MANILA, Philippines — Pending the Supreme Court (SC)’s resolution on his petition to resume the scheduled barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), election lawyer Romulo Macalintal is asking the SC to order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prepare the BSKE that should now be held in May 2023.
In an extremely urgent motion he filed last Monday before the SC, Macalintal said the high court should order the Comelec to resume its preparations for the BSKE that should be held in May 2023, an earlier date than the one stated in Republic Act (RA) 11935, which moves the BSKE to October 2023.
“Petitioner respectfully prays and reiterates his motion for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or status quo ante order directing all public respondents and all persons and officials acting on their behalf to cease and desist from implementing RA 11935 or to maintain the status quo prevailing before its issuance, and to direct respondent Comelec to immediately resume its calendar/timeline of activities and its preparation to hold the BSKE in May 2023, until further orders of this honorable court,” Macalintal’s motion read.
Last month, Macalintal filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition that also asks for the issuance of TRO against RA 11935, which President Marcos signed into law on Oct. 10.
In the petition, Macalintal argued that while Congress has the power to determine or fix the term of office of barangay officials, the Constitution does not give it the power to postpone the barangay elections nor to extend their terms of office.
The matter was heard during oral arguments on Oct. 21, during which Comelec Chairman George Garcia himself told the SC en banc that they would not be able to hold the BSKE on Dec. 5 even if the SC grants the petition for a TRO.
Macalintal argued both in the petition and the oral arguments that if the Comelec could not hold the BSKE on Dec. 5 due to lost time brought by RA 11935, a closer date to Dec. 5 instead of October 2023 under the law would be better.
“Aware of the competence and wide experience of Comelec in conducting elections, be it manual or automated, and its chairman being a very experienced election lawyer, petitioner honestly submits that the said election could be held at an earlier date. After all, the Comelec, as of now, had already spent P1 billion of the poll body’s P8-billion budget for the said elections since the notices of award were only obligated. More or less five million ballots have been printed,” he said in his Nov. 14 motion.
“So as not to delay the proceedings in this case, petitioner would subscribe to Comelec’s aforesaid submission and would not challenge the same. There is the compelling need to direct respondent Comelec to resume its preparation for the conduct of the barangay and youth polls to make it logistically possible for the poll body to hold the said elections in May 2023 in the event that the instant petition is granted,” he added.
The last barangay election was held in 2018, but winning candidates’ terms were extended until Jan. 1, 2023 due to several postponements of the BSKE.
With the latest postponement, RA 11935 also allowed barangay and SK officials another extension of their terms, this time for a year.
The postponement was approved despite warnings from the Comelec that it would raise the cost of the BSKE from P8 billion allocated for this year’s exercise to P18 billion.