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Voters cast their ballots at a mall in Manila, October 30, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed a law that sets the term of barangay officials to five years, and postpones this year’s barangay and sangguniang kabataan elections (BSKE) to November 2028.
The signing of the measure came a few days before the supposed filing of candidacies for the village polls initially slated on Nov. 2, 2026.
"Ang dagdag na panahon sa panunungkulan ay dagdag na panahon para maglingkod," Marcos said in a Facebook post.
"Sa paglagda natin sa Republic Act No. 12326, na nagtatakda ng limang taong termino para sa mga opisyal ng barangay at Sangguniang Kabataan, malinaw ang ating inaasahan sa ating mga kasalukuyang opisyal. Gamitin ang panahong ito upang mas pagbutihin ang serbisyo, tapusin ang mga nasimulang programa at mas tutukan ang pangangailangan ng bawat komunidad, pamilya at kabataan," he added.
Under the new law, BSKE will now be held on the “second Monday of November 2028 and every 5 years thereafter.”
The law also allows mayors to appoint members of the Sangguniang Kabataan should there be any vacancies, provided that the appointee “meets qualifications” provided under the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015.
“Any unexpended balance of the appropriations authorized for the conduct of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections shall be deemed continuing appropriation of the COMELEC and shall remain available as funding source to cover the preparatory activities for the 2028 National and Local Elections and such other lawful expenditures and purposes as may be determined by the Commission,” it read.
The postponement is expected to result in the loss of some P8 billion that was already spent in election preparations, but Commission on Elections chairperson George Garcia earlier said that these materials could still be used in future elections.
Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal has criticized the postponement of the BSKE as “a three-year unauthorized term extension for incumbent officials.”
“This means three long years where we, the electorate, are stripped of our fundamental right of suffrage. It means three years of being governed by local officials who were not chosen by the ballot, but effectively thrust upon us through what amounts to a legislative appointment,” Macalintal said in a statement.
“This constitutes a grave violation of the Constitution, which empowers Congress to fix the term of office of barangay officials, but not to indefinitely prolong or extend their tenure without a genuine mandate from the people,” he said.
Postponing elections “cannot be done arbitrarily” as it “requires urgent, substantial, and compelling reasons—and must never be unreasonable and unduly long,” the election lawyer said.