MANILA — Malacañang on Tuesday hailed Congress for its unified stand in approving the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections slated October 2017.
This after the House of Representatives voted Monday night to adopt the Senate version postponing the barangay and youth polls to October 2018.
The House version has proposed an earlier May 2018 schedule.
“The Palace welcomes the move of the House of Representatives to adopt the Senate’s final version postponing the barangay and SK elections,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said during a Palace briefing.
The agreement of the House and the Senate to a single version immediately deemed the bill as approved by Congress and just needs the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte in order to be enacted into law.
“We expect the President to sign the proposed bill into law,” Abella said.
The imminent postponement of this year’s elections would be the second time that the barangay polls will be postponed.
The elections were supposed to be held on Oct. 31, 2016, but was moved to Oct. 23, 2017.
The October 2016 elections were postponed so that Duterte can fill up vacancies in his newly-installed government without being impeded with the 45-day ban on the appointment of officials during an election period.
This time, the President said he wanted to postpone the village polls due to the involvement of barangay officials in the illegal drugs trade.
Duterte earlier said that about 40 percent of barangay leaders have links to the drug trade and drug money may be used to fund the campaigns of these officials. (PNA)
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