SC urged: Resolve petitions challenging postponement of 2025 BSKE

Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — With the postponement of the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections on October 13, 2025, an election lawyer on Sunday urged the Supreme Court to resolve petitions challenging the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

Romulo Macalintal issued the statement days after the Supreme Court (SC) postponed the parliamentary elections over the lack of a valid district law, as it declared Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 77, the redistricting law, and its predecessor BAA No. 58, unconstitutional.

Macalintal noted that the parliamentary elections were the main justification of Congress and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in postponing the BSKE, which was originally scheduled on December 1, 2025.

Republic Act No. 12232, which extended the current three-year term of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Officials to four years, moved the BSKE to November 2, 2026.

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

The Presidential Communications Office earlier said Marcos wanted to postpone the BSKE so the Comelec could fully focus on the first BARMM parliamentary elections.

“There is no more legal or practical means to justify the postponement of the December 1, 2025 BSKE because the main reason for which the said election was postponed under RA [Republic Act] 12232 have already ceased to exist,” Macalintal said in the statement.

READ: Supreme Court pushes back BARMM parliamentary polls

Macalintal also said there is no justification for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to terminate its preparations for the BSKE, considering the postponement of the parliamentary elections.

“If Comelec continued its preparations for the BSKE while the issue of whether or not to postpone the BARMM elections was still pending, then there is no rhyme or reason why it should not continue with its preparations for the December 2025 BSKE now that the October 2025 BARMM elections will not be held,” Macalintal added.

Macalintal pointed out that the postponement of the BSKE would deprive around 2.7 million new voter registrants of their right to participate in the elections. He also noted that almost P1 billion in funds were wasted, including for the printing of ballots and manpower costs, due to the postponement of the BARMM polls.

Macalintal said the postponement of the BARMM elections and Comelec’s termination of its preparations for the BSKE will give the Supreme Court legal ground to resolve the petitions and declare the postponement of the BSKE as unconstitutional.

“There is now that imperative need for the SC to decide on the pending petitions assailing the postponement of the December 2025 BSKE and/or pending its resolution, the Comelec should be directed to continue with its preparations for the conduct of the said election to insure that the principles of a genuine and periodic election is upheld,” he stressed.

Macalintal is one of the petitioners who challenged the postponement of the BSKE. He was also one of the petitioners in the consolidated petitions earlier granted by the SC that declared the postponement of the 2022 BSKE as unconstitutional. /das