Macalintal: Election postponement turns barangay officials into legislative appointees

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal argued before the Supreme Court on Friday that by postponing the barangay elections, Congress turned barangay officials into legislative appointees.

“Therefore, when Congress postpones the barangay elections with the corresponding extension of the term of office of the barangay officials by having them remain in office in a holdover capacity, it is actually making legislative appointments of these barangay officials,” said Macalintal during oral arguments on his petition questioning the constitutionality of Republic Act 11935, the law postponing the barangay elections from December 2022 to October 2023.

He added that the holdover officials could no longer be considered representatives of the people. Instead, they had become “representatives of Congress.”

Macalintal also argued that only the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had the jurisdiction to postpone the elections, while Congress only had the power to fix the term of barangay officials and not extend their terms.

He said that should Congress amend the law, it must be applied proactively and not retroactively, meaning it must not affect the sitting officials.

However, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra countered that the power of Congress to postpone the election of barangay officials was part of its power to legislate.

“The validity of the postponement of the barangay elections cannot be challenged on the ground that it will result in the retroactive lengthening of the term of incumbent barangay officials or that it amounts to legislative appointments,” said Guevarra.

“To repeat, the power of Congress to postpone barangay elections is but part of the plenary power to legislate. The constitution did not impose upon Congress the limitation that it may exercise this power only once. It could not. To hold otherwise will give Congress… the power of an irrepealable law,” he added.

Meanwhile, Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said he was “deeply bothered” that the power of the legislature to pass laws was plenary.

“We cannot just say that just because Congress has the power to change the terms of office that we blind ourselves to the other parts of the Constitution, including the rights of the people, correct?” he said.

Meanwhile, Guevarra said he was beset by “certain procedural problems" when it came to the law not explicitly stating the reason for postponing the elections.

“Number one of which Congress was not impleaded as a party to this suit. Number two, the petitioner himself does not allege grave abuse of discretion. Number three, there are factual issues that we need to thresh out like what exactly was the reason that was adopted by Congress as an institution,” he said.

Meanwhile, for Macalintal, the postponement of the elections was due to a “political promise.”

“And what is that promise? Pinangangako ko po sa inyo kapag nanalo ako ganito ang inyong termino ay ma-extend. Papaano? I-po-postpone natin ang election. That’s the reason why this barangay election was postponed,” he said.

“I don’t think the postponement was due to the pandemic, because we held a national election at the height of the pandemic. Ngayon nga medyo maluwag na. Ngayon pa tayo hindi mag ho-hold ng barangay election,” he added.

No effect

Guevarra also stood pat the polls' postponement will not have an impact on the Filipinos' right to suffrage.

"The matter of postponing any election does not really have any effect on the right of suffrage. It has an effect on the exercise of that right of suffrage but not on the right itself because voters are not deprived of their constitutional right to vote, it's just that the timing of the exercise of that right is the one affected," he said.

"So insofar as the right itself is concerned the postponement of the elections does not have any impact on the right of suffrage," he added.

During the interpellation of Associate Justice Mario Lopez, Guevarra agreed that the right to suffrage also covers the right to be voted upon.

The Solicitor General likewise concurred that the right to be voted upon is affected if an election is deferred.

In his opening statement during the oral arguments, Macalintal argued that RA 11935 "took away" the voters' right to choose their leaders in more than 42,000 barangays in the Philippines.

On October 10, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law the measure postponing the BSKE from December 2022 to the last Monday of October 2023. — DVM, GMA News