EDITORIAL - Pandering

In June last year, the Supreme Court released a strongly worded ruling, declaring as unconstitutional the repeated postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. “The right of suffrage requires the holding of honest, genuine, regular and periodic elections,” the SC said. It threw out the reasons cited by Congress for yet another postponement of the BSKE, among which was ostensibly to save on costs – an argument that was contradicted by the Commission on Elections, whose chairman said a postponement would cost billions more in public funds.

In its ruling, the SC said any poll postponement must be an exception, based on “genuine reasons” such as those “necessitated by public emergency, but only if and to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation.” Destruction caused by a typhoon, for example, may allow that kind of postponement.

And yet, politicians pandering to BSK officials, many of whom serve as grassroots political leaders during election campaigns, are again proposing to reset the BSKE from the schedule in December 2025 to December 2026. Not only that, the same senator who argued that postponing the previous BSKE would mean savings now even wants to give BSK officials a term of six years – longer than the terms of congressmen, local government executives and half of the 24-member Senate. The senator, who is running for reelection in 2025, has presented the proposal to the plenary.

Last May, a congressman filed a similar bill in the House, arguing that the term of office of the incumbent BSK officials has been shortened. The congressman overlooked the fact that the SC, in its ruling, had allowed the shortened term, even as the court noted that BSK officials had enjoyed unconstitutional term extensions due to the repeated prolonged postponements of the BSKE.

Lawmakers want to postpone not only the BSKE but also the first-ever parliamentary elections in May 2025 in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The proponents are citing the recent SC ruling that upheld the decision of Sulu to be excluded from the BARMM, as reflected in the plebiscite on the creation of the region.

Despite the exclusion of Sulu, the Comelec has said it is ready to conduct the BARMM elections. Last Saturday, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s central committee also “earnestly” appealed for the elections to proceed as scheduled. Congress should consider the MILF’s voice. And lawmakers should wean themselves from using poll postponement to pander to BSK officials.