Dwayne Pelagio

The Senate bill moving the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to 2029 and extending the term of the local village officials to six years has reached the upper chamber’s plenary.

Photo courtesy of Rappler.



Senate Bill no. 2816 was sponsored by Senate electoral reforms committee chairperson Sen. Imee Marcos citing the need for more time to give village officials to deliver their mandates.

“The term of office of all elected barangay officials and members of the Sangguniang Kabataan shall be six (6) years. No barangay elective official or member of the Sangguniang Kabataan shall serve for more than two (2) consecutive terms in the same position. Voluntary renunciation of office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of service for the full term for which the elective official was elected,” the Senate bill stated.

The bill also said that the next BSKE Elections shall be conducted on the second Monday of May 2029.

The bill was under the Committee Report 217 during the Senate plenary session.

Senator Marcos asked her colleagues in the session to approve the bill.

"Samantalang malaki ang bahagi ng budget para sa kanila sana, nasusunog lang naman itong budget sa dami at sa dalas ng eleksyon," Marcos said in her sponsorship speech.

Marcos explained in her speech that all elected barangay officials and SK are required to undergo and attend numerous trainings and seminars, adding to the complexity of their already challenging responsibilities.

“It is evident that three years are grossly inadequate for these officials to comply with their added obligations and at the same time exercise their own discretion in promoting the general welfare of their constituents,” Marcos added in her speech.

The senator stressed that the longer term of six years, which was in fact the original term provided for the barangays previously, will negate the reasons commonly advanced for ad hoc extensions of the terms of barangay and SK, much decried by the Supreme Court decision issued last year, that the term is too short, that there is election fatigue, or similar justifications that they felt, indeed, were not valid.

"At ngayon, kakampi naman natin ang Department of Budget [and Management] (DBM) at lahat ng ating economic managers sapagkat sabi nila ang ginastos sa barangay elections noong nakaraang Oktubre umabot ng 18 billion at baka umabot ng 20 billion sa Desyembre ng 2025,” Marcos stated the benefits of this bill to the DBM.

"In addition, setting the term of barangay officials and members of the SK will assure us that finally, the barangay and SK elections will never coincide with the national and local elections, thus ensuring a more focused and effective governance cycle while at the same time allowing Comelec to have adequate time to ensure peaceful and orderly elections,” the senator included in her speech.

Marcos cited that as of September 12, more than 1,100 barangay, city, municipal, and provincial resolutions from all parts of the country as well as 165 resolutions from the SK chapters nationwide have endorsed this measure.

The last BSKE was held in October 2023 after the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the law that postponed its conduct from the initial schedule of Dec. 5, 2022, to the last Monday of October 2023.

The highest judicial court said that the next BSKE shall be held on the first Monday of December 2025 and every three years thereafter, pursuant to Republic Act 11462 or the act postponing the May 2020 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.