Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 30) — The Senate has passed on third and final reading a bill that seeks to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections slated for May 11, 2020.
The upper chamber, voting 21-0, with no abstentions, passed Senate Bill No. 1043.
The measure originally proposed to postpone the village and youth council polls to May 8, 2023, but some senators pointed out that this is too long a postponement and decided to hold off the elections only until December 5, 2022.
A similar measure cleared the House Suffrage and Electoral Reforms panel last week. The proposed law will now be tackled at the House plenary, where it needs to pass three readings before finally passing the lower chamber.
If passed, incumbent village and SK officials shall remain in office, unless sooner removed or suspended, until the next elections are held.
This is not the first time that barangay polls were postponed. The barangay and SK elections originally scheduled for May 2016 were suspended twice and finally held on May 14, 2018.
Representatives from the Commission on Elections, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and federation heads told members of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms they want the barangay polls staged a year after the general elections in May 2022, and every three years thereafter.
CNN Philippines Multi-platform Writers Xave Gregorio and Melissa Luz Lopez contributed to this report.
