House OKs bill postponing brgy, SK polls to December 2023 on third reading

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on third and final reading the bill postponing the December 2022 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections for one year.

House Bill 4673, which seeks to move the barangay and SK polls to the first Monday of December 2023, was approved with 264 affirmative votes, six negative votes, and three abstention.

Majority of the House members approved the bill even if Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Garcia earlier said that postponing the barangay and youth polls by a year would mean additional cost for the government since the poll body needs to reopen registration for new voters.

"If we postpone it to March or December 2023, we will have to continue registration of new voters. This will mean additional voters, additional ballots [to be printed], additional teachers [to serve as poll workers], additional precincts, additional election paraphernalia [to buy]," Garcia said.

"It will entail additional cost. If we factor the increase in honoraria expense for our teachers, it would be an additional P5 billion," he added.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT Teachers party-list, one of the six lawmakers who voted no on the measure, said the move silences the voice of the people in choosing their leaders.

"The postponement is unjustifiable. There is no such thing as election fatigue," Castro said.

"This is not a postponement of election, but postponement of democracy and the voice of the people," she added.

A similar measure is being discussed at the Senate plenary. The bill, however, proposes to hold the barangay and SK elections on the second Monday of December 2023.

If the Senate will approve the bill, a bicameral conference committee will be convened to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the two proposals.—AOL, GMA News