Youth groups ask SC to block law postponing barangay, SK polls to 2028

The logo of the Supreme Court at the Supreme Court Building in Manila.

Philstar.com / Ian Laqui

MANILA, Philippines — Youth groups challenged before the Supreme Court on Monday, October 5, the law that postponed the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

This is the second petition filed assailing the said law, which postponed the BSKE elections that were supposed to be held on November 2.

The petitioners are seeking a Petition for Certiorari, Prohibition, and Mandamus, along with an extremely urgent prayer for a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Mandatory Injunction to halt the law's implementation.

In their petition, the youth leaders strongly criticized the 20th Congress for repeatedly altering election schedules and terms. They pointed out that the legislature recently lengthened the term of barangay officials from three years to four years, and has now pushed it further to five years under the law.

“A very recent postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) through a ‘term-setting law’ was already ONE TOO MANY. ANOTHER, SUCCESSIVE resetting exposes the danger of allowing legislative form to prevail over constitutional limitations. It is a CIRCUMVENTION, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, of the very five-point guidelines laid down by this Honorable Court in Macalintal,” the group’s petition read.

The respondents named in the petition are the Office of the President, Commission on Elections, House of Representatives, and the Senate of the Philippines.

The first petition was filed by election law expert Romulo Macalintal on September 28.

Macalintal argued that the law infringes on the electorate's right of suffrage under the guise of "fixing" the term of barangay officials at five years.

The last BSKE was held on Oct. 30, 2023, while the next elections were originally scheduled for December 2025.

Congress later moved the polls to November 2026 through Republic Act 12232, which also adjusted the term of office to four years.

Republic Act 12326, signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on September 24, meanwhile, postpones the elections by another two years to November 2028.