• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Presidential sister and Senator Imee Marcos is bent on pushing her proposed bill seeking to extend the terms of barangay officials to six years.
It will save a lot of money for the government, Marcos said.
During Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in December last year, she revealed that the government spent P18 billion, and will spend P20 billion more in the elections in May next year, less than two years after.
We should have spent it for projects in the barangay, Marcos said.
Aside from the midterm elections and the BSKE, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) regional elections will also be held next year.
Marcos filed Senate Bill No. 2629, which states that the present term of three years is far too short for these officials to see their own projects through since they spend the greater portion of their terms implementing policies and projects of the national government, as well as those of the city, municipal, or provincial government units.
Under Senate Bill 2629, from three years, all elected barangay officials shall serve six years and shall not serve for more than two consecutive terms in the same position.
Sen. Marcos, chairperson on the Committee on Electoral Reform at the Senate, said that the equally important reason to fix longer terms of office for barangay officials is to enable the national government to save billions of pesos.
With two months before the filing of Certificate of Candidacy in October, Marcos said “I am hopeful that urgency will be seen by our lawmakers.”*
