COMELEC: EMBO barangays cannot vote for a congressman in 2025

The Commission on Elections said that the EMBO Barangays in Taguig would not be able to vote for a congressman in the 2025 elections.

During an interview on Tuesday, COMELEC  Chairman George Garcia said that the barangays were currently not included in any district in Taguig.

He added that a law needed to be a law passed for the EMBO barangays to be included in a district or for them to be categorized as a third district.

“Hanggang sa kasalukuyan, hindi po alam ng COMELEC  kung saang distrito ng Taguig kabilang [ang mga EMBO barangay]. Wala  pong kapangyarihan ang COMELEC na gawin ‘yun sapagkat ang may  kapangyarihan na magsabi ng anong barangays ang kasama sa bawat distrito ay ang Kongreso," explained Garcia.

"Nung ginawa po nila ang batas na nagsasabi na merong  first district ang Taguig [at] second district, naka-enumerate po kung  anong mga barangays [ang kasama] doon, at siyempre, wala po yung sampung  barangays na galing po sa Makati. Kaya po di kayo makakaboto para sa  inyong representate o congressman.”

(Presently,  the COMELEC does not know which Taguig district the EMBO barangays belong to. The COMELEC does not have the authority to decide that because it is Congress that has the power to determine which barangays belong to which district. When they created that law that implemented the first and second districts of Taguig, it enumerated which barangays were included. And of course, the ten barangays from Makati weren’t included there. That’s why they cannot vote for their representative or  congressman.)

The EMBO barangays could still vote for national positions and Taguig's mayor and vice mayor.

Meanwhile, the three remaining barangays under Makati’s second district would remain a district and be able to vote for their representative.

“Nage-exist pa rin po ang kanilang distrito sapagkat hindi pa po namin pwede  i-abolish ang distrito nila. Kahit tatlo nalang na barangay ang natitira  ay intact pa rin [sila]. Naandiyan pa rin yung 2nd District ng Makati…  Ang COMELEC po ay walang kapangyarihang mag-abolish ng distrito,” he  said.

(Their district still exists because we cannot abolish their district. Even if there are only three barangays left, they are still intact. The 2nd District of Makati still exists… The COMELEC  has no power to abolish districts.)

“Kung ang Kongreso ang may  kapangyarihan na mag-create, ang Kongreso din ang may kapangyarihan na  mag-abolish o mag-balewala ng distrito,” he added.

(If Congress has the power to create, the Congress also has the power to abolish or dissolve a district.)

The COMELEC has prepared ballots for the upcoming elections, which would not include the congressman for the EMBO barangays.

“Hindi po kami pwede maghintay  kung magakakaroon ng batas o wala sapagkat ayun pong balota  kinakailangan maging maliwanag kung may congressman o wala… Madali naman po kami maggawa ng panibagong ballot face para diyan pero mas magandang handa na po kami dito, dahil hindi po ganon kadali yung basta pagsasabi na retain eto o abolish yung ganiyang distrito,” Garcia said.

(We cannot wait for a law because the ballot has to be clear whether there will be a congressman or not… It would be easy to create a new ballot  face for that, but it would be better for us to be ready because it’s  not easy to suddenly retain or abolish a district) — DVM, GMA Integrated News