Both houses of Congress have finally approved the bills which aim to postpone the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to October next year.
Both the House and Senate affirmed the bicameral conference committee reports on the Senate Bill 1306, giving way for the consolidation bill to be sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for his approval.
“The version of the bill approved by the House set the next barangay and SK elections on the first Monday of December 2023 while the Senate version slated it for the second Monday of December 2023. Instead of holding the elections on December 2023, the bicameral conference committee reached a consensus to reschedule the barangay and SK polls two months earlier, or on October 2023,” said the House on a press release statement.
With the rescheduling of the barangay and SK elections, the bill also sets a three-year term for the village officials.
The newly-elected officials by October 2023 will asssume at noon of November 30, a month after the election.
As a necessary consequence of the postponement, the measure contained a hold-over provision. It stated that “until their successors shall have been duly elected and qualified, all incumbent barangay and SK official shall remain in office unless sooner removed or suspended for cause,” the proposed law read.
The House also said that the funds necessary for the implementation of the barangay and SK elections next year shall be taken from the appropriations of the Commission of Election (Comelec), under the General Appropriations Act (GAA), or its supplementary appropriations that the Congress may subsequently approve.
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