Senate to endorse SK poll postponement

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate is poised to recommend the postponement of the Sangguniang Kabataan elections on October 28.

Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, said the body is coming out with a report as soon as possible to enable the Senate to come out with the needed legislation before Congress goes into break on September 25.

“The national government and many concerned agencies agree on the postponement of the SK elections on October 28.  But it is clear that there should be reforms in the SK system,” Marcos said.

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Austere Panadero presented before the committee the agency’s position recommending the postponement of the SK polls to a later date.

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista seconded the DILG position, saying that the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) had also expressed support to postpone the SK polls. Bautista is the national chairman of the LCP.

During the public hearing, a representative of the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), said the group has yet to pose a collective stand but prior consultations showed they are inclined for the postponement of the SK elections.

Louise Gabriel del Rosario, national president of the National Federation of Sanggunniang Kabataan, said the postponement will pave the way for discussions over the reforms of the SK.

Sought for comment after the hearing for their 2014 budget, Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes said he sees no problem if Congress would postpone the SK polls.

“We will have to see how we can do the conduct of the barangay elections without the SK [polls],” Brillantes said.

Brillantes hopes that a final decision on the conduct of SK polls will be done by end of the month.  With its proposed scrapping, Brillantes said the Comelec would have a savings of about P60-million alloted for the payment for SK Board of Election Tellers comprised by teachers.

Brillantes said the Comelec will push through with its schedule for the synchronized SK and barangay elections, and just wait for the Congress legislation calling for the postponement of the SK polls.

There is a  P3.4-billion budget for the synchronized elections. Of the amount, about P300-million to P400-million is programmed for the SK elections.