A GROUP of legislators on Monday urged the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to support a measure resetting next year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) to 2026.
In a letter to DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr, Reps. Brian Raymund Yamsuan of the Bicol Saro party-list group and Luis Raymund Villafuerte and Miguel Luis Villafuerte, both of Camarines Sur, asked Abalos to furnish them a complete list of the names, office addresses, email addresses and contact numbers of incumbent barangay and SK officials.
The legislators have jointly filed House Bill (HB) 10344 seeking to postpone the December 1, 2025 BSK elections to October 26, 2026 and every three years thereafter.
In seeking the DILG’s assistance, the three lawmakers said that they want to reach out to the BSK officials “whose participation is relevant in pursuing this legislative measure.”
“This shall uphold the rights of the constituents to contribute to such legislative process promoting and protecting their participation (in) all aspects of government decision(-making),” they said in a May 8, 2024 letter sent to Abalos.
The letter, signed by Yamsuan and the two Villafuertes. was coursed through DILG Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Felicito Valmocina.
They said in their letter that HB 10344 “intends to safeguard the fundamental rights of both the electorate and the incumbent BSK officials.”
According to them, holding the next BSK elections as originally set on December 1, 2025 will mean a shorter term for the incumbent officials, which impairs their performance, “diminishes the(ir) obligations to serve their constituents, and lessens their accountabilities in the exercise of the power vested in them by the people’s free choice.”
Because the last BSK elections were held in October 2023, the incumbent officials will serve for only two years if the next balloting would be done as originally scheduled in 2025.
The shortened term “actually contravene(s) the three-year term of office for these elective officials” as mandated by the 1987 Constitution and the 1991 Local Government Code, the lawmakers said.
