House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte praised the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms' swift action on the proposal to hold the next Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on Oct. 26, 2026. 

Approved last by the panel last Aug. 27, House Bill (HB) No.10344 upholds the mandate of the 1987 Constitution and the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 to maintain three-year terms for village and youth officials. 

Villafuerte, the principal author, said that the holding of the next BSKE as presently scheduled on Dec. 1, 2025 would cut short the terms of incumbent barangay and SK executives to just two years. 

The National Unity Party (NUP) president noted that the current batch of local officials were elected to office only last Oct. 30, 2023.    

He said resetting the next BSKE to Oct. 26, 2026, will bring back “consistency and stability” in the recurring BSKE balloting. 

Villafuerte says that a shorter term for barangay and SK officials is “tantamount to the impairment of the expectations from the incumbents of our electorate’s overall exercise of their right to suffrage".

In compliance with the constitutional mandate on three-year terms for BSKE winners, Villafuerte says that HB No.10344 complies with the election date provided in Republic Act (RA) No.11462 by moving the balloting to Oct. 26, 2026, from Dec. 1,  2025. 

The suffrage panel is chaired by Mountain Province lone district Rep. Maximo Dalog Jr. 

Villafuerte further said that, “The election of an official is not only a political contract between the elected leader and the electorate, it is also a legal and social one. It is a sacred contract that is time-bound.” 

“Thus, this proposed amendment on setting the next BSKE in 2026 and then every three years thereafter gives the sufficiency of time for barangay and SK officials to fulfill their promises and obligations in accordance with the term of three years as intended by the Constitution, the 1991 LGC  and RA 9164,” he said. 

Villafuerte authored HB No.10344 with fellow Camarines Sur Rep. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan.