Recto wants 6-year term, one reelection for barangay officials

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto on Friday said barangay officials should be given a -six-year term to stop the practice of frequently postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.

“I propose elections to be held either one year before or after the presidential elections and every six years thereafter. I also propose the term of office should be six years with one reelection,” Recto said in a text message to GMA News Online.

“This will stop the practice of constantly rescheduling barangay elections. It will be cheaper for taxpayers and for government,” he added.

On Tuesday, the Senate approved on second reading a bill postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections originally scheduled in May 2020 and rescheduling it to December 5, 2022.

The bill also proposes holding the barangay and SK elections every three years.

Recto said he will make the proposal when the bicameral conference committee meets.

He said the barangay elections had been postponed six times since 1988.

“The proposed scrapping of the one scheduled in May 2020 will be the 7th. If it pushes through, it will be the 3rd under the Duterte administration, and the first three-peat of its kind in history,” he said.

“That was the refrain in 1988, 1989, 2002, 2005, 2016, and 2017. Ang ‘never again,’ naging ‘let me try again’,” he added, saying this has resulted in an elastic term of office for barangay officials which is longer than what they should get.

“After seven postponements, it is time for durable cures, and not band-aid solutions. Instead of regurgitating the tired, old excuses, we should ask ourselves: Ano nga ba ang dahilan bakit parati na lang ito pinagpapaliban?” he said.

Recto admitted that his proposal has its pros and cons but the bottom line is that in governance, whatever the office, a shorter term for a bad official is too long, while a longer term for a good official is too short.

“The important thing is that we should now begin looking into a longer term for barangay officials, in the hope that its length would serve as a deterrent to schemes to postpone elections,” he said.

He said without such a critical amendment in the law on barangays, the next presidents will succumb to the national bad habit of scrapping barangay polls. — RSJ, GMA News