Duterte urges Congress to postpone May 2020 barangay polls

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called on Congress to postpone the scheduled May 2020 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to October 2022.

During his fourth State of the Nation Address, Duterte said Congress should carefully study the postponement of the barangay polls to a later date.

"Congress has to postpone the May 2020 elections and yung barangay Sangguniang Kabataan to October 2022," he said.

"Because if you read it, this is to rectify the truncated term. Paiba-iba na. The truncated terms of sitting barangay [officials] but also provide them with the ample time to finish their programs and projects," he added.

It was not the first time that the barangay elections would be postponed.

A barangay election was supposed to take place in October 2016, but it was later postponed to October 23, 2017.

The polls were further postponed to May 2018 after Duterte signed Republic Act 10952, which also dictates that the next elections would held in May 2020 and every three years after that.

Apart from the postponement of the polls, Duterte also urged Congress to enact a Magna Carta for Barangays., which will give village workers mandatory social protection. —LDF/BM, GMA News