Senate OKs 5-year barangay, SK term bill

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate yesterday passed on third and final reading a bill seeking to fix the terms of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials at five years, effectively postponing the upcoming Nov. 2 barangay and SK elections (BSKE).

Thirteen senators voted for the measure pushed by Sen. Francis Escudero while five opposed it.

Senators Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino opposed the measure, citing village residents’ right to suffrage and to run for office, particularly the youth.

“We need their boundless energy, courage and conscience in the barangays. We need fresh voices, new ideas and new blood in local leadership. As they say, ‘no cap,’” Pangilinan said.

“It is time to give the new generation of leaders a chance. That is why my decision is clear that the BSKE should proceed this November, and hence, I vote ‘no,’” Aquino said.

Also voting against the bill were Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente Sotto III and Sens. Risa Hontiveros and Joel Villanueva.

Sotto said his turno en contra speech against postponing the BSKE served as his explanation for voting “No.”

In his speech last Wednesday, when the bill was approved on second reading, Sotto said the five-year BSK term could be fixed without another postponement of the elections, which he noted would already be the eighth time.

Under the bill, the BSKE scheduled for Nov. 2 would be moved to the second Monday of November 2028 and every five years thereafter.

Incumbent elected barangay officials “shall be regarded as having completed one term... considering the extension of their terms by two years,” the bill states.

Those currently serving their third consecutive term would be considered ineligible to run for the same position in the proposed 2028 elections.