Yamsuan, Villafuertes seek DILG’s support for measure postponing barangay, SK polls

Lawmakers who have proposed to pass a law postponing next year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to 2026 have sought the assistance of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in ensuring that the incumbent officials involved are able to take part in the congressional deliberations on the measure.

Representatives Brian Raymund Yamsuan, LRay Villafuerte and Miguel Luis Villafuerte have asked DILG Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos Jr. to furnish them a complete list of the names, office addresses, email addresses and contact numbers of incumbent Barangay and SK (BSK) officials.

They have jointly filed House Bill (HB) 10344 seeking to postpone the December 1, 2025 BSK elections to October 26, 2026 and every three years thereafter.

In seeking the DILG’s assistance, the three lawmakers said that they want to reach out to the BSK officials “whose participation is relevant in pursuing this legislative measure.”

“This shall uphold the rights of the constituents to contribute to such legislative process promoting and protecting their participation (in) all aspects of government decision(-making),” they said in a letter sent to Abalos dated May 8, 2024.

Yamsuan, a former DILG assistant secretary and now representative of Bicol Saro Partylist, LRay Villafuerte and Miguel Luis Villafuerte, who represent Camarines Sur’s 2nd and 5th districts, respectively, signed the letter. It was coursed through DILG Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Felicito Valmocina.

They said in their letter that HB 10344 “intends to safeguard the fundamental rights of both the electorate and the incumbent BSK officials.”

According to them, holding the next BSK elections as originally set on December 1, 2025 will mean a shorter term for the incumbent officials, which impairs their performance, “diminishes the(ir) obligations to serve their constituents, and lessens their accountabilities in the exercise of the power vested in them by the people’s free choice.”

Because the last BSK elections were held in October 2023, the incumbent officials will serve for only two years if the next balloting would be done as originally scheduled in 2025.

The shortened term “actually contravene(s) the three-year term of office for these elective officials” as mandated by the 1987 Constitution and the 1991 Local Government Code.

If the bill were to become a law, it would benefit 42,001 incumbent BSK chairpersons and 294,007 sitting Sangguniang Barangay and SK members.