Comelec terminates preparations for BSKE after postponement
Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia — Photo from Comelec/Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has terminated its preparations for the 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) following its postponement.
Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia announced this on Wednesday, almost two months since the passage of the Republic Act (RA) 12232 or the law extending the current three-year term of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials to four years.
The elections, which were originally set on December 1, 2025, had been rescheduled to November 2, 2026.
READ: Marcos signs law postponing BSKE to Nov. 2026; officials’ terms extended
“Yesterday, the Comelec issued a memorandum to all the officials that the preparations for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections supposedly for December 1 are terminated,” Garcia said in a Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
This means that the activities in relation to the public and aspirants such as including the filing of certificates of candidacies and election and campaign period are now postponed, he added.
“Wait for our announcement on the calendar of activities for the resetting of BSKE on November 2, 2026,” Garcia noted.
When asked why the Comelec only halted the preparations on Tuesday, Garcia answered that the poll body waited for any temporary restraining order coming from the Supreme Court amid a pending petition questioning the constitutionality of the law postponing the elections.
“We hold judicial courtesy and respect on its perspective on the legal issue raised by Atty. Macalintal,” he said.
In his petition, veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal noted the 2023 ruling of the Supreme Court, which states that a BSKE postponement must be justified by “sufficiently important, substantial, or compelling reasons to safeguard the right of suffrage.”
He then argued that “in the case of RA 12232, the 2025 BSKE was sought to be rescheduled and postponed to another date, not for any important, substantial, or compelling reason, but merely on account of perceived shortness of the incumbent BSK officials’ term of office.”
Macalintal was also one of the petitioners who questioned the legality of the law that postponed the December 2022 BSKE. The High Court then granted the consolidated petitions, declaring the law as unconstitutional.
READ: Comelec needs P9B more for 2026 barangay, SK polls
Procurement still a go
Meanwhile, Garcia shared that he ordered the Comelec to continue its procurement of materials for the elections.
He then explained that the procurement process is exempted from the termination of preparations as the poll body needs to consider the current prices of materials they need to procure.
He also said that the poll body has spent around P2 billion this year from the allotted budget for the elections worth P11.5 billion. He added that the fund was spent for procurement processes and overtime services of Comelec personnel.
He noted that the remaining P9.5 billion is a continuing appropriation for 2026. /das
