Incumbent barangay officials to continue term until 2017 elections

Incumbent barangay officials will serve their terms until the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Elections in 2017, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday.

Under the recently-enacted RA 10923, otherwise known as “An Act Postponing the October 2016 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections,” the term of office of incumbent barangay officials will be extended “until their successors are duly elected and qualified,” the poll body said in a statement.

Those who will be elected in the 2017 barangay and SK polls will start their term at noon of November 30, 2017.

On October 15, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a bill postponing the barangay polls to October 23, 2017.

Synchronized barangay and SK elections following the 2017 elections will be held on the second Monday of 2020 and every three years thereafter.

The poll body expects that with the postponement of the polls, an additional three million voters will register for the barangay elections and two million voters for the SK polls.

Voter’s registration resumed on November 7.

Meanwhile, Comelec also ordered the permanent suspension of all activities related to the postponed elections.

It also directed its officials to keep all important documents, forms and supplies under their custody. —Erwin Colcol/JST, GMA News