House panel approves new schedule in May 2018

A House of Representatives committee on Monday approved the proposal to postpone the October 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to May next year.

Voting 19-2, members of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, chaired by CIBAC Partylist Rep. Sherwin Tugna, approved the postponement of barangay polls to the second Monday of May 2018.

The said proposal also seeks to retain the incumbent barangay officials in a holdover capacity.

The two lawmakers who voted against the deferment of polls were ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio and Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas.

In an ambush interview after the hearing, Tugna said he expects plenary approval of the measure before the end of August.

“Sa palagay ko sa Lower House, kung sakaling bukas magkakaroon tayo ng second reading sa plenary, hindi na po aabot sa dulo ng buwan ng Agosto,” Tugna said. (I believe that if the bill passes on second reading, it will be approved before the end of August.)

Last Monday, the all-party caucus agreed to postpone it again to May 2018 to synchronize the barangay elections with the proposed plebiscite for Charter change and the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Once approved by the House, the proposed law postponing the barangay elections will be transmitted to the plenary for the bicameral conference committee, Negros Occidental First District Rep. Melecio Yap Jr. said earlier.

Councilor Noli Villarosa, president of Liga ng mga Barangay in Bacolod City and a member of the Liga National Executive Board, also said the Senate was set to deliberate on a bill authored by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III seeking to move the elections to October 2018.

Sotto filed the bill on May 23 to postpone the elections to the fourth Monday of October next year, from the current schedule of fourth Monday of October this year, in response to the appeal of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte had alleged that four in 10, or 40 percent of, barangay captains in the country are involved in illegal drugs.