BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The postponement of the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to December next year was approved yesterday by the House of Representatives on its third and final reading.
Negros Occidental 4th district Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer was among the solons who filed a bill in the House seeking for postponement of barangay and SK elections, which is scheduled by the Commission on Elections on December 5 this year.
Comelec chairperson George Garcia earlier said preparations for the polls will continue in the absence of a law postponing it.
Once a law postponing the polls is enacted but the ballots are already printed, Garcia said they will be used in the next scheduled BSKE.
The BSKE was supposed to held May 2020 but was reset to December 5 to concentrate on preparations for the national elections.
During deliberations at the House of Representatives, 265 solons voted for the postponement of BSKE, six opposed it, while three registered abstentions.
Under House Bill 4673, subsequent synchronized BSKE was set on the first Monday of December 2026, and every three years thereafter.
Once passed into law, incumbent barangay and SK officials will retain their position on holdover capacity “unless sooner removed or suspended for cause.”*
