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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 20 July) — Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel has filed a bill to move the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from May 11, 2020 to October 11, 2021, to give the Commission on Elections (Comelec) more time to prepare for the polls.
In a press statement, Pimentel said he filed House Bill 905 “to give the Comelec greater leeway to prepare for the next barangay and SK elections, considering that we just concluded the May 13 mid-term national and local polls.”
The bill provides that all of the country’s 670,000 barangay and SK officials whose terms are supposed to end on June 30, 2020, would remain in office until their successors are elected, unless sooner removed or suspended for cause.
Isabela Rep. Faustino Dy had earlier filed a bill seeking to postpone the May 2020 polls to May 2023 or a five-year term for these officials who were elected in 2018. Dy said this would give the barangay and SK officials “more time to fulfill long-term programs and projects in their communities.”
In the Senate, Senator Imee Marcos had earlier filed a bill seeking to move the barangay and SK polls to May 2023 while Senator Christopher Lawrence Go also filed a bill to move the elections to October 2022.
Rep. Pimentel’s October 2021 proposed date of election comes seven months before the May 2022 Presidential elections. (MindaNews)