Bill seeks to defer polls anew

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has filed a bill seeking to defer the October 2017 barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to May 2020.

House Bill 5359 will allow President Rodrigo Duterte to get rid of incumbent officials and appoint “incorruptible” officers-in-charge, which could lead to a “drug-free Philippines,” Barbers said in a statement.

“Incumbent officials stand to enjoy extended term but fail to address the drug problem that our President has been seeking to exterminate since Day 1,” Barbers said.

“We have given them another year, but the question is, have they proven themselves worthy to be called ‘leaders’ of a country that is dying to be freed from the shackles of illegal drugs?” he added.

Subsequent synchronized barangay and SK elections shall be held on the second Monday of May 2023 and every three years thereafter.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella, in a separate statement, said the passage of a new law postponing the barangay elections will render roughly 42,000 barangay chairmen positions vacant.

“Therefore, according to the Administrative Code of the Philippines, it is within the powers of the President to fill up declared vacant positions,” he said in a separate statement.

The President earlier sought to cancel barangay elections scheduled on Oct. 30, lamenting that 40 percent of barangay officials are linked to illegal drugs.

It could be recalled that Duterte had already postponed the baranggay and SK elections supposedly set on October 30, 2016 due to the same concern that barangay chairpersons are involved in narcotics trade.

Duterte, however, was still amenable to holding the barangay elections, only if the candidates “have no conditions with rebels and are not into drugs.”

Abella said the current administration will still study the possible effects of declaring barangay positions vacant and appointing barangay officials.

“On the issue that the postponement of barangay elections will impinge on the people’s rights to vote or disenfranchise voters to register the people’s right to vote must be carefully weighed against the possibility that a number of barangay officials with links to the illegal drug trade may unwittingly be elected into office, given the sad state of patronage in local politics,” he said.