MANILA (September 12) — The Senate on Wednesday approved on second reading a bill extending the terms of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (BSK) officials from four to five years, effectively putting the Nov. 2 elections on hold despite the Commission on Elections (Comelec) already spending about P8 billion to prepare for the polls.
Senate Bill 2387 passed despite objections from several senators who warned that another postponement would further delay voters’ right to choose the officials closest to their communities.
The House of Representatives approved its counterpart, House Bill 10971, a day earlier.
Senator Tito Sotto, in his turno en contra speech, called an eighth postponement of the barangay and SK elections “unconstitutional,” arguing that repeatedly extending incumbents’ tenure undermines the constitutional principle that government authority comes from the people.
“Considering that it is the eighth time, Mr. President, that we have postponed barangay elections, it might give an impression to the public of how little regard we are giving to the unit of government closest to the people.”
“Again, the question is, when will we stop, Mr. President?” Sotto said.
Senators Joel Villanueva, Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino also voted against the measure.
Comelec already spent P8 billion
Sotto questioned the need to postpone the Nov. 2 elections when the Comelec is already prepared to conduct them.
Of the P19.57 billion appropriated for the BSK elections, the poll body has already spent about P8 billion, he said.
“The Comelec is ready and equipped to conduct the November 2026 BSK elections. Thus, I am hopeful that it will proceed,” Sotto said.
During Tuesday’s plenary debates, Senate President Pro Tempore Chiz Escudero, the bill’s sponsor, acknowledged that the Comelec could lose about P200 million of the money already spent if the elections are deferred.
The financial cost, however, is only one issue confronting Congress.
Sotto said the Senate should determine whether another postponement meets the standards set by the Supreme Court in Comelec v. Macalintal, which laid down constitutional considerations for postponing elections.
He argued that the measure must be scrutinized carefully before the Senate votes on third reading next week.
Another reset after another reset
The proposed five-year term comes only a year after Congress changed the tenure of barangay and SK officials from three to four years.
Republic Act 12232, enacted in 2025, effectively moved the BSK elections from December 2025 to Nov. 2, 2026.
The last BSK elections were held in 2023, after the polls originally scheduled earlier had already been postponed four times since 2016.
Villanueva questioned why Congress should again abruptly extend the terms of incumbent officials instead of allowing voters to elect new barangay and SK leaders this year.
Both Villanueva and Sotto argued that Congress can establish a five-year term without canceling the 2026 elections.
Villanueva proposed allowing the Nov. 2 polls to proceed and applying the five-year term to those elected.
Avoiding another collision with national polls
Escudero defended the proposed five-year term as a way of breaking the cycle of postponements triggered by conflicts between BSK and national or local elections.
He said previous laws postponing barangay elections had often cited the need to avoid holding them alongside national and local polls.
Under the proposed five-year cycle, he said, BSK elections would coincide with national and local elections only once in about 15 years and would thereafter avoid such overlaps for the next two to three decades.
But critics said that long-term scheduling does not necessarily justify denying voters a scheduled election this year.
The dispute therefore goes beyond the length of the term: Congress is being asked to choose between implementing a new electoral cycle and allowing voters to exercise their right to elect barangay and SK officials on Nov. 2.
Holdover officials and pending cases
Sotto also proposed barring incumbent BSK officials facing pending administrative or criminal cases from benefiting from a holdover or extended term.
Escudero opposed the amendment, warning of possible constitutional problems involving equal protection.
He argued that officials should not be disqualified merely because they have pending cases and should first be convicted by a court. Otherwise, he said, political opponents could use the provision to weaponize complaints against incumbents.
P16 billion savings questioned
The proposed postponement has also received support from Malacañang, which said Congress could save about P16 billion by suspending the BSK elections and redirecting the money to social assistance for vulnerable sectors affected by the continuing conflict in the Middle East.
That justification, however, raises another constitutional question.
In 2023, the Supreme Court declared Republic Act 11935, which postponed the 2022 BSK elections and allowed funds to be used for executive programs, unconstitutional for violating the constitutional prohibition against transfers of appropriations.
The latest proposal therefore places Congress in a familiar but potentially more consequential dispute: how far can lawmakers extend the tenure of elected barangay officials—and postpone an election—without running afoul of the Constitution?
The Senate is expected to take up SB 2387 for third reading next week.
