LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Senator Joel Villanueva on Thursday assured the inevitability of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and barangay elections on May 14 this year.
Villanueva, who was here with Senators Joseph Victor Ejercito and Nancy Binay for the public consultation on the Universal Health Care Bill Thursday, said it is “highly improbable that the elections will not push through because of the timing”.
Five months ago, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 10952 or the postponement of the Barangay and SK polls which was the second postponement of the SK and barangay elections.
“Both postponements were authored by me,” said Villanueva, insisting that “it is high time to conduct an election”.
Meanwhile, Binay supported Villanueva’s statement while expressing concern on the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) preparation for the 2019 elections.
“The House of Representatives wants to move the election to October but by that time, the Comelec should be preparing for the 2019 elections. Considering that there are still some issues with the counting machines, Comelec might not have sufficient time to prepare for the 2019 elections if SKB (SK and barangay elections) will be postponed again,” she said.
Binay added that as of Thursday, no one in the Senate filed a bill for postponement and no hearing was done.
She echoed Villanueva’s sentiment that “it is high time to push through with the elections”.
Moreover, Binay said she was thrilled by the implementation of the SK Reform Law once the elections push through, especially with the Anti-Dynasty provision, which she co-authored with Ejercito.
Nonetheless, Ejercito said in an interview with Bombo Radyo Dagupan on Wednesday that unless President Duterte tags the postponement bill as urgent, the Senate would not be able to tackle the proposed postponement of the SK and barangay elections.
In Pangasinan, Atty. Marino Salas, provincial election supervisor, said that their office is on schedule, as per the Comelec calendar, and that they are ready for the election period from April 14 up to May 21.
Pangasinan has 2.4 million registered voters, of whom 1.7 million are registered to vote in the barangay elections, while approximately 700,000 are for the SK polls.
The filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) begins on April 14, Saturday, and ends on April 20 and the nine-day campaign period covers May 4 to May 12. Campaigning is prohibited on May 13, eve of election day. (Hilda Austria and Ahicam Pasion/PNA)
