Macalintal seeks BSKE reset reconsideration

Veteran election lawyer Atty. Romulo B. Macalintal, the principal petitioner challenging the constitutionality of Republic Act 12126, which postponed the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), said he would ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling.

Expressing hope that further legal arguments could lead to its reversal, Macalintal said he would file the motion before the Supreme Court (SC) within the 15 days allowed under court rules.

“With five justices already voting in favor of my petition, I only need two more justices to reconsider their positions,” Macalintal said.

He said he also plans to ask the SC to conduct oral arguments to expedite the resolution of the case.

Macalintal said he was weighing whether to seek a full reversal of the ruling or pursue a partial reconsideration that would allow the court to reach what he described as a “win-win formula.”

Under his proposed approach, the Supreme Court could uphold the constitutionality of Republic Act 12126, which grants Congress the authority to fix terms of office, while declaring unconstitutional the provision postponing the elections.

“This way, both Congress and the people win,” Macalintal said.

He maintained that postponing elections was not merely an incidental consequence of setting a new term of office, as characterized in the Supreme Court decision, but an intentional measure that should be examined separately.

Macalintal argued that the right to vote and hold elections is a fundamental constitutional matter that cannot simply be treated as incidental.

He noted that five justices had supported his petition, compared with none when he initially filed it.

Macalintal said previous election cases he had handled had initially gone against his clients but were later reversed after motions for reconsideration presented additional arguments.