Palace hopes bicam to speed up passage of law postponing village, SK polls

September 21, 2017

Malacanang expressed hope on Thursday the bicameral conference committee of Congress could immediately harmonize their respective versions of the bill postponing the village and youth elections for next year.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the Palace welcomes the approval of Senate Bill No. 1584, or the Act Postponing the October 2017 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elelctions, on its third and final reading on Wednesday.

"We hope for the immediate enactment of the law and call on our citizens to support the measure as the Senate and the House of Representatives go for bicameral conference to start working and harmonize their versions of the bill," he said.

He reiterated that President Rodrigo Duterte remains clear and consistent with his stance not to hold the local polls this year.

"He wants the barangay and SK elections to be postponed," Abella said.

Duterte has said that he wants the polls postponed because "narco-politicians" could get elected.

He has claimed that about 40 percent of village officials were involved in illegal drugs.

Under the Senate approved bill, the village and SK elections would be postponed from October to May next year and the current village officials would be allowed to continue exercising their functions in a holdover capacity.

The bill did not contain provision that would allow the president to appoint barangay officials.

The postponement of the elections was made to give the police and military forces ample time to address the problem on drugs and put an end to the Marawi crisis, according to Senator Richard Gordon, who sponsored the bill.

The House of Representatives has almost similar bill, which the congressmen approved on September 11.

Opposition congressmen have said they did not find logic in postponing the elections for the sake of avoiding narcopoliticians to get elected. They noted that same officials would continue to hold office until May next year.

This was the second time that the barangay and SK polls were postponed. Last year, Congress passed a measure postponing the elections  Celerina Monte/DMS