9,000 village heads barred from running in Oct polls

At least 9,000 barangay (village) heads nationwide will no longer be allowed to run in the October 29 elections after they reached the three-consecutive term limit, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Wednesday. Based on records from the DILG National Barangay Operations Office (NBOO), Secretary Ronaldo Puno said that as many as 9,642 of the 39,145 barangay heads in the country excluding those in Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are now on their third consecutive term of office. NBOO Director John Castañeda, however, informed Puno that these officials could still run for the lower position of council member. "Under such circumstances, these third-termer incumbent barangay captains are no longer eligible to run for re-election. However, they are allowed to run as kagawad or council member," Castañeda said. In his report to Puno, Castaneda explained that the "graduating" barangay chairmen have been in office since 1994. "They are already on their 13th year as chief executives of their respective barangays," he added. The NBOO conducted a monitoring of third-termer punong barangays (PBs) in the wake of queries reaching the DILG on whether or not elective barangay officials are covered by the three-consecutive term limit rule. To clarify the issue further, Puno earlier issued an advisory citing Section 2 of RA 9164, which provides that: "No barangay elective officials shall serve for more than three consecutive terms in the same position. Provided, however, that the term of office shall be reckoned from the 1994 barangay elections. “Voluntary renunciation of office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of service for the full-term for which the elective officials was elected." Puno said that Section 2 of RA 9164 is not among the provisions expressly repealed by RA 9340, the law amending RA 9164 resetting the barangay and SK elections. Puno said the terms of office of barangay officials have already been extended for two years, and the present clamor is to elect a new set of barangay officials. - GMANews.TV