‘Marcos wants BSKE in December’

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos could veto the bill postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in December, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said yesterday.

“Last LEDAC, what I know and heard from the President was that he wanted the Dec. 1 BSKE to continue,” he said, referring to the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting with Marcos.

Pimentel said he is not opposing the measure.

“The new idea here is that it will fix barangay officials’ terms of office to four years, starting with those elected in 2023, whose terms in office are abnormally short at just two years. So necessarily the December BSKE should be moved to 2027,” he noted.

Congress earlier ratified the bicameral conference report on the bill.

Sen. Imee Marcos said resetting the BSKE is needed to allow officials elected in 2023 to serve a four-year term.

She denied lawyer Romulo Macalintal’s claim that the bill is similarly flawed to a previous measure declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

“While Republic Act 11935 had no purpose other than to simply extend pro hac vice the tenure in office of barangay officials elected in 2018, Senate Bill 2816 sets the term of barangay and SK officials once and for all,” Marcos said.

“The 2025 BSKE’s postponement is merely incidental. I appeal to the President to sign the bill as soon as possible so that the Commission on Elections can focus on preparing for the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections in October,” she added.

Before the session adjourned last week, the Senate and House ratified a reconciled version to extend village officials’ terms of office to four years with three consecutive terms allowed, while youth council members would have a single four-year term.

The ratified bill is seeking to reset the Dec. 1 BSKE to the first Monday of November 2026.