JV Ejercito: Barangay and SK elex postponement ‘makes sense,’ use budget for immediate matters instead
June 28, 2022
Senator-elect Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on
Tuesday said proposals to postpone the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang
Kabataan (SK) Elections are justified since the incoming administration needs
to prioritize other immediate concerns.
“The incoming administration will be facing a
lot of challenges. So, I think that makes sense, yung postponement, probably
for a year, kasi katatapos lang ng eleksyon, and we can use that budget for
other immediate matters,” he said in an interview.
The next Barangay and SK Elections are
scheduled for December this year, after President Duterte signed Republic Act
(RA) 11462, which effectively postponed the May 2020 barangay and SK polls.
However, proposals to postpone these barangay
elections once more are now being floated in the House of Representatives and
the Senate due to the country’s ongoing pandemic and economic woes.
Presumptive Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio
recently expressed her support for calls to postpone the upcoming Barangay and
SK Elections.
Meanwhile, incoming Executive Secretary Atty.
Vic Rodriguez said President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his camp
are open to proposals to extend the term of barangay officials to avoid any
further postponement of barangay polls.
Under the Local Government Code of 1991, each
elected barangay official is entitled to a three-year term and can serve for
three consecutive terms in the same position.
Ejercito said he is in favor of extending the
term of barangay and SK officials to four years.
“Para sa akin, three years is really short.
Four years, probably, tulad nung dating setup. Yung five, masyado nang mahaba.
It depends. Five years is too long for a non-performing official,” he said.
Once he assumes the chairmanship of the Senate
Committee on Local Government, Ejercito said he will hold hearings to review
these proposals.
“Well, that can be studied kasi katatapos lang ng
national and local elections. That entailed a lot of expenses for the
government. Probably, it can be considered. Of course, magkakaroon tayo ng
hearing diyan, on the postponement. We’ll weigh the pros and cons. Siguro, mga
one year lang, pwede,” he said.
