Marcos inks law postponing BSKE polls

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed into law the measure seeking to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) this year.

Republic Act No. 12232 or the Act Setting the Term of Office of Barangay Officials and Members of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) sets the next regular BSKE on the first Monday of November 2026 and every four years thereafter. 

The law was signed by Marcos on Wednesday, August 13. 

The new law sets the term of office of all elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials to four years. 

No elective barangay official shall serve for more than three consecutive terms in the same position, while no elective Sangguniang Kabataan official shall serve for more than one term in the same position. 

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 official was elected.

The law states that all incumbent barangay officials and members of the Sangguniang Kabataan shall remain in office unless sooner removed or suspended for cause until their successors shall have been elected and qualified.

It adds that incumbent elective barangay officials serving their third consecutive term in the same position shall not be eligible to run for the same position in the November 2026 BSKE polls. 

The BSKE polls was initially set on December 1, 2025. 

Marcos had pointed out that the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in October this year should be given focus.

The Philippines concluded its midterm national and local elections in May 2025.— LDF, GMA Integrated News