Bam: People, not President, must pick barangay leaders

Senator Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV said yesterday that the people, and not President Duterte, should choose the next village and youth leaders. Aquino stood firm in his belief that the President should allow the scheduled barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to push through next month.

“Ang taumbayan, hindi ang Pangulo, ang may karapatang pumili ng kanilang pinuno sa Barangay (It is the people, not the President, who has the right to choose barangay leaders),” Aquino said.

“We stand firmly against appointing barangay officials and concentrating power in Malacañang,” added the senator who is a member of the Senate minority bloc.

Aquino said if there is fear of barangay officials involved in the drug trade, step up investigations, expose these criminals and bring them to justice.

“We must not surrender our right to elect our leaders and destroy the building blocks of our democracy,” said the senator.

Aquino made the call as he criticized efforts to allow Duterte to appoint barangay officer-incharge (OICs) once the Barangay and SK elections are postponed.

A Senate bill has been filed to recommend the postponement the Barangay and SK polls and authorize the President to appoint barangay officials on the basis of his drug list.

Senate Bill No. 1584 is proposing to defer the barangay elections on October 23 this year to October 22, 2018 and allow incumbent officials in a holdover capacity until then, unless the President appoints officials to replace them.

“Until their successor shall have been duly elected and qualified, or until the President, through the Executive Secretary, shall appoint officers-in-charge for the barangay, all incumbent barangay officials shall remain in office, unless sooner removed or suspended,” the measure read.

The proposed law was authored by Senators Vicente Sotto III and Richard Gordon following a joint report filed Monday by the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation and the Committee on Finance.

The report was signed by Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Finance panel, and Gordon, vice chair of the Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, who assumed the role for detained Senator Leila de Lima.

The joint committee report found Duterte’s narco-list “sufficient” for his appointment of interim officials.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, on Monday approved on third and final reading the bill that sought to hold the elections on May 14, 2018 and also recommended the holdover of sitting barangay officials.