Bishop questions delay in holding Philippine village polls

A Catholic bishop in Manila has questioned the Philippine government’s decision to further delay the holding of village and youth council elections that were set for May next year.

The elections have already been postponed several times, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said.

“I do not know what kind of message [the government is] sending,” he said, adding that the country’s leaders seem not to value the village and youth elections.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law on Dec. 3 postponing the elections to December 2022. As such, the terms of office of incumbent village and youth council officials will be extended.

It is the third time that village and youth council polls have been deferred since 2016.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the reason for the postponement was “to improve public services and make local governance more responsive to the needs of the people.”

During his State of the Nation Address in July, Duterte called on legislators to defer the elections to give his administration time to reform the village and youth council system.

Earlier, election watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections criticized the move to postpone the elections, saying it needed a legal basis.

It said the “necessary condition” stipulated by law to justify a deferment was missing.

The resetting of elections is only justified if there is the presence of “violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure,” among others, it said in a statement.

“None of these conditions exist, and no such consultations with the voting public ever took place,” the election watchdog said.

It has consistently lobbied against moves to reset the date of any electoral activity because it violates the rights of voters to pick their elected officials in a regular manner.

But with the elections officially postponed, the Commission on Elections said it will now concentrate preparing for the May 2022 presidential polls.

“[The poll body] will now focus its energies on preparing for the 2022 national and local elections,” said the commission’s spokesman, James Jimenez.

Jimenez said the passage of the law finally “puts to rest the question of whether or not the [village] … elections will be held next year.”

The “barangay,” or village, is the smallest government administrative division in the Philippines that make up the country’s cities and towns.

Voters of each village elect a chairman and seven councilors. Together, the chairman and councilors make up the village council.

Voters aged between 15 and 17 vote in elections for youth councils that will also be led by a chairman and seven councilors.

A youth chairman also serves as a member of a village council.