Start of SK poll period moved to April

CEBU, Philippines - The election period for the Sangguniang Kabataan elections on April 25, 2015, which is supposedly to start today, has been moved – yet again – to April 10 or 15 days before election day until May 10.

A gun ban will also be implemented once the election period commences.

The Commission on Elections rescheduled the election period through Resolution 9934 promulgated Tuesday.

The Comelec explained there is a need to move the election period again “to avoid a situation wherein the prohibition on certain acts is already effective, only to be nullified later on when House Bill No. 5209 becomes a law.”

The body noted that House Bill 5209, which seeks to postpone the SK elections anew to the last Monday of October 2016 is now awaiting the action of the President. The Office of the President received the enrolled bill on March 4 but has not yet acted upon it.

Under the legislative process, a bill automatically becomes a law if the President does not sign it within 30 days from receipt by his office. If vetoed, a bill may still become a law if Congress overrides a presidential veto.

This means, House Bill 5209 will become a law by April 4 if Aquino will not act on it, said lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde, Comelec-Cebu election officer.

“This situation (pendency of the measure before the Office of the President) is a special case… This is to avoid legal complications kay pananglit kung mag-election period ta ugma, duna nay prohibited acts then dunay na tay nadakpan only ma-nullify later kay ma-reset ra ang SK elections,” Gujilde told reporters.

As provided by the Omnibus Election Code, the Comelec is allowed to fix the election period “in special cases.”

Gujilde, however, made it clear that Comelec is ready should the SK elections push through.

“SK elections is easy to administer because it is manual then we have small number of polling precincts in every barangay,” he said.

To recall, the SK elections was slated originally in October 2013 but was postponed through Republic Act 10632 to a date to be determined by Comelec between October 28, 2014 and February 23, 2015.

But on October 21, 2014, the COMELEC issued Resolution NO. 9905 setting the SK polls on February 21, 2015.

The Comelec again reset the SK elections to April 25, 2015 by virtue of Resolution No. 9930 promulgated on February 5, 2015. — (FREEMAN)