THE House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms chaired by Rep. Maximo Dalog, Jr. (Lone District, Mountain Province) approved, subject to style, the substitute bill postponing the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to next year, during Thursday’s hybrid meeting.
The substitute bill consolidated the more than 30 measures filed. Dalog said it contained the following elements as agreed upon by members in the previous August 16, 2022 meeting: 1) that the synchronized barangay and SK elections be postponed to the first Monday of December 2023 and every three years thereafter; 2) that incumbent officials be on holdover capacity until their successors would have been duly elected or qualified; and 3) that an expressed repeal of existing laws would be included. Dalog reiterated that postponing the elections desired two very important objectives: a) to allow more Filipinos to register as voters to the extension of voter’s registration; and b) to allow the government to apply corrective actions on the honoraria of poll workers whose remunerations are still subject to taxes. The committee likewise approved the corresponding committee report.
