The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) is not in favor of postponing the December 5, 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
In a statement on Friday, May 27, the poll watchdog group said the BSKE has been long overdue.
"We believe that the BSKE has been long overdue. Since 2016, barangay elections have been postponed thrice. The December 2022 elections should have been held in May 2020," Lente said.
"We see the further postponement of the Barangay and SK Elections as an attack against grassroots democracy and community power," it added.
Lente lamented that while Republic Act 11462 mandated that synchronized Barangay and SK elections should be held every first Monday of December and every three years, BSKE are often "delayed, and officials end up holding office for up to five years."
"This delay contravenes the standard of periodic elections as provided in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the 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," it said.
Lente then called on the next Congress not to postpone the December BSKE amid news that some incoming House of Representatives members are looking at the postponement of the said exercise to save funds for the country's pandemic response.
It also urged local community chiefs and youth organizations to support their call to push through with the BSKE in December 2022.