Liga ng mga Barangay seeks junking of BSKE postponement petition

Facade of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. | PHOTO: Official website of the Supreme Court / sc.judiciary.gov.p

MANILA, Philippines – The Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (Liga), an organization of more than 42,000 barangays nationwide, has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition challenging the constitutionality of postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

In a 35-page pleading, the Liga, led by Barangay San Fabian, Isabela chair Maria Katrina Dy, urged the high tribunal to allow them to intervene in the case and to junk the petition filed by election lawyer Romulo Macalintal.

While acknowledging that the Supreme Court already declared the 2023 postponement of the BSKE unconstitutional and that their tenure should only be two years, they argued that their present petition affirms that under Republic Act No. 9164, their term of office should be three years.

“Hence, it is all the more proper for the BSK elections to be moved for one year,” said the petitioners, represented by lawyer Alberto Agra.

Unlike RA 11935, which the high tribunal struck down as unconstitutional, the petitioners argued that RA 12232 is not a law intended merely to postpone the elections but one that seeks to fix and extend the term of barangay officials.

“From the language of its title, RA 12232 sets a new term of office for BSK officials, modifying the previous three-year term and fixing the same at four years,” they said, noting that this move falls within Congress’ legislative power to determine the term of barangay officials.

Earlier this month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed RA 12232, postponing the BSKE originally scheduled for December to the first Monday of November 2026.

The law also sets the term of office for all elected barangay and SK officials at four years and mandates that subsequent BSKEs be held every four years.

READ: Marcos signs law postponing BSKE to Nov. 2026; officials’ terms extended

Macalintal, however, challenged the passage of this measure before the Supreme Court, arguing that it sought to reschedule and postpone the polls “not for any important, substantial, or compelling reason, but merely on account of perceived shortness of the incumbent BSK officials’ term of office.”

He also pointed out that the law’s title, “An Act Postponing the December 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, Providing for a New Term of Office for Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Officials, and for Other Purposes,” was misleading, as it attempted to bundle multiple and disparate subjects into a single legislative measure.

READ: Macalintal challenges BSKE postponement law before SC

In countering the petition, the Liga maintained that the law is legal since the Constitution vests Congress with the power to extend the term of BSK officials.

“The authority to question this wisdom without any evidence of its illegality, inequity, or grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction is one that the Constitution guards against,” they said.

The petitioners also asserted that the postponement of the elections was merely a “necessary consequence” of RA 12232, which extended the officials’ term in line with the new timetable set by the law./mcm