The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will continue preparing for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on Nov. 2 despite moves by some congressmen to seek its postponement, Negros Occidental Provincial Elections Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria said Wednesday, August 5.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said that as long as there is no law postponing the Nov. 2 polls, they will continue preparing because that is their mandate, Ananoria added.
The proposed bills seeking the postponement of the elections will have to pass on third and final reading in the House of Representatives, and a counterpart measure will also have to be approved in the Senate, he said.
The approved measure will then have to be sent to the president who will decide whether to sign it into law or not, Ananoria added.
Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said he and 63 other lawmakers filed House Bill No. 10591 on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 4, seeking to postpone the upcoming BSKE from Nov. 2, 2026, to the last Monday of November 2028.
The authors of the bill, in their explanatory note, said the proposed postponement is anchored on severe operational, economic, and logistical disruptions that directly threaten the conduct of a safe, honest, and credible nationwide election.
Deputy House Speaker and Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez had also filed House Bill 9309 on May 10 seeking the postponement of the November polls.
However, on July 17 he said the BSKE was expected to push through on Nov. 2 as scheduled.
Benitez said the position of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) points to the elections proceeding as planned.
DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the reasons previously cited for postponing the BSKE no longer exist, the Bacolod representative added.*
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