‘Law needed before Rody can appoint b’gay execs’

A law is needed before another postponement of the barangay elections can be allowed, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III maintained yesterday.

“We need a law because it is in the Constitution that the term of office of barangay officials shall be provided by law,” he said, adding it is only barangay officials whose terms are set by law.

He was reacting to President Duterte’s expressing his desire to postpone the polls and appoint barangay officials, instead of waiting for their constituents to choose them in elections scheduled for October this year.

In making the suggestion, Duterte cited information that 40 percent of barangay chairmen and officials were either drug users or protectors.

Pimentel said he intends to consult with his colleagues as well as with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on the matter.

The election of barangay officials was scheduled also in October last year, but Congress extended their term by one year upon the President’s request.

“I think it’s better to deem their (barangay officials) terms as expired. The law abhors a vacuum. The appointive power is by default placed in the president. He should be able to appoint,” he said.

Pimentel, however, apparently prefers to have the elections push through this October as the barangay officials’ “mandate must be renewed periodically.”

“That needs a law. That needs a legal basis,” he said earlier, adding the President has to tell Congress why he wants the barangay elections set in October postponed again and why he is proposing to just appoint barangay officers.

“I think it has something to do with illegal drugs,” he added.

Pimentel’s father, former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr., authored the Local Government Code.

The Commission on Elections has announced that it would continue preparations for October’s barangay polls until Congress could enact a postponement law.

For Alvarez, there’s nothing wrong with Duterte’s plan to appoint barangay officials as such would only require an amendment to the Local Government Code and not a new law.

“I have no problem with that. I support him. He has valid reasons for wanting to appoint them, because a majority of barangay officials are involved in illegal drugs,” Alvarez said.

“I think it will just require an amendment of the Local Government Code, which Congress could fast track,” he added.

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) also said it does not object to President Duterte’s plan to postpone the barangay polls but hopes that Congress would conduct a hearing to determine the extent of the influence of illegal drugs in barangay elections.

PPCRV chairman Rene Sarmiento said the proposal to delay the barangay elections was not new as there had been instances when barangay elections were moved to a later date.

“There is no substitute to periodic election in a democracy to check the accountability of elected officials to get fresh mandate, including barangay election and elective barangay officials,” said Sarmiento, who once served as a commissioner of the Commission on Elections.

“But since the presidency and Congress are components of our constitutional government and they decide not to hold barangay elections, for reasons that are legitimate, I see no reason why barangay election not be postponed,” he added.

But he clarified the postponement of the barangay elections should also depend on the “gravity of this social menace.”

Congress should hold hearings to determine the gravity and its impact on barangay elections, he added.

As barangay officials hold their general assembly today, Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno said they should make a commitment to support a shift to a federal form of government.

Sueno said the barangay assembly is an appropriate venue to highlight the Philippine version of federalism dubbed PHederalism.

Barangay officials, he said, should support the campaign by leading the drive to disseminate to their communities the benefits of federalism, said Undersecretary for Legislative Liaison and Special Concerns Emily Padilla.

No OICs

For opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay, any law postponing the barangay elections again “must not allow the appointment of officers-incharge (OICs) either by the President or the secretary of the interior and local government.”

“The choice of elective officials belongs to the electorate,” he said, adding that existing laws do not authorize the appointment of OICs for barangay posts.

Another opposition congressman, Tomasito Villarin of Akbayan, said Duterte’s appointment plan “reeks of dictatorial tendencies and should be opposed.”

“If barangay officials are involved in drugs, let the people kick them out through the ballot. Give that power to the people, not to one person. That’s the essence of democracy,” he said.

“Giving the President the power to appoint barangay officials would be turning the country into a dictatorship,” he said.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal and the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) said appointing instead of electing barangay officials is unconstitutional. – With Jess Diaz, Sheila Crisostomo, Emmanuel Tupas, Evelyn Macairan