Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (Rep. Villafuerte's office)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte believes there is a good chance that current village and youth officials would remain in office longer, as mandated under the 1987 Constitution and the Local Government Code (LGC).

This was in light of the pending measures in Congress (The House of Representatives and Senate) to reset the next Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) scheduled in December 2025.

“I believe chances are good for our barangay and SK officials to hold office for at least three years, as originally mandated by law, instead of just two years if the BSKE were to be held on Dec. 1, 2025 as now scheduled, in light of pending measures in both chambers seeking to move back the next balloting for these local elective officials,” Villafuerte said.

Last Jan. 14, Senators approved on third and final reading of Senate Bill (SB) No. 2816, which, among others, aimed to defer the upcoming BSKE for two years, or from December 2025 to October 2027. 

In the House of Representatives, its committee on suffrage and electoral reforms approved last year the Villafuerte-authored House Bill (HB) No. 10344 that sought to move the next BSKE to 2026, instead of December 2025.

Villafuerte is also a co-author of a bill seeking to change the terms of barangay officials. It has been approved by the House Committee on Local Government.

With the Senate’s approval of SB No.2816, Villafuerte remains hopeful that the House could likewise give its final nod to the BSKE measure in the coming session weeks.

Both chambers of Congress had just returned to work last Jan. 13 after the month-long holiday break.

Congress, and will adjourn on Feb. 8  in preparation for the mid-term elections on May 12. 

The bicameral legislature will then reopen on June 2 and hold session until its sine die adjournment on June 14, formally ending the 19th Congress.

Villafuerte, a formee three-term congressman, hoped that the House of Representatives "could similarly act with urgency and purpose” on the pending measure seeking the BSKE postponement, which would "restore consistency and stability in the triennial balloting for barangay and SK officials".

“We will be able to put back consistency, constancy and stability in the BSKE once the 19th Congress writes new legislation moving back the next polls to October 2026, in lieu of December this year as now scheduled, in conformity with the electoral mandate of our Constitution and the 1991 LGC for our local elective executives such as barangay and SK officials to serve for three-year terms,” he explained. 

The poll postponement bills were introduced in both chambers following the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) in 2023 upholding Republic Act (RA) No. 11935, which moved back the BSKE from Dec. 5, 2022 to  Oct. 30, 2023. 

The High Tribunal ruled poll postponements as unconstitutional as it allowed the next BSKE to take place on Oct. 30, 2023, but set the subsequent balloting on the first Monday of December 2025 and “every three years thereafter".

The substitute bill in the Senate was introduced by Senators Imee Marcos, Christopher Go and Francis Tolentino.

In the event that the House is able to pass its version of the measure, lawmakers will have to reconcile the features of this proposal, as HB No. 10344 keeps the three-year terms of these local officials and schedules the next balloting in 2026, while the Senate-passed SB No. 2816 aims to stretch their terms of office to four years and sets the next polls in October 2027.   

Because the incumbent barangay and SK officials were elected in the BSKE polls last October 30, 2023, Villafuerte said, “They will in effect be serving for shorter two-year terms if the next balloting for these local officials were to be held on Dec. 1, 2025 as now scheduled.”

“Thus, we are pushing the holding of the next BSKE in 2026, instead of next year, precisely to bring back regularity to this triennial electoral exercise as set in the Constitution and the LGC of 1991 as well as RA (Republic Act No.) 11462 that remains as the controlling law on the BSKE,” he said.