BAGUIO CITY, August 20 – Congressman Mark Go has joined the bandwagon calling for the postponement of the scheduled May 2020 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections taking a cue from the fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte last month.
In House Bill No. 3628 filed before the Eighteenth Congress, Go proposed two more years of election postponement until October 2022 to allow “incumbent officials to continue to perform their functions and to achieve their goals that they have set in their respective programs of action and long term plans for their barangays.”
He disputed that in the past, the conduct of synchronized barangay and SK elections have been postponed “based on valid justifications.”
The barangay and SK elections have been subjected to several deferments since October 31, 2016 which was moved to October 23, 2017 and eventually pushing through in May 14, 2018.
Go wanted to revert back to the second Monday of October as the time for barangay and SK elections as set in Republic Act 9164, and elections shall be conducted every three years thereafter.
He also proposes that the assumption of office shall commence in November 30 following their election instead of June.
Meantime, Congressman Johnny Pimentel of Surigao is suggesting that the election for barangay and SK be held on Oct. 11, 2021 while Congressman Faustino Dy V of Isabela is proposing that the elections be postponed to the second Monday of May 2023 to give a full five-year term to the incumbent officials. Similar measures have been filed in the Senate and authored by newly-elected Senators Imee Marcos and Christopher “Bong” Go.
The Commission on Elections is currently conducting voters registration for the May 2020 barangay and SK polls despite the number of bills proposed to defer the same. ** Jessa Mardy P. Samidan
