What’s wrong with postponing barangay, SK elections
The power of the Comelec over elections emanates from the Constitution and laws enacted by Congress.
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The power of the Comelec over elections emanates from the Constitution and laws enacted by Congress.
Earlier this month, Congress enacted Republic Act No. 11935 which reset the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in the country from December 2022 to October next year. This is not the first time Congress enacted a law postponing the said elections.
A few days ago, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of that law.
Macalintal argued that Congress has no constitutional power to postpone the barangay and SK polls. That power, Macalintal claimed, belongs exclusively to the Commission on Elections.
Moreover, Macalintal said that by postponing the said elections, Congress is extending the terms of barangay and SK officials beyond what voters had in mind when the said officials were elected years ago. In effect, Macalintal alleged that Congress is imposing its own handpicked barangay and SK officials on the electorate, which is a disenfranchisement of qualified voters.
There are two perspectives in evaluating Macalintal's petition.
Here is the first perspective.
While the Constitution sets a specific election date for presidential, vice-presidential, and congressional posts, there is no similar provision in the same charter for barangay and SK elections. This suggests that Congress has the power to extend the terms of incumbent elective barangay and SK officials.
When the electorate voted for the current barangay and SK officials, they did so fully aware that elected barangay and SK officials have no fixed term under the Constitution, and that their terms are subject to the discretion and whim of Congress.
Even assuming that there is an existing law that specifies the terms of office of elected barangay and SK officials, that law may be amended by subsequent legislation, on the legal premise that the Constitution frowns on irrepealable laws.
While the power of the Comelec to postpone barangay and SK elections for valid reasons is conceded, that power is not exclusive to the Comelec.
The power of the Comelec over elections emanates from the Constitution and laws enacted by Congress. Since there is nothing in the Constitution that expressly prohibits Congress from postponing barangay and SK elections, then Congress may legislate in that direction.
Here is the second perspective.
Macalintal should cite Section 26, Article II of the Constitution, which states that "The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law."
The aforecited provision "equal access to opportunities for public service" should be enough constitutional basis to argue against postponing the barangay and SK elections. After all, extending the terms of elected barangay and SK officials actually restricts, rather than guarantees, opportunities for other qualified Filipinos to enter public service.
It is likewise not in the best interest of the voting public that barangay and SK officials are allowed to stay in office at the whim of Congress.
Stability in barangay and SK elections makes elective barangay and SK officials more responsive to the needs of their constituents. Allowing their actual tenure to depend on a congressional whim will make them sycophants of senators and congressmen. That will be the most degrading instance of political patronage possible.
Section 1, Article II of the Constitution states that the Philippines is a republican State, which means that government officials must be elected at periodic intervals. That system makes elected officials more accountable to the electorate.
As the nature of their office indicates, SK officials should come from the youth. Repeated extensions of their stay in office will make the SK a council composed of middle-aged personalities, rather than one which represents the youth. Such extensions obviously defeat the purpose of the law creating the SK.
Whichever of the two foregoing perspectives prevails, public interest and republicanism demand that Congress should, once and for all, enact a law specifying the terms of office of all barangay and SK officials, and keeping it that way.
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