SONA failed to tackle barangay polls

CEBU, Philippines - President Rodrigo Duterte spent over two hours delivering his second State of the Nation Address Monday but he missed out on key issues, including the proposed deferment of the barangay elections.

Officials of the Commission on Elections-Cebu were expecting the president to tackle issues on barangay polls or even just to appeal to the members of the Congress to expedite the resolution of the proposed measure postponing the October 23 barangay elections.

However, Duterte failed to mention the barangay elections.

“Even if wala siya (barangay elections)  sa priority list, we’ll never know what is the intention of the president. Mas nindot unta if gi-black and white to siya para maklaro gyud to siya if mopadayon or not,” said Cebu Provincial Election Officer Atty. Ferdinand Gujilde.

There are pending bills at the Senate and at the House of Representatives to move this year’s elections to October 2018 and to May 2020, respectively.

Congress has just begun its second regular session Monday in time for Duterte’s second SONA.

Gujilde said the measure could have been resolved fast if the president certified it as urgent for congressional approval, saying it is just a matter of political will.

“If the president says it’s urgent then it’s urgent even when in fact it’s not. So kun lack of time atong problema, political will ra na,” he said.

Provincial Board Member and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Celestino Martinez, for his part, said the president has made his position clear on the election polls’ deferment.

Duterte has recommended the postponement, claiming that the barangay polls have become entry points of those involved in the drug trade into mainstream politics.

Duterte has repeatedly said he would like Congress to postpone the barangay elections so he could appoint officers-in-charge. He raised fears that drug lords would fund candidates if voting is held this October.

“It is entirely now up to the Congress and the Senate to decide. As for us in the Liga ng mga Barangay, we consider the extension of one year as a bonus of our term and treat it as such,” Martinez said.

Gujilde said the Congress and the Senate could lawfully hasten the process of approving or rejecting the measures.

He said Comelec would abide by the decision of Congress, but stressed that it should not be close to the October 23 barangay elections.  If elections will push through, Comelec has only less than three months to make the necessary preparations.

Comelec has already started printing of voters’ master list.

The ballots, however, are yet to be printed.

Comelec will wait until August 15 for Congress to decide if the barangay elections will push through before the commission begins printing ballots.

The printing of ballots was supposed to start on July 20, but Comelec deferred it pending the decision of the Congress on the postponement.

Once printed, the ballots can no longer be recycled for the midterm elections in 2019.

Comelec targets to print close to 80 million ballots nationwide.  There are about 56.7 million voters aged 18 years old and above, while there are 20.9 million Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) voters, aged 15 to 30 years old. (FREEMAN)