Marcos inks law to postpone Barangay, SK elections

Zion Mhar Kaezer Corpuz

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. approves RA 12232 on August 13, which seeks to move the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to a later date.

According to the new law, incumbent barangay and SK officials’ terms will remain until November 2026 unless removed or suspended.

Meanwhile, a fixed term of four years of office will be implemented for the BSK officials.

On the talks of office terms, only three consecutive terms of the same position will be allowed for barangay officials, while a maximum of only one term of the same position will be given to youth officials; barangay officials who are serving their 3rd term and incumbent SK officials will no longer be eligible for reelection for the same position.

The voluntary renunciation will not be considered as an interruption in the official’s continuity of service for the full term.

The BSKE will be held on the first Monday of November 2026 and every four years thereafter, with the assumption of positions for the elected officials to be sealed on the first day of December.

On August 9, the president reiterated the need to focus on the upcoming first-ever Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections scheduled in December, explaining his support for the postponement of the BSKE.

“With a view on the Supreme Court decision that we cannot shorten the term of the barangay officials, we are actually lengthening the term of the barangay officials. So that’s not in conflict. So I think the most sensible and the most common sense solution is to postpone” the Barangay and SK elections,” President Marcos Jr. said.

The Philippines’ last BSKE was held on October 30, 2023