Senator Imelda “Imee” Marcos on Wednesday, June 28 said she respects the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) which declared unconstitutional the law that postponed the holding of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) from their initial schedule of December 5, 2022, to the last Monday of October 2023.
Senator Imee Marcos (Senate PRIB Photo)
Marcos, however, insisted that the reasons that were raised during the debates on the measure seeking to postpone the barangay and SK elections were valid.
“I adhere to the separation of powers underpinning our system of government. However, I maintain that the reasons for postponement which were espoused during the debates and hearings remain valid,’’ Marcos said in a statement.
Marcos is chairperson of the Senate electoral reforms committee that spearheaded discussions on the measure now known as Republic Act 11935, or the “Act Postponing the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.”
In the ruling, the Supreme Court High recognized the legal practicality and necessity of proceeding with the conduct of the barangay and SK polls on October 30, pursuant to the “operative fact doctrine.”
The Court also declared that the barangay and SK elections scheduled for October 2023 shall proceed.
However, the SC stressed that the term of office of the sitting barangay and SK officials shall be deemed to have ended on Dec. 31, 2022, following the provisions of RA 11462, the law impliedly repealed by Republic Act No. 11935, according to the SC Public Information Office.
“In the interim, the sitting BSK officials shall continue to hold office until their successors shall have been elected and qualified,” it added.
Marcos said the present barangay and SK officials need sufficient time to implement their programs which have been sidetracked by the pandemic.
“Furthermore, it is high time that the term of barangay and SK officials be extended. We must keep in mind that barangay and SK officials are often tasked to implement not only their own programs and projects but also those of the local and national government. SK and barangay officials also serve as front liners,” she said.
“They are entrusted with a myriad of duties such as ensuring the general welfare of their constituents, mediating quarrels between neighbors, and being the first, and sometimes, the only responders, in times of emergencies. With all these tasks heaped upon the barangay officials, it is no wonder that their present term of three years is insufficient for them to formulate, implement, and evaluate their own policies and programs,’’ she added.
The senator also pointed out that the inadequacy of the three-year term of barangay and SK officials is perhaps best reflected by the fact that since 1982, the average term of elected barangay officials is around 4 to 5 years.
“With this in mind, even prior to the postponement of the Barangay Elections, I already filed Senate Bill No. 1195 last Aug. 16, 2022 to extend the terms of the barangay officials to six years,” she said.
The extension of the terms of barangay and SK officials would also help the government save precious funds, she emphasized.
“Elections, even ones involving barangay and SK officials, are costly. The government will save tens of billions by extending the terms of barangay and SK officials,” she said.
“Finally, there is also the issue of holding the barangay and SK elections in the same year as the national and local elections,” she added.
Marcos pointed out that a committee hearing held on September 10, 2019 regarding the postponement of the barangay and SK elections from May 2020 to October 2022, then-Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioner Antonio Kho, Jr.—who is the “ponente” of the present Supreme Court decision—stated that the Commission prefers that the barangay and national elections should not be on the same year as the national elections.
COMELEC also manifested that the barangay and SK elections should be held either a year before or a year after the national elections so that the poll body will have sufficient time to prepare.
“Thus, by having the elections in 2023 instead of 2022, we would have avoided the situation where there will be two nation-wide elections in a single year,” Marcos said.