Senator Chiz Escudero filed a counterpart measure seeking to extend the term of office of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials from three to five years, which could effectively postpone the BSKE elections scheduled for 2 November to 6 November 2028, despite preparations already in full swing.

Senate Bill 2387, filed on Thursday, seeks to amend Republic Act 12232, which set the BSKE for 2 November of this year—supposedly scheduled for 1 December 2025—and extended a four-year term for BSK officials. 

The proposals for postponement came even as the Commission on Elections had already spent a staggering P8 billion of the P19 billion budget allocated to BSKE as of early August. 

The last BSKE was held in 2023, although it was initially scheduled earlier and was postponed four times since 2016, with the first three occurring during the Duterte administration. 

Critics have argued that the BSKE should push through this time because the voting public has been deprived of their right to elect local leaders several times.

If passed into law, Escudero’s bill could delay the BSKE anew, which could reportedly save approximately P16 billion in public funds that the government could use to boost social aid programs for vulnerable sectors hardly hit by the ongoing fuel crisis brought about by the Middle East conflict. 

“Such intervention would promote continuity in governance, provide sufficient time for community development initiatives, reduce disruptions caused by frequent electoral exercises, and enable local officials to focus on public service rather than on electoral cycles,” Escudero said in the bill.

Earlier this week, more than 60 House lawmakers filed House Bill 10591, which aims to move this year’s BSKE to the last Monday of November 2028. 

They cited economic pressures and high inflation triggered by the United States-Israel war on Iran, which pushed domestic diesel and gasoline prices to unprecedented levels of P172.90 and over P100 per liter, respectively, as a reason to hold off the elections.

However, although the bills call for the postponement of this year’s BSKE, they differ in their provisions regarding the term durations. 

Escudero proposed extending the term by five years, while House lawmakers wanted to restore it to the original three-year term. 

President Marcos Jr. is amenable to Congress’ proposal to suspend the BSKE to save the government substantial funds as the country struggles with sharply rising fuel prices driven by the war, which is entering its sixth month. 

Recently, the Comelec said that regardless of Congress's and Malacañang’s decision, the poll body will merely comply. Earlier, Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia warned that the BSKE must not be moved past May 2027, as it could disrupt preparations for the 2028 national elections, which will begin in June 2027.

Garcia also previously warned that reallocating BSKE’s unspent funds for other purposes is unconstitutional. 

In a 2023 ruling, the Supreme Court said RA 11935, or the law that suspended BSKE 2022 to augment the Executive’s funds, violated the Constitution because it “unconstitutionally transgresses the constitutional prohibition against any transfer of appropriations, and it unconstitutionally and arbitrarily overreaches the exercise of the rights of suffrage.”

The high court also ruled that the enactment of the law by Marcos was attended with “grave abuse of discretion amounting to a lack or excess of jurisdiction.“

Earlier, seasoned election lawyer Romulo Macalintal criticized Marcos for moving the December 2025 BSKE to November of this year, arguing that the law merely mimicked the provisions of RA 11935, which the SC had already deemed unconstitutional.