EDITORIAL — Abuse of power

Political dynasties are thriving not only in Congress and local governments, but also in barangay offices.

This has to be one of the biggest reasons for both Congress and Malacañang to repeatedly postpone the barangay elections, from the administration of Rodrigo Duterte to the current one.

Even as a bill that effectively institutionalizes dynasty-building has breezed through the House of Representatives and now awaits the counterpart measure from the Senate, both chambers are moving for yet another postponement of the barangay elections, already delayed by a year.

Not only that, since the latest scheme to circumvent the Supreme Court prohibition on repeated poll postponements worked last year, the sponsors of the current move are using the same tactic to reward their relatives and political leaders: by giving them an even longer regular term of five years, from the just approved four years.

Those hoping to challenge the incumbents this November must be wondering: what fantastic job did the current set of barangay officials do to deserve such a reward? Investors, for one, have long cited barangay red tape, meant chiefly for fund-raising, as one of the top hindrances to doing business in this country. For another, barangay officials failed to flag ghost or substandard flood control projects in their jurisdictions.

Commission on Elections officials have warned that every poll postponement costs taxpayers billions in additional expenses. But lawmakers have a dismal track record in the judicious use of public funds.

So here we are again, just three months before the next barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, and right on cue, bills have been filed in both chambers of Congress, seeking a postponement of the BSKE by not just one but two years.

The SC had struck down as unconstitutional the repeated postponement of the BSKE. But lawmakers saw a loophole: the law gives Congress the power to fix the terms of BSK officials. So they used this power to effectively postpone last year’s BSKE, by tacking it on to resetting the BSK officials’ term from three to four years.

If they could do it for the 2025 BSKE, why not for this year? This time, the proposal is to give BSK officials a five-year term.

This move is just the latest manifestation of lawmakers’ inability to resist any opportunity to abuse power, perpetuate their dynasties or reward their supporters. If they could have their way, they would allow their relatives and political leaders in the barangays to serve forever.

In declaring BSKE postponement unconstitutional, the Supreme Court had emphasized the importance of genuine periodic elections in exercising the right of suffrage and proper representation in a democracy.

But since when did the Constitution stop the abuse of power in this country?