House OKs bill postponing barangay, SK polls to 2022

MANILA, Philippines — Voting 194-6, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading yesterday House Bill 4933, a consolidation of 40 bills, seeking to reschedule the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections from May 20, 2020 to Dec. 5, 2022.

The original bill approved by the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms on Sept. 4 resets the elections to May 8, 2023.

During plenary deliberations, the House approved the amendment of Cagayan de Oro City second district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez to synchronize the House bill with the Senate version.

The bill sets the elections on the first Monday of December in 2025 and every three years thereafter.

The Senate is set to adopt within the week the House version of the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday said the move would hasten the approval of the measure since there is no need to convene a bicameral conference committee.

Zubiri said Sen. Imee Marcos would recommend the adoption of the House version, “which is exactly the same as ours.”

The measure will be ready for signing into law as soon as it is ratified by both houses of Congress.

The Senate approved on third and final reading on Sept. 30 Senate Bill 1043, a consolidation of five bills, which resets the barangay and SK elections to Dec. 5, 2022.

The new set of officials will assume office on Jan. 1.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it was not surprised that the bill was approved.

”The Comelec had in fact slowed down preparations...in anticipation of this legislation,” Comelec spokesmanJames Jimenez said.

With this development, Jimenez said the poll body would focus on the continuing registration of voters.

It will be the third postponement of the barangay and SK polls under the Duterte administration. 

Congress postponed the elections in 2013 and 2016, allowing incumbent officials to stay in office for five years until elections were held in 2018.

The President called for the postponement of the barangay and SK elections in his State of the Nation Address in July, saying two years in not enough for barangay officials to finish their programs and projects.