LNB Iloilo head backs BSKE postponement to 2026

By Mariela Angella Oladive

Liga ng mga Barangay (LNB) Iloilo Province President and Ex-Officio Board Member Amalia Victoria Debuque has expressed support for the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to 2026, saying it will allow officials more time to fulfill their mandates.

“Regarding the postponement, I respect the President’s decision,” Debuque said in an interview on Tuesday, August 19.

“I am one of those who are glad about this development because originally, we were only given two years to serve and to fulfill our promises, and that is not enough.”

She explained that many barangay officials, including herself, are still in the early stages of implementing their programs and infrastructure initiatives.

“Right now, projects in our barangays are only beginning to manifest,” she said.

“In the first year, you are still looking for projects; in the second year, that’s the time for approval and implementation; and by the third year, that’s the time you will see the results.”

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. earlier signed into law Republic Act No. 12232, which officially moves the December 2025 BSKE to the first Monday of November 2026.

The law also sets a four-year term for barangay and SK officials and limits consecutive terms.

Marcos said the postponement would allow the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to focus its resources on the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), scheduled for October 2025.

He emphasized that the success of the BARMM polls is critical to sustaining the peace process in Mindanao.

However, RA 12232 faces legal scrutiny.

On the same day as Debuque’s statement, the Supreme Court directed the Senate, House of Representatives, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, and COMELEC to comment on a petition questioning the law’s constitutionality.

The petition, filed by veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, argues that the law violates a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that stated barangay and SK elections can only be postponed for “sufficiently important, substantial, or compelling reasons” to protect the right of suffrage.

Macalintal said RA 12232 does not provide such compelling justification for deferring the December 2025 polls.

The Supreme Court gave the concerned agencies a non-extendible period of 10 days to file their comments.

If the law is upheld, newly elected barangay and SK officials will assume office on December 1 following the election.

Incumbent officials will remain in office until their successors are elected and qualified, unless removed or suspended for cause.