BSK election reset allows

Ample time for reforms?

CORTES, Bohol Oct 15 (PIA) –The postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) to October of next year could be an opportunity for the country to push for the needed reforms in the law and come out with a better, more practical and more efficient system, agrees Bohol Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Supervisor Atty Eliseo RZB Labaria.

Sharing his personal thoughts during the recent Kapihan sa PIA which tackled the BSKE, a day after Malacanang made public the law which amended Republic Act 9164, Atty Labaria said apart from possibly giving more time for the elections commission to ready the elections especially the voting precincts which are now occupied with the reopening of the face to face classes.

He also the additional precautions that the body has to implement to keep voters from the disease, which was not fully covered in the 2022 elections appropriations.

SK REFORMS

High up in the reforms being proposed for the SK is the age bracket which comprises the SK membership.

The current consideration for SK membership is 15-30, effectively putting in youth that may have problems with their legal personality being below age of maturity.

The contention is, as an SK member, they can be technically elected and would have to handle government funds, opening public accounts, without the legal personality to do so.

Moreover, once an SK member marries, membership do not cease, until past 30. If a member is elected SK Chairman at 18 and marries, the membership continues and that technically puts 12 years of adult married life enjoying funds reserved for the youth who most deserve it.

BARANGAY REFORMS

Foremost among the reform is the proposal to make barangay officials earn fixed salaries, creating equality among the government service frontliners.

“We are basically working the same tasks, and with the honorarium based on the LGU capacity, richer LGUS can afford higher honorarium, while the poorer ones get low honorarium, for the same service,” a barangay official moaned.

ANTI DYNASTY LAW

And while the Sangguniang Kabataan reform bill provides for the ban on electing SK officials who are relatives of local elected and appointed officials up to second level of consanguinity and relatives of national and appointed officials, the absence of an implementing rule and regulation on this provision makes the law deficient.

This should be the perfect time, after all, there is almost a year for legislators to put his measure in place, comments Atty Labaria.

It is a fresh “322 days of more ‘subtle campaign’” for those eyeing for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (BSK) posts as the government resets the BSK elections until October 23, of 2023.

Originally set for December 5, 2022, the BSK elections had the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) upping their preparations and were about 70% ready as of October 10, or when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., signed Republic Act 11935.

RA 11935 postponed the December 2022 BSK elections and amended Republic Act 9164, as well as appropriated funds therefor and for other purposes.

“With that, it immediately stopped us from the preparations and allowed us to prepare for the reopening of the registration,” said Bohol Comelec Superintendent Atty Eliseo RZB Labaria, during the recent Kapihan sa PIA.

Instead of an BSK election set for December 5, 2022, Section 1 of the new law said there shall be a synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, which shall be held on the last Monday of October, and every three years thereafter.

With the new law, all incumbent Barangay and SK officials remain in office, on a hold-over capacity, until their successors shall have been elected and qualified, according to the law which was a consolidation of House Bill 4673 and Senate Bill 1306 which the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines passed on September 28, 2022.

That holdover capacity however, would be true, unless these incumbent officials shall have been removed from office or suspended for a cause.

With such, all Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan members who are currently serving as ex-officio members of the Sangguniang Bayan, Sangguniang Panlungsod, or Sangguniang Panlalawigan would continue to serve as members of the sanggunian concerned and until the next BSK elections shall have elected new ex-officio representatives. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

MORE PRESSING PRIORITIES. Bohol Comelec said the postponement of the BSKE should allow the government to institute the reforms, as long as its people would really intend to, hints Bohol Comelec Supervisor Atty Eliseo Labaria during the recent Kapihan sa PIA. (rahc/PIA_7/Bohol)