held every first Monday of December.

LENTE emphasized that the barangay and SK elections would be crucial in allowing citizens to directly participate in local governance, noting how difficult it is for people to enter politics if they don’t have the machinery.

“(The barangay and SK elections) are the best testament that citizens with limited resources would like to take part in nation-building given the right opportunities,” said LENTE.

(MM)

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