NAMFREL, LENTE oppose postponement of 2022 brgy, SK polls

Two election watchdogs on Friday aired their opposition against proposals to postpone the 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), saying it is high time for the electorate to assess their local leaders.

"We should pressure our legislature not to postpone the 2022 barangay and SK elections. It was already postponed in 2018, 2020. So, let's call on the Congress not to postpone anymore the 2022 barangay and SK elections," said Atty. Ona Caritos of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) in a virtual forum organized by the Ateneo School of Government on Friday.

Caritos explained that postponing the barangay polls anew would deprive the Filipino people of their right to choose their local leaders and assess their performance in the past years, including their COVID-19 pandemic response.

"Maybe the primary consequence is we deprive our people of their right to choose their leaders...It is high time for all of us [to elect new set of leaders] because barangay officials are the closest government officials that we interact to in our day to day lives and we have seen in this pandemic how effective or how good it is to have good barangay officials," she said.

"Pero paano kung ang barangay at SK officials mo hindi magaling [What if your barangay and SK officials did not perform well]? So you'll be stuck with them [in] the next year or [in] the next two years," she added.

National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections Secretary-General Eric Alvia also expressed the same stand and tagged statements that say deferring the BSKE would generate government savings as a "flimsy excuse."

"Definitely, we will oppose any move to postpone the barangay elections, given that the savings is a flimsy excuse because right now Comelec is already spending for the preparations and the P8 billion has already been spent by Comelec because of the preparations. So postponing it is useless," he said.

"I hope the postponement does not have any strings attached to paying off gratitude in the performance of certain officials in the past recent elections," he went on.

Further, Alvia said that elections should be regular as it is a way for people to evaluate the leaders in their community.

Some lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, who is poised to be the next speaker, back the postponement of the local polls.

Romualdez said the government could save P8.141 billion if the BSKE will be deferred.

Former Comelec Commissioner George Garcia, whose appointment was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments, earlier echoed Romualdez's statement, saying that postponing the December 2022 barangay and SK elections would save the government a lot of money.

Should the elections be deferred, this will mark the fourth time that Congress postponed the barangay and SK elections since October 2016.

The October 2016 barangay and SK polls were postponed to October 2017. From then, it was postponed to May 2018. It was again reset to May 2022.

The poll body has already resumed voter registration last July 4 and it will run until July 23.

Acting Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco explained that the continuing voter's registration will be held in less than a month because Republic Act 8189 or the Continuing Voter's Registration Act prohibits voter registration within 120 days prior to the elections.

The next Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections is set for December 5, 2022.

Other issues

In the same forum, Alvia proposed the review of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) as some provisions already need amendments.

He also mentioned the need for the inclusion of anti-political dynasty provision in the law and measures that will be responsive to the voters specifically in the voter registration.

Alvia likewise expressed support for a shift to hybrid voting where the votes will be manually counted at the precinct level rather than fully-automated polls.

Although he acknowledged that the transmission was fast in a fully automated voting system, Alvia said a random manual audit will no longer be necessary if there is already a manual count after the polling precincts close.

For her part, Caritos said election watchdogs should be included in the deliberations regarding the new Omnibus Election Code as they expect Senate electoral reforms committee chairperson Senator Imee Marcos to refile and push for the passage of the bill in the 19th Congress.

She also expressed hope that this law will be used to address problems in the party-list system, which she said is being used as a "backdoor" for political dynasties to gain a seat in Congress.

If an anti-dynasty provision cannot cover all the positions, Caritos said they are keen to negotiate with Congress the inclusion of a provision in the party-list law that will prohibit dynasties up to second-degree of consanguinity.

On misinformation and disinformation, LENTE mentioned the need for discussions on the proposed SIM Card Registration Act, particularly on the provision that requires social media users to register in social media platforms with their real names.

Meanwhile, NAMFREL said there is a need to include critical thinking and critical analysis in the K to 12 modules to intensify voter education especially to first-time voters.

According to Alvia, these first time voters should be taught how to discern information being peddled by the traditional and social media.  —KBK, GMA News