MANILA (UCAN): “It is not right for the government to suppress electoral processes, especially as the barangay [village] and Sangguniang Kabataan [youth council] elections are seen as the most accessible and organic form of citizen’s engagement in public service and governance,” Caritas Philippines chief, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, told Radyo Veritas after Martin Romualdez, a newly elected member of the House of Representatives and cousin of president-elect, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., sponsored a bill that would suspend the polls scheduled for December 5 to allegedly cut costs.
Caritas Philippines, however, called the move anti-democratic on May 29, noting that village elections, which take place very two years, were already behind schedule as they should have taken place in 2020 but were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Romualdez claims he wants to save 8.14 billion pesos [$1.2 billion] in election costs to help finance a post-Covid pandemic livelihood aid scheme being promoted by Marcos Jr.
“If we will follow this bill of Congressman Romualdez, the terms of village and youth officials will be extended once again from two years to five years. This is a violation of law since the constitution only allows two years as a term limit of local barangay officials.”
Like in any other organisation, our government needs to step up its game to ensure good planning and better execution, and not use this as a lame excuse to postpone the December elections
Father Labiao
“Suspending the elections is a reflection of how our political leaders undermine the importance of barangay level politics in the exercise of our democratic rights,” Bishop Bagaforo added.
The bishop’s criticism came just days after Caritas Philippines said that it would foster a “principled collaboration” with the incoming government of Marcos.
Father Tony Labiao, Caritas’ executive secretary, said suspending village elections was not the “proper” pandemic response, especially if citizens are not able to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
“Like in any other organisation, our government needs to step up its game to ensure good planning and better execution, and not use this as a lame excuse to postpone the December elections,” Labiao told reporters.
The Legal Network for Truthful Elections said further delaying the village and youth elections was against international law and an attack on democracy.
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“This delay contravenes the standard of periodic elections as provided in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the pandemic response should be a top priority, this endeavour should not have collided with the citizen’s basic right to elect barangay and SK leaders,” the group said.
