The Commission on Elections is asking Congress to expeditiously resolve the question of whether or not the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections slated for December 5 will push through, as there are only five months left before the scheduled polls.
“We are just hoping and praying that, if indeed, an RA (Republic Act) will come out, it should come out the soonest possible time,” acting Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said during recent virtual forum hosted by Stratbase ADR Institute.
He pointed out the Strat base poll body needs to immediately determine if they should proceed with the procurements in preparation for elections. “This is so that we can postpone any other procurement that we have not yet concluded,” he added. He pointed out that whatever goods and services currently being procured can still be used on a later date if the elections are postponed.
Aside from the procurement activities, the Comelec official said they are continuing with other aspects of preparations until a law is passed postponing the electoral exercise.
Some members of the House of Representatives have earlier proposed to postpone the barangay and SK elections to save on funds for the government to use for its COVID-19 response. However, despite the importance of such an exercise to a democratic nation, no further action been taken regarding the proposal, aside from adding uncertainty to the fate of the December polls.
The May 2020 barangay and SK elections have already been rescheduled to December 5 this year by RA 11462, which is the reason why Comelec is preparing for it. Further postponement will mean another blow to our democratic experiment, but we the people have left it up to our elected representatives to decide. Perhaps the country’s supposedly independent legislature is still awaiting instructions from its coequal executive branch, but for the country’s elected officials, deciding on the fate of a scheduled elections should rank pretty high up on their list of priorities.*
