‘Total overhaul, not piecemeal amendments, needed for electoral reform’

MANILA, Philippines — The Omnibus Election Code of 1985 needs to be overhauled to make it responsive to the latest developments in technology and prevent disenfranchisement of voters, Sen. Francis Tolentino said yesterday.

Tolentino issued the statement as the Senate is set to approve on third and final reading this week the bill seeking to postpone to December 2023 the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections scheduled on Dec. 5 that lawmakers said was a sign that the country’s electoral system urgently needs reforms.

“The proposal to amend the Omnibus Election Code, I suppose, should not only cover piecemeal provisions, but a total overhaul,” the senator said in Filipino in a radio interview aired last Saturday.

“We must also take into consideration the latest technologies so that (our elections) will be efficient and swift,” he added.

Piecemeal amendments to the 37-year-old law will no longer suffice, according to the Senator.

Senators, including Imee Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on electoral reform, have said the repeated postponement of the barangay and SK elections every three years or so meant that the 37-year-old election laws need amendments.