MANILA — House leaders defended on Monday the law fixing the term of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials to five years, which effectively postpones the November 2026 polls to November 2028, asserting that it is consistent with the Constitution.
House Senior Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez and House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms Chairperson Zia Alonto Adiong issued the statement after a petition was filed before the Supreme Court seeking to block the BSKE postponement and declare it unconstitutional.
They said the postponement of this year’s barangay and SK polls is merely “incidental” to the law fixing the term of office of village officials.
“In the Supreme Court ruling in 2025, they already recognized that Congress has the sole authority to determine the term of barangay officials. It’s very clear in Article X, Sec. 8… So what Congress is doing now is exercising the delegated power based on the Constitution. (03:09) When you fix the term, ‘yung pag-move ng date ng eleksyon is incidental to fixing of the term. So hindi ito postponement. ‘Pag ginawa mong five years ‘yan, natural ‘yung date ng eleksyon, magmo-move, because that is to fill the vacancy in the event of a term expiration,” Hernandez explained.
“It's Constitutional… That is unconstitutional if you abolish or if you postpone indefinitely. Pero this is actually exercising the Constitutional mandate of the House, of Congress, to… define by law the term of office, fixing the date of the term of barangay officials...
and this is very much in line with the previous ruling of the Supreme Court,” Adiong added.
He also denied claims the law’s passage was “hasty”.
“It went through the regular process of having the two chambers pass the law. Nagkaroon naman po ng deliberation d’yan sa komite. Lahat naman po ng stakeholders inimbitahan, at nagkaroon po ng discussion dyan. Hindi naman minadali,” Adiong said.
He and Hernandez also gave assurances that the money spent on preparing for the November 2026 elections will not entirely go to waste, since the procured election paraphernalia may still be used in next Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls in 2028.
“I personally asked Chairman Garcia… Ang sabi po niya, hindi po masasayang. Magagamit din po ‘yan sa November 2028. Probably except ‘yung mga tinta ng ballpen, baka hindi na ‘yan magagamit. Very minimal, in terms of cost, na makakaapekto sa budget,” the Senior Deputy House Speaker said.
“Tinanong po natin ang Comelec din d’yan. Mayroon naman pong mga paraphernalia na pwede naman po din magamit in the 2028 elections. It's not entirely na…would go to waste,” Adiong also said.