House OKs bill setting barangay, SK execs’ term to five years

The House of Representatives has approved House Bill (HB) No. 10971, which proposes to extend the term of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials from the current four years to five years, with a maximum of two successive terms through reelection. During the session on Tuesday, the bill garnered 211 affirmative votes, with 13 against and one abstention. If enacted, HB No. 10971 will amend Section 1 of Republic Act No. 12232, changing the term of office of barangay officials from the current four years to five years. Furthermore, the bill effectively suspends the 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), as the measure states that the date of the next BSKE will be on the second Monday of November 2028, and every five years thereafter. For current officials, HB No. 10971 placed a transitory provision stating that incumbents should be considered as having completed due to the extension of their terms by two years. Meanwhile, incumbent officials who are in their consecutive term in the same position will be allowed to run for the same post in the November 2028 BKSE. Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co, one of the lawmakers who voted against the bill, said that HB No. 10971 said that suspending the BSKE again is a violation of the 1987 Constitution. “This representation believes that we will be cheated again with this bill. This is a clear violation of the Constitution and the decision of the Supreme Court in Macalintal v. Comelec. We push for the suspension of the BSKE from 2026 to 2028 and extending the term of sitting officials for two years without providing sufficient basis,” she said. “The Court said that postponing the elections needs to have a ‘compelling governmental interest’ like protecting suffrage or a true emergency — not merely administrative convenience o seeking for ‘continuity.’ It has not been a year since we passed a law that extends the term of BSK officials to 4 years, we will extend their term again for another year?” she asked. This is not the first time that the House pushed for a measure extending the term of barangay and SK officials. During the 19th Congress, former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and other ranking lawmakers proposed setting a fixed term of six years for barangay and SK officials, to ensure continuity of projects and to shield them from politicking. According to the Speaker, he and House lawmakers decided to set a fixed six-year term for barangay officials to do away with confusion brought by recent term extensions, poll suspensions, and other laws. However, Romualdez’s bill does not allow officials to serve more than two successive terms in office. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has already suspended the 2022 BSKE, upon the prodding of lawmakers from the House and the Senate to use the funds for pandemic recovery instead. However, the Supreme Court in June 2023 declared the law unconstitutional, ordering the BSKE to proceed last October 2023. Information Source: Inquirer NewsInfo