BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday said that barangay elections scheduled on Dec. 5 this year should be rescheduled next year if postponed by Congress.
Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, a cousin of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and a top contender for the House Speakership, expressed his support to the call of barangay leaders to postpone the village polls in order to save about P8 billion, which may be used for cash aid to those still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Either way, it may be postponed, or not, I can work with our barangay officials, Lacson said, who gave out financial assistance to the different barangays in the province.
“I think they are very appreciative to that,” he added.
The Legal Network for Truthful Elections have launched a petition pleading to members of the next Congress not to postpone the “long overdue” barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
Further delaying the village and youth polls is “an attack against grassroots democracy and community power,” the group said.
The last synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls was held in 2016, with term of office of incumbent officials, is more than the six-year term of the President.
“Some people are lucky than the others”, Lacson said.*
