EDITORIAL — Incorrigible

The Supreme Court decision in June 2023 on the repeated postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections or BSKE, which effectively extended the terms of village and youth council officials, was peppered with the word “unconstitutional.”

Even if a “public emergency” compels the postponement of elections, it must be limited “to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation,” the SC declared, and “must still guarantee that the elections will be held at regular periodic intervals that are not unduly long.”

Yet here we go again with the latest proposal, not surprisingly emanating from the House of Representatives, to give the current BSK officials another year in their posts, saying their term has been shortened by the SC ruling that struck down Republic Act 11935.

The SC in fact saw this argument being raised in the future. A briefer on the SC ruling declared: “Reasons such as election fatigue, purported resulting divisiveness, shortness of existing term, and/or other superficial or farcical reasons, alone, may not serve as important, substantial, or compelling reasons to justify the postponement of the elections. To be sufficiently important, the reason for the postponement must primarily be justified by the need to safeguard the right of suffrage or other fundamental rights or required by a public emergency situation.”

Alleged divisiveness and election fatigue were raised by lawmakers in the repeated postponements of the BSKE. The postponements were institutionalized during the Duterte administration and typically done when elections approached. Many BSK officials serve as ward leaders of politicians and parties, and postponing the elections effectively extended the terms of the village and youth council officials.

You wonder which part of the Supreme Court decision lawmakers can’t or don’t want to understand. On cue, with the approach of the 2025 midterm elections, certain congressmen are again pandering to their local leaders by proposing yet another postponement of the BSKE.

The only reason the SC allowed the holding of the BSKE on the last Monday of October last year, even if RA 11935 had been struck down and declared a “transgression on the people’s right of suffrage,” was because the high tribunal recognized the “legal practicality and necessity” of proceeding with the electoral exercise.

The SC briefer said “grave violation of the Constitution attended the enactment of RA 11935,” which could be repeated and therefore demanded “formulation of controlling principles to guide the bench, the bar, and the public.” Incorrigible congressmen are leading the way in refusing to be guided. They reinforce perceptions that any discretionary power granted to them is guaranteed to be misused and abused.