Just as expected, the scheduled Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) have been scrapped this year following President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s signing of the approved bill mandating their postponement. The new law, Republic Act 11935, rescheduled the BSKE on the last Monday of October 2023, “and every three years thereafter.” The term of office of the newly elected officials will start at noon on Nov. 30 following their election. Originally, the BSKE was set on Dec. 5 this year. This is the fourth time since 2016 that the barangay elections were postponed; the first three times were under the Duterte administration. Based on the law, all incumbent barangay and SK officials shall remain in office until their successors are elected and qualified or unless they are sooner removed or suspended. Barangay and SK chairpersons, who are ex officio members of the Sangguniang Bayan or Sangguniang Panlungsod, shall continue to serve as such members until the next BSKE, unless removed under existing rules. It is just unfortunate that when the election postponement law was finalized, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was already in the thick of preparations for the polls. You cannot blame the commissioners because they are mandated to do their duty according to what election law was currently in place. Millions of pesos worth of logistical and administrative budgets, mostly spent on registration of new voters, had been used when the measure was approved. No matter, said new Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, adding that such preparations will not go to waste. He also said the commission will continue preparing for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections despite the postponement, as voter registration is a continuing task of the poll body. Meanwhile, Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda said the suspension will also give the government “space to focus on the essentials such as beating inflation and strengthening jobs recovery” aside from fixing "structural issues" in these barangay organizations. Salceda noted the postponement would also allow the Executive department to implement recent legislations such as the SK officials compensation and civil service eligibility (RA 11758), which he principally authored and sponsored. Critics have said that the fourth postponement of the barangay and SK elections could reflect the government's low regard of its basic unit in the villages and communities. This long-overdue poll may also result in a legal anomaly whereby officials of the Sangguniang Kabataan would have left the ranks of the youths by now (past 21 years old) but are still holding office. Chairman Garcia said the postponement would not have saved the nation a huge amount of money and so he "conveyed the Comelec position with regard to postponement of the BSKE to the legislature and the President; I trust that such position was duly noted and considered,” he said. Now that RA 11935 has scheduled the polls on “the last Monday of October 2023 and every three years thereafter,” everybody, even the Comelec, has to follow.