SC orders Comelec, others to submit comments on consolidated BSKE case
Facade of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. | PHOTO: Official website of the Supreme Court / sc.judiciary.gov.p
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has consolidated into one case the three petitions challenging the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 12232 that extended the term of office of the incumbent barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials from three to four years.
Following the consolidation, the SC ordered the Senate, House of Representatives, the Office of the Executive Secretary and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to submit their comments within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of notice.
READ: SC to Comelec, Congress: Comment on plea vs BSKE postponement
The SC also ordered the respondents to include in their comments their stand on the plea for a temporary restraining order sought in the three petitions.
Aside from election law expert Atty. Romulo Macalintal, John Barry T. Tayam and a group of young voters led by Mystro Yushi Fujii filed separate petitions seeking to nullify the new law.
At the same time, the SC ordered Macalintal and the two other petitioners to submit their comments within a non-extendible period of 10 days on the intervention petition filed by the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas.
Term of office
The Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas, which supports RA 12232, told the SC that Congress has the power to fix the term of office of barangay and SK officials under Sections 3 and 8 of Article X and Section 1, Article VI of the Constitution.
READ: Liga ng mga Barangay seeks junking of BSKE postponement petition
They said the 2023 SC decision that invalidated RA 11935, which postponed the Dec. 5, 2022 BSKE, “is fundamentally distinct from the present law, RA 12232.”
They said, the two laws “are materially different legislative acts, and, accordingly, the SC ruling in the 2023 case cannot be invoked to strike down RA 12232.”
They added that if the elections are held on Dec. 1, 2025, their term of office would only be for two years from Oct. 30, 2023, the date of the last BSKE, while RA 9164 (synchronized barangay and SK elections) fixes their term of office to three years for three consecutive terms.
“It is all the more proper for the BSKE to be moved for one year as this bolsters our legal right to intervene,” the Liga said.
Meanwhile, the other two petitions against RA 12232 said the new voters said they would be deprived of their right to vote due to age limitations under the law.
They said voters who will turn 30 years old after Dec. 1, 2025, will no longer be able to vote for SK candidates since the voting for SK candidates is limited to those aged 15 to 30.
READ: Youth group files petition before SC challenging BSKE postponement
They said that unlike in national elections where suffrage is continually exercisable throughout one’s adult life, participation in the SK electoral process is a unique constitutional and statutory entitlement afforded only to the youth sector, in recognition of their special role in local governance.
“Once lost due to aging out, the opportunity to vote and/or run in the SK can no longer be restored, effectively resulting in irreparable and direct injury to their right to political participation, unlike in regular national elections where a citizen’s right to vote continues throughout their lifetime,” they pointed out. /mr
