Congress urged: Decide on barangay, SK elections

MANILA, Philippines - With barely a week left in June, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has urged legislators to decide soon whether or not the Oct. 23 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will push through.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the poll body needs to know the decision because the commission is set to start printing of official ballots on July 20.

“Although we’ve never slowed down in our preparations, we still have not spent much… But on July 20, we’ll start the printing so we hope we’ll know if the elections will be postponed or not,” he said in an interview.

He said most of the expenses incurred by the Comelec were for voter’s registration, which could also be used for the 2019 midterm polls. 

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.

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

Bautista had reserved an opinion on whether the polls should be shelved or not, underscoring that Comelec is bound to follow laws.

“We don’t want to be wasting money during the preparation but if there is no decision by July 20, we will start the printing of ballots,” he added.

He also maintained the Comelec does not want to be pressed for time in case they go slow on the preparations and Congress decides to continue with this year’s elections.