House panel clears bill to postpone 2022 barangay, SK polls
A substitute bill seeking to postpone the 2022 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to 2023 was approved by the House of Representatives’ committee on suffrage and electoral reforms on Thursday, August 24.
On the motion to postpone the election this year, eleven lawmakers formally voted in favor and none against it, though Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel submitted a dissenting opinion. The committee’s report was then accepted.
The bill stated that subsequent synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will take place every three years beginning on the first Monday in December 2026.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) warned lawmakers that delaying the December elections by another year would result in additional costs of at least P5 billion, on top of its original budget worth P8.449 billion, during an hours-long inquiry. Last week, the same committee voted to approve individual bills on the postponement of the polls.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia amended the amount during the Senate electoral reforms panel hearing on Tuesday, August 23, saying that after re-computation, the anticipated additional budgetary requirement would be roughly P10 billion if the elections were shifted to December 2023.
A postponement would mean that voter registration would resume, which would necessitate more logistics, according to the polling organization. The panel also took the instructors’ requests for an increase in their honorarium into account.
Watchdogs have opposed the postponement of the December elections, arguing that it would, among other things, deny voters the ability to elect new leaders.
In the Philippines, barangay elections have been postpone several times. The October 2016 elections were initially postponed until October 2017, then again to May 2018, when they were ultimately held.
Additionally, the following barangay elections that were set for May 2020 were moved to December 2022.
