Comelec backs postponement of barangay, SK polls in Negros Oriental
MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections chairperson George Erwin Garcia said Wednesday that the poll body supports the postponement of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Negros Oriental, pending legal issues that need to be addressed.
Garcia said Comelec is “very supportive” of Sen. Francis Tolentino’s recommendation to defer the conduct of village and youth polls in Negros Oriental to allow law enforcement forces to “strengthen their momentum” in the province that has been gripped by political violence.
But Garcia raised that while there is no doubt that the Comelec can hold off the barangay and SK elections in Negros Oriental from one month to up to three months on account of violence and other reasons laid out in election laws, it is not clear when these grounds should occur to trigger a postponement.
“When should these grounds exist? Can these grounds exist several months before the conduct of the election? That has not been made clear,” he said in Filipino during the Senate hearing on the series of killings in Negros Oriental, including the massacre in Pamplona town that killed the province’s governor, Roel Degamo.
“We will admit, that is an open issue. That is subject to interpretation. And the Comelec, we also admit, can interpret it either way,” Garcia said.
Another legal issue that needs to be clarified, Garcia said, is the absence of a law that provides that incumbent barangay and SK officials can continue to sit in their positions in a holdover capacity.
“Of course, the governor or the president can say we can extend [their terms,] but then, to our understanding, there should be the presence of the law,” he said.
But Tolentino said that the violence in Negros Oriental has been ongoing for a long time, which warrants the postponement of the barangay and SK polls. He added that in his opinion, the law postponing the village and youth elections to October 2023 already provides for incumbent officials in these positions to continue to serve in a holdover capacity.
Despite these legal issues, Garcia said the Comelec will be holding hearings in municipalities and barangays across Negros Oriental to determine the opinion of residents there on postponing village and youth elections.
He said a decision may be reached by the second or third week of September.
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