Prospective voters turn up for a special registration for the 2020 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections side a mall in Butuan City on Monday, 23 September 2019. MindaNews photo by H. MARCOS C. MORDENO
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 07 October) – The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), the association of governors in the country, has urged President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to postpone the 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr., LPP president, said the group agreed to back the deferment of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataang elections, which Congress approved.
“Majority of our governors believe that there’s really a need to postpone the elections,” he said, expressing confidence their call will reach Malacanang.
Last September 30, the LPP held its second general assembly in this city, the provincial capital, hosted by the South Cotabato provincial government. The country now counts 82 provinces, with the recent split of Maguindanao into two provinces.
Tamayo admitted the governors’ support for the postponement of the December 5 synchronized Barangay and SK polls was a bit late since Congress already approved its deferment, and awaiting the signature of Marcos for it to become effective.
However, Tamayo, who is also the president of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), noted that even if Congress already approved the measure, Marcos will still get the opinion of the country’s governors before making a decision.
Marcos was the standard bearer of PFP, a relatively unknown political party formed four years ago, during the May 9, 2022 elections. Marcos serves as PFP national chairperson.
The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), the umbrella of all leagues of local government units and locally elected government officials, is also in favor of the postponement of the December 5 elections, said Tamayo, ULAP’s interim chairperson.
In calling for the postponement of the December 5 Barangay and SK elections, the leagues took into consideration the fact that the country had just held the national and local elections last May, Tamayo said.
Because the government will be shelling out again billions of pesos for the synchronized Barangay and SK elections, the LPP and the ULAP agreed, among others, on the deferment of the polls, he added.
The bicameral conference committee of the Senate and House of Representatives agreed to postpone the Barangay and SK elections, from December to October 2023, the House’s Press and Public Affairs Bureau said in a press release on September 28.
But pending the President’s signature on the move of Congress to defer the upcoming elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec), through Resolution 10846 promulgated on September 21, announced the revised activities related to the December 5 synchronized Barangay and SK elections.
Instead of October 6 to 13 (except October 9, a Sunday), the new date for the filing of the certificates of candidacy was moved to October 22 to 29 (except October 23, a Sunday), the Comelec said.
The election period, including the gun ban, will take effect from November 6 to December 20, 2022 instead of October 6 to December 12, 2022, it added. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
