SK polls may be reset anew

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) may have to delay anew the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections because President Aquino has yet to sign the proposed measure postponing the polls.

The election period for the SK elections is supposed to start on March 26. The election period was initially set to start in February until the Comelec opted to reset it in March.

The Office of the President received the SK postponement bill on March 4, but Aquino has yet to sign it.

“In case the President will not be able to sign (the measure) into law, we will be moving the election period to April 10,” Comelec acting chairman Christian Lim said.

He expressed confidence that the SK elections will push through even if the President will not be able to sign the law.

“Under the Constitution, if the President has not signed for a period of 30 days, it becomes a law. So most likely by April 4, it becomes a law if the President does not act on it,” Lim explained.

For this reason, Comelec stopped all public biddings related to the SK polls several weeks ago.

“We found out that the bill is already with the Office of the President so we stopped our biddings because we don’t want to incur additional expenses,” Lim explained.

However, Lim admitted that a majority of the election materials the poll body had bid out has been awarded.