Home NATIONWIDE Panukalang nagsusulong ng 4-year term sa brgy, SK execs pinalagan

Panukalang nagsusulong ng 4-year term sa brgy, SK execs pinalagan

MANILA, Philippines- Binatikos ng election lawyer na si Romulo Macalintal ang Senate Bill No. 2816 na nagkakasa ng apat na taong termino para sa barangay at Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials.

Inilarawan niya ito bilang “unconstitutional, deceptive and misleading.”

Giit ni Macalintal nitong Linggo, epektibong ipinagpapaliban ng panukala ang barangay and SK Elections (BSKE) na nakatakda sa December 1, 2025 sa May 8, 2029.

“The bill gives an additional four years of service for incumbent barangay and SK officials on a hold-over capacity, violating the rights of voters to elect their own barangay officials,” wika ni Macalintal.

Binanggit din niya ang SC ruling sa kaso, kung saan nakasaad na rekisitos sa pagpapaliban sa eleksyon ang “reasons sufficiently important, substantial or compelling under the circumstances” at ang “shortness of the existing term” ay hindi dahilan para rito.

Dumepensa ang isponsor ng panukala na si Senator Imee Marcos, sa pagsasabing bibigyang-daan nito “to deepen their (barangay and SK officials) understanding of both national and local issues.”

Subalit, ayon kay Macalintal: “If deeper understanding of the issues affecting a locality could not be grasped in three years, how come the term of office of provincial governors, city or municipal mayors and other local elective officials remained at three years only?”

Sinabi pa ng abogado na labag ito sa constitutional provision na nagsasaad na, “a bill must not embrace more than one subject which shall be expressed in its title.”

Inilarawan niya ito bilang uri ng “log-rolling legislation.”

Binanggit din ni Macalintal ang mga opinyon ng SC justices sa Macalintal vs. Comelec case, binigyang-diin na ang pagpapalawig sa termino ng incumbent officials ay nakaaapekto sa demokrasya.

“Congress cannot enact laws that extend the term of incumbent barangay and SK officials, for they are unconstitutional for violating the democratic underpinnings of our governmental system, wherein elective officials serve by virtue of winning an election,” ani Supreme Court Justice Alfredo Caguioa sa hiwalay na opinyon sa kaso.

Nanawagan si Macalintal kay Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. na i-veto ang panukala na tinawag niyang “appalling, shocking and ridiculous.”

“A law changing the schedule of elections is a whole different animal. Thus, any infringement of the right to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized,” wika niya, base kay Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo.

Noong Martes, inaprubahan ng Senado ang panukala sa ikatlo at huling pagbasa noong January 14, na may 22 affirmative votes, walang negative votes, at walang abstentions.

Alinsunod sa panukala, isasagawa ang BSKE elections sa unang Lunes ng October 2027 at kada apat na taon pagkatapos nito. RNT/SA