Barangay, Sangguniang Kabataan elections postponed to October 2023
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has given the go signal to postpone the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), which was supposed to be held in December this year.
According to the Official Gazette, the act was signed into law on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. The BSKE will now be held next year, on the last Monday of October 2023, instead of holding it on December 5 this year. Subsquent BSKE will be held every three years.
All incumbent barangay and sangguniang kabataan officials will remain in office unless removed or suspended.
READ: Ever Again: Alumni of Marcos-era Kabataang Barangay hopeful for revival
Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia said that the poll body will continue preparing for the BSKE. He said the postponement will also give Comelec more time to conduct information programs for the electorate and the prospective BSKE candidates.
"We hope that hopefuls for barangay and SK positions and the voting public would also take this time to prepare and reflect on their rights and duties which they will exercise through their ballots and eventual offices," Garcia in a statement on Wednesday.
The commission will release an updated calendar of activities as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Comelec will also revisit existing and planned procurement contracts related to the BSKE. Garcia earlier revealed that postponing the BSKE would cost the poll body P18 billion, instead of the P8.4 billion projected if the polls were to be held this year.
READ: Postponing barangay, SK polls won't save government money after all
In a statement on September 28, the poll body said it had so far only spent a fraction of the P8.441 billion it allocated for the 2022 BSKE.
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