Amended law needed to postpone b’gay elections

MANILA, Philippines -  The barangay elections in October will push through if the law is not amended, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said yesterday as the Liberal Party (LP) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) also highlighted the importance of the village polls in the country’s democracy.

DILG assistant secretary Epimaco Densing III said without the law’s amendment, the elections could not be postponed despite President Duterte’s desire to appoint village officials in lieu of the polls.

LP president and Sen. Francis Pangilinan also warned that postponing the barangay elections could weaken democracy.

Last year, Duterte signed the measure postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections set on Oct. 31 to Oct. 23 of this year with holdover positions for the incumbents.

In a forum in Makati City hosted by dzRJ, Densing urged Congress to ensure there would be no holdover provisions so Duterte could appoint barangay executives.

“Because based on our Administrative Code of the Philippines, if the position is vacant, our President is the one with the authority to appoint an official,” he explained.

Densing echoed the President’s line that the elimination of illegal drugs would be fast-tracked if Duterte would appoint the barangay officials, noting that close to 40 percent or around 7,000 to 8,000 officials nationwide have links to the illegal drug trade.

The Philippines is composed of 42,036 barangays.

He also said the government could save funds but conceded “it is really an issue, the right of the people to suffrage, to choose their leaders as stated under our Constitution.”

“It is enshrined in our Constitution that the lowest political unit is the barangay, so when we talk about barangay, the officials there are supposed to be elected into office,” he said.

Freedom of choice

For Pangilinan, “it is cause for concern that instead of having the elections, the proposal is to have political appointees.”

“The anti-democratic or the undemocratic character of the proposal is, for us, a concern in the Liberal Party because we should uphold our freedom to choose our leaders,” Pangilinan said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum at Cafe Adriatico in Manila.

Pangilinan added that based on his consultations with voters, “they want to have an election so they can choose their representatives in the barangay.”

He said LP believes that “democracy is best served if the people are able to choose their representatives at the village level.”

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said during the forum that they have not spent much in preparing for the barangay polls so that in case of a postponement, there would hardly be a waste of resources. 

Jimenez added the Comelec had primarily been conducting the voter registration that could also be utilized for the 2019 midterm elections if the barangay polls are shelved. 

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Jimenez also emphasized the importance of elections as an important aspect of democracy.

“As far as the Comelec is concerned, we are committed, of course, to elections. We believe that elections are the way to keep democracy going,” he said.

But just like Densing, Jimenez said the poll body would let Congress decide whether or not to postpone the barangay elections.