President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed a memorandum deputizing the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and other instrumentalities of the government for the safety and security of the 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)
Memorandum Order No. 15 was signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin under the authority of Marcos on July 17, a copy of the memorandum showed.
“Now, therefore, I, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution and existing laws, hereby concur with Comelec Resolution No. 10920 (s. 2023), deputizing the AFP, the Philippine National Police, and other law enforcement agencies and instrumentalities of the Government, in connection with the 30 October 2023 Synchronized Barangay and SK Elections,” the memorandum read.
“The foregoing law enforcement agencies and other concerned agencies are hereby directed to coordinate and cooperate with the Comelec in the performance of their duties and functions,” it added.
Comelec Resolution No. 10920 resolved to request the concurrence of the Chief Executive to deputize law enforcement agencies for the barangay and SK polls.
Under Section 2 (4), Article IX-C of the Philippine Constitution, the poll body can deputize law enforcement agencies and instrumentalities of the government, including the AFP, with the concurrence of the President.
This is done “for the exclusive purpose of ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections.”
The barangay and SK elections were supposed to be held last Dec. 5, 2022, but this was postponed through Republic Act 11935, the law that moved the polls to Oct. 30, 2023.
The last barangay elections were held in 2018, though those had also been rescheduled as they were supposed to have been held in October 2016.