BARANGAY OFFICIALS ‘ON BORROWED TIME’: NAMFREL opposes RA 12326, joins challenge to BSKE postponement

The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) will support and join moves to question before the Supreme Court the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 12326, the law that postpones the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to 2028 and fixes the terms of barangay and SK officials at five years.

In a statement dated Sept. 26, the election watchdog expressed “disappointment and dismay” over President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signing of the law on Sept. 24.

RA 12326 moves the BSKE from Nov. 2 this year to the second Monday of November 2028.

The law was made public only on Sept. 25, days before the scheduled filing of certificates of candidacy on Sept. 28.

NAMFREL said it had twice this year, on April 17 and Aug. 5, publicly called on Congress and the Executive to reject “exactly this outcome.”

“That these repeated warnings went unheeded is deeply troubling. That the law was rushed to enactment just ahead of the filing period is more troubling still,” the group said.

In signing the law, Marcos said, “The additional time in office is additional time to serve,” and he called on incumbent officials to use the extension to improve service delivery, finish ongoing programs, and better attend to the needs of their communities.

NAMFREL said it “respectfully but firmly rejects this reasoning.”

The group argued that a government intent on addressing fiscal pressure and the need for efficient and accountable frontline services should seek a fresh mandate for barangay leaders rather than extend their tenure “without a single vote cast in their favor.”

“Accountability is renewed at the ballot box, not by legislative decree. An official who has not faced the electorate in three additional years has no fresh basis to claim the confidence of the community he or she governs,” NAMFREL said.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who has said he will challenge the law before the Supreme Court, described the measure as “a massive three-year total postponement of the BSKE and a corresponding three-year unauthorized term extension for incumbent officials.”

NAMFREL said it shares this view.

The group said the President’s characterization that barangay officials would still be considered to have “served one term” obscures the fact that they will stay in office three years beyond their electoral mandate.

Those officials, Macalintal said, would govern through “legislative appointment rather than the ballot.”

NAMFREL said this is the danger it flagged in its April and August statements, stressing that regular, periodic elections are “not administrative conveniences to be deferred at the discretion of those already in power, but constitutional obligations and democratic rights belonging to the Filipino people.”

The group cited Macalintal v. COMELEC (G.R. No. 263590), decided June 27, 2023, in which the Supreme Court held that standard administrative concerns, including budget reallocations and general economic pressures, do not meet the compelling and extraordinary justification required to postpone a constitutionally mandated election.

In that case, the high court declared unconstitutional RA 11935, which had moved the December 2022 BSKE to October 2023, but allowed the October 2023 polls to proceed to avoid further disruption.

“Fiscal strain and global economic headwinds, however real, do not meet that threshold,” NAMFREL said.

The group added that economic hardship is “all the more reason” to ensure accountable, freshly mandated leadership at the level of government closest to the people.

NAMFREL also said the extension runs counter to the position of Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, who has publicly and repeatedly criticized the barangay system as a breeding ground for corruption.

Remulla has said barangay officials, down to SK councilors, effectively control their own discretionary funds, which he described as their own “pork barrel,” particularly in wealthier cities and municipalities.

Commenting on proposals to extend barangay and SK terms from four to five years, Remulla warned that “5 years is too long when the Kapitan is very bad,” noting that abusive or corrupt local officials discourage business investment at the barangay level.

The Ombudsman has instead called for a shorter term and higher standards for barangay candidates and officials, including a proposal to require barangay chairpersons, treasurers, and administrators to hold Civil Service eligibility.

NAMFREL said RA 12326 does the opposite, lengthening terms without imposing any heightened qualification, vetting, or accountability standard on the officials who benefit from the extension.

The group said it finds this contradiction “impossible to reconcile with any genuine claim that the law serves good governance.”

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has already spent about PHP 8 billion preparing for the Nov. 2 BSKE, funds NAMFREL described as “now effectively wasted,” although ballots and materials will reportedly be kept in storage.

The remaining PHP 11 billion allotted for the village polls will be redirected to preparations for the 2028 national and local elections.

NAMFREL said this is the budgetary diversion it warned against in its April 17 statement: the shifting of COMELEC’s constitutionally dedicated electoral funds toward other priorities, with the effect of preventing a constitutionally mandated election from proceeding on schedule.

“A one-time fiscal saving does not offset the lasting institutional cost of an electorate denied its right to vote for three additional years,” the group said.

In its Aug. 5 statement opposing House Bill No. 10376, NAMFREL warned that moving the BSKE to November 2028 would place it on the same calendar as the next national and local elections, inviting questions about political motive rather than fiscal necessity.

“That concern has now materialized as law,” the group said.

NAMFREL noted that barangay officials are influential mobilizers in national campaigns, and that aligning their continued incumbency with the 2028 polls deepens suspicion that the measure serves political convenience more than the public good.

The group said barangay and SK elections are already the most frequently postponed democratic exercises in the country’s history, and that each deferral normalizes legislating around the electorate and makes the next postponement easier to justify.

At three years, RA 12326 is the longest single postponement the BSKE has suffered, according to NAMFREL.

The incumbent officials were elected on Oct. 30, 2023. Their terms were earlier extended by RA 12232, signed in August 2025, which moved the December 2025 BSKE to November 2026.

“The barangay and SK officials currently holding office were elected for a defined term, and for no longer; they now continue to serve on borrowed time that the electorate never granted them,” NAMFREL said.

The group said election watchdogs have signified their intent to bring the matter before the Supreme Court, while election lawyers have announced the filing of a petition for certiorari arguing that the law “strikes at the heart of our democracy and reflects a grave abuse of discretion.”

NAMFREL encouraged citizens, civil society organizations, and members of the election-monitoring community to join these efforts.

It also called on COMELEC to remain ready to conduct the BSKE without further delay once the courts have ruled, reiterating its position since April that “the ballot must be cast on time.”

“The Filipino people, particularly the millions of voters in every barangay across the country, have waited long enough,” the group said.