Barangay polls tabled for House action

THE House of Representatives is expected to decide today whether to adopt the Senate version of a bill postponing barangay and youth elections so that President Rodrigo Duterte can sign it into law on Wednesday.

Citizens Battle Against Corruption Rep. Sherwin Tugna, chairman of the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms that approved the postponement of local polls from October 2017 to May 2018, said they would discuss adopting the Senate version of the bill with House leaders Monday.

Majority Floor Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said the President was amenable to the provision in the Senate bill that allows affected barangay officials to continue exercising their functions in a holdover capacity.
Cibac Rep. Sherwin Tugna. Photo from Cibac Party-List Facebook fan page

If the House accepts the Senate version, there will be no need to settle the differences through the  bicameral conference committee.

Duterte had earlier said he wanted to appoint barangay officials to replace those whose terms expired.

Senator Richard J. Gordon on Sunday said he was elated with the Senate’s decision to approve on third and final reading, the bill he sponsored to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from October this year to May 2018.

Gordon said with the issue on the postponement of the elections decided, the Senate can now concentrate on other bills and other pressing legislative business.

The Senate on Wednesday approved on third and final reading a bill postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from October to May next year.