ILOILO City – The scheduled November 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) may not push through as congressional moves to extend the terms of barangay and youth officials gain momentum, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said.
Discussions with lawmakers indicated support for giving barangay officials longer terms, a move that could effectively postpone this year’s elections, Recto told the media during his visit to Iloilo on Aug. 25.
“Tinatalakay ‘yan sa Kongreso. Hinihintay na lang natin kung ipapasa nila ang batas tungkol dyan,” said Recto.
His statement came a day after the Senate local government committee approved proposed measures that could derail the November polls, including one seeking to postpone the BSKE until October 2027 and another fixing the terms of barangay and SK officials at five years.
The Senate committee on Aug. 24 completed deliberations on Sen. Imee Marcos’ Senate Bill No. 2067, or the proposed “Postponing the November 2026 BSKE,” and Sen. Francis Escudero’s Senate Bill No. 2387, which seeks to fix the terms of barangay officials and members of the SK.
Meanwhile, here in Western Visayas, the regional Commission on Elections (Comelec) office is pushing full steam ahead, refusing to factor proposed postponements into its preparations unless Congress enacts a law resetting the polls.
Comelec Region 6 director Atty. Dennis Ausan said election offices across the region are already at the height of preparations, with nearly all pre-election activities completed.
“We are on election mode. We are at the height of our preparation and actually almost of the all pre-election activities and preparations that we need to undergo and undertake we have already done,” Ausan said.
In the Senate, the committee on local government is expected to prepare a report adopting the proposed measures. Once signed by a majority of its members, the report will be presented to the Senate plenary.
Marcos’ measure proposes moving the Nov. 2 elections to October 2027, citing, among others, the financial burden on voters who must travel to their home provinces amid rising fuel prices.
She also noted that the scheduled BSKE falls close to the observance of All Souls’ Day.
Escudero’s proposal, meanwhile, seeks to extend the terms of barangay and SK officials from the current four years to a fixed five years, arguing that longer terms would allow them to more effectively implement programs and projects.
Should the measure be enacted before the November elections, postponement could become a consequence of the new term structure.
“The natural effect will be, of course, to postpone the upcoming election, but the subject matter of this bill is fixing the term, not just postponement,” Escudero said.
In Western Visayas, Ausan said, “Actually at this point of time, it’s a matter of waiting for the final guidance or general instruction from our Main Office for us to start the training of the electoral board, the teachers who will be manning the different polling places for the November 2 elections. So, wala kami ya naga-entertenar sang postponement.”
He stressed that Comelec-6 would change course only if a law postponing the elections is eventually enacted. Until then, its working assumption remains that millions of voters will go to the polls on Nov. 2.
Recto was in Iloilo on Aug. 25 to lead the Bagong Pilipinas Rice Program distribution in Pavia, where around 15,000 family beneficiaries received 10 kilograms of rice each under a program funded through the Local Government Support Fund.
Around 83,000 families across Iloilo province are targeted to receive 10 kilograms of rice each.
Recto also met 250 selected scholars under the Bawat Barangay Makikinabang Program (BBBM) and turned over checks to the mayors of Iloilo’s 43 municipalities at the Iloilo Convention Center in Mandurriao district.
Under the BBBM, each barangay receives P200,000. Half of the amount, or P100,000, is divided among five graduating college students, while the remaining P100,000 is allotted for barangay equipment and other necessities such as computers and printers.
Recto also served as keynote speaker at the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Luzon Chapter convention./PN
