Macalintal to Imee Marcos: Postponing 2025 BSKE flouts SC ruling
Romulo Macalintal — File photo
MANILA, Philippines — To say that postponing the 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) is “merely incidental” is an admission that the guidelines set by the Supreme Court (SC) are not followed, an election lawyer said on Wednesday.
This was Romulo Macalintal’s reaction to Senator Imee Marcos’ statement that postponing the 2025 BSKE is “merely incidental.”
Marcos made an appeal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to sign the bill postponing the elections so the Commission on Elections can focus on the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections in October.
“Such remark is a clear admission by the Congress that the postponement of the BSKE does not comply with the standards set by the Supreme Court in the 2023 case of Macalintal vs. Comelec where it declared Republic Act No. 11935, a law which postponed the 2022 BSKE,” Macalintal said in a statement.
READ: SC asked to nullify law postponing 2022 Barangay and SK polls
The SC declared the law postponing the 2022 BSKE as “unconstitutional,” wherein the high tribunal “found out that there was no legitimate government interest or objective to support the legislative measure.”
Macalintal noted that the postponement of the elections cannot be justified as a “public emergency” and “sufficient government interest” as it would be a “draconian measure” that undermines the public’s right to vote.
The lawyer then emphasized that Marcos and other similarly-minded lawmakers do not need to be reminded of this constitutional right.
“The postponement of the BSKE from December 2025 to December 2026 is a clear case of depriving the voters of this fundamental right of suffrage since they will be governed by barangay officials for almost one full year whom they did not elect and imposed only upon them by the legislators,” Macalintal added.
The Senate and the House of Representatives ratified the bicameral conference committee report last Wednesday, which sets four-year terms from the current three-year terms of elected barangay officials. The report now awaits President Marcos’ signature.
READ: Marcos urged: Junk bill seeking to extend barangay, SK officials’ terms
Macalintal also argued that the preparation for the Bangsamoro polls should not be an excuse as the lawmakers must be aware of the BSKE polls in December when they postponed the Bangsamoro polls to October 2025.
The lawyer again urged the president to veto the reconciled bill as it would be a “clear violation of the people’s right to suffrage.” /das
