House OKs on 2nd reading bill postponing barangay, SK polls to December 2023

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading a bill that seeks to postpone the December 2022 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections for one year. 

House Bill 4673, which moves the barangay and SK polls to the first Monday of December 2023, was approved even though its principal sponsor, House suffrage and electoral reform panel chairperson Maximo Dalog Jr. of Mountain Province, admitted that the postponement would mean additional expenses for the government.

Prior to this development, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman opposed the approval due to lack of quorum or lack of physically present lawmakers during the plenary session.

Under House rules, the House cannot hold proceedings without a quorum or majority of lawmakers present.

"I object, Mr. Speaker, because there are not enough warm bodies in the plenary. Many of our members are in the budget committee hearing and other exercises," Lagman said.

The session was then suspended for a few minutes.

When the session resumed, House Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo moved to approve the bill because there were more lawmakers already in the session hall.

Lagman conceded by saying, "the air conditioning in the plenary hall has been overwhelmed by warm bodies." 

Since 2016, the barangay and SK polls have been repeatedly postponed.

The October 2016 barangay and SK polls were postponed to October 2017. From there, it was postponed to May 2018, which was again reset to December 2022. —VBL, GMA News