SK polls may be postponed - Angara

THERE’S a big chance that the Sanguniang Kabataan ( youth council) and barangay ( village) elections will be postponed, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said Wednesday.

Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, said there is an overwhelming support not only from lawmakers but from other sectors to defer the elections set in October.

“I think, very likely it will be postponed given that there’s overwhelming support,” Angara said in an interview after the commit- tee hearing Wednesday.

He added that most of the resource persons invited by his committee backed the proposal to postpone the electoral exercise to the second quarter of 2017.

Interior Secretary Mike Sueno is also in favor of a postponement because he wants all local projects being implemented to be pursued.

The Comelec is scheduled to hold barangay and SK elections on October 31.

The poll body has started printing the official ballots to be used in the polls.

“I think they (Comelec) just need a clear indication from Congress. So on the part of the committee, we will finish the committee report and consult with others informally to find out what direction we will be taking,” Angara said.

Comelec chairman Andres Bautista also has no objection to the planned postponement of the polls if it will be only for a year.

“A one year postponement would be the optimum. ( We will have) a longer time period to prepare,” he told Asenators.

JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA