President Marcos asked to veto bill postponing BSKE

MANILA, Philippines — To show respect to people’s rights to choose their leaders, President Marcos should veto the reconciled bill of the Senate and House of Representatives postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) scheduled on Dec. 1.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal said the bill suffers the same “constitutional and legal flaws” as Republic Act No. 11935, which attempted to postpone the December 2022 BSKE but was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC).

“The President must avoid repeating the error of endorsing what the SC has already declared unconstitutional,” Macalintal said.

“Although styled as an ‘Act Setting the Terms of Office for Barangay Officials,’ the bill is clearly misleading. Its true effect is to postpone the Dec. 1 elections to the first Monday of November 2026, allowing incumbent barangay officials to continue serving in a holdover capacity – effectively extending their tenure without a public mandate,” he added.

The President, Macalintal said, should heed the SC’s firm pronouncements that election postponement “could foster a government that is not democratic and republican as mandated by the Constitution.”

According to Macalintal, the reconciled bill also violates the constitutional rule that a legislative measure must embrace only one subject clearly stated in its title.

“In this case, the bill actually covers three separate matters – setting a new term of office for BSKE officials, postponement of the December 2025 elections and authorization of holdover appointments of incumbents and extension of their tenure in office,” he said.