AGUSAN del Norte Rep. Dale Corvera is seeking a longer term for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials to avoid repeated postponement of their elections.
Corvera filed House Bill No. 9557 setting the term of office of barangay and SK officials to five years, with only one reelection.
The proposed setup was meant to ward off repeated postponement of village-based elections.
Corvera cited Section 8, Article X of the 1987 Constitution which provides the term of office of elected officials to three years, except barangay officials which will be determined by law but limited to three consecutive terms.
The Local Government Code of 1991 has fixed their term of office of elective officials at three years with a term limit of three consecutive terms.
The last postponement of the barangay and SK elections was through Republic Act No. 11935, which the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional, paving the way for the October 30 barangay and SK elections to push through.
“The adjustment of the term of office from 3 to 5 years will hopefully concretize ‘genuine periodic elections’ for barangay and SK officials as well as minimize election expenses which our country incur due to frequent elections,” Corvera said.
“The three-year term of the barangay and SK officials is very short for deserving officials. They should be given enough time to be able to finish their priority projects or programs for the barangay and prove themselves worthy to the office to which they were elected,” he added. Rio N. Araja
