Comelec hails SC affirmation of law postponing 2025 BSKE
MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson George Erwin Garcia on Wednesday hailed the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) in affirming the law postponing the 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), emphasizing that the poll body can now focus on its preparations for the elections.
In a statement on Tuesday, the SC’s Public Information Office said that “[u]nder the law, the next BSKE will be held on the first Monday of November, 2026, and every four years thereafter. Accordingly, the elections set for Dec. 1, 2025, have been rescheduled to November 2026.”
READ: Supreme Court affirms BSKE postponement to November 2026
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 12232 last August, extending the current three-year term of BSK officials to four years. This effectively postponed the elections, which were originally scheduled from December 1, 2025 to November 2, 2026.
“This, hopefully, would finally put an end to endless speculations concerning the BSKE. Now that the SC has spoken, the COMELEC can now focus on our timelines and our preparations,” Garcia said in a statement.
Garcia earlier announced that the Comelec terminated its preparations for the 2025 BSKE after the elections were postponed. He explained that the poll body took almost two months to conclude its preparations, as it waited for a temporary restraining order from the SC amid a pending petition questioning the constitutionality of the law that postponed the elections.
The petition, filed by veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal et al., stated that the postponement law failed to comply with the guidelines set by the SC in the 2023 case of Macalintal vs. Comelec. The petitioners also claimed that the law violates the voters’ right to suffrage while it favors BSK officials.
READ: Comelec terminates preparations for BSKE after postponement
However, the SC said that “[t]his legislative power is not merely permissive; it makes Congress the sole body empowered to define the term of office of barangay officials.”
The SC added that the law did not violate the right to vote, emphasizing that it simply changes the interval from three to four years.”
“Elections remain regular, periodic, and certain. Voters know when the next election will take place, can hold officials accountable at fixed intervals, and retain full democratic control over barangay governance,” the SC noted.
Meanwhile, the Comelec has already begun printing ballots for the BSKE and is eyeing to finish 92 million ballots by December. According to figures Garcia provided to the media on Tuesday, the poll body has printed a total of 58,933,937 ballots for barangay officials.
The poll body also resumed voters’ registration ahead of the BSKE from October 20, 2025, to May 18, 2026. /mr
