Congress can postpone elections, BARMM polls cited
By Nidz Godino
“Without preempting decision of Supreme Court, I would think that will be political question and Supreme Court will refrain from issuing any restraining order without prejudging what will happen this coming Friday,” Senator Francis Tolentino asserted Congress has authority to postpone elections, similar to what it did to the elections in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) that was supposed to be held last May. “Whether Congress can postpone, I think they can postpone… Congress can postpone,” Tolentino said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
We even postponed BARMM elections, ‘di ho ba?” he stressed.
In 2021, then-President Rodrigo Duterte signed law postponing May 2022 elections in BARMM to May 2025.
Tolentino made statement following filing of petition with Supreme Court challenging recently signed law postponing barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) from December 2022 to October 2023.
Tolentino was among the 17 senators who voted for postponement of the 2022 BSKE.
Earlier Senators Imee Marcos and Jinggoy Estrada argued 1987 Constitution authorizes Congress to set date for village and youth council elections.
Marcos, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, is the sponsor of recently approved law in Senate, while Estrada is one of the law’s principal authors.
Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal argued that Congress has no power to postpone barangay elections and to extend term of office of the barangay officials.
Macalintal’s petition, however, did not include SK elections.
He said if Congress is empowered to postpone elections, it would remove authority of the Commission on Elections under existing laws.
The petition was welcomed by Comelec Chairman George Garcia, saying it was high time for Supreme Court to rule if Constitution authorizes Congress to postpone polls.
The SC has set oral arguments on Macalintal’s petition on Friday, October 21.
Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno said postponing BSKE anew is tantamount to disenfranchisement of voters as it deprives public of the right to choose their leaders.
“That constitutes… disenfranchisement of voters…we have right to choose our officials from barangay level up to the national positions,” Diokno said.
Diokno said postponement of BSKE could breed political patronage and may be perceived as “reward” for current administration’s victory in the 2022 national polls.
“I think it does contribute to patronage politics because officials will feel that they owe their positions not to the voters, but rather to those who decided to continue giving it to them,” he said.
According to the new law on BSKE postponement, all incumbent barangay and SK officials must serve until their successors are elected or they are earlier removed or suspended for cause.
The elected barangay and SK officials’ terms of office begin at noon on November 30, 2023.
The next elections will then be held after three years.
ISKUP! 