How often have barangay, SK elections been postponed?

The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) supposed to be held this year have been officially moved to November 2028 after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed a law fixing these officials’ terms to five years. 

This is now the third time Marcos has authorized a BSKE postponement. But the current president is not the only one to have moved the polls — nor is it rare for such a delay to happen multiple times in one administration.

“Barangay and SK elections are already the most frequently postponed democratic exercises in the country’s history,” poll watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) said in a September 26 statement criticizing the 2026 BSKE postponement.

So, how often have these postponements actually happened? 

Rappler crunched the numbers and found that both elections have been moved — either separately or jointly — at least 16 times since 1982. Here’s a breakdown of the data.

Status:

Completed

Postponed

Scheduled

National and local elections (NLE)

1988 barangay elections, postponed twice

The first-ever barangay polls were held on May 17, 1982, in accordance with the Barangay Election Act of 1982. Before that, elections for barangay officials had been held together with the local elections. (READ MORE: Looking back: The first barangay polls in PH)

The terms of office of these barangay officials were set to six years, which means the next election would have been on the second Monday of May 1988.

But most 1982 barangay election winners were not able to finish their terms, since local elected officials were replaced by appointed officers-in-charge following the EDSA Revolution in 1986.

The May 1988 elections were then postponed twice: first to November 1988 and then to March 1989, which was when the polls finally pushed through. 

The succeeding 1994 election proceeded on schedule, but the Local Government Code had limited the terms of office of those elected in these polls to just three years. 

The 1997 elections were then promptly conducted after those three years.

1992 SK elections, postponed twice

The first SK polls in 1992 also got off to a rocky start, with two postponements right off the bat.

The landmark election should have been held 30 days after the May 1992 local elections, but the Commission on Elections (Comelec) passed a resolution setting the polls on September 30, 1992.

In the end, the elections were moved again and finally conducted on December 4, 1992.

1994 SK elections

The 1991 Local Government Code set the second Monday of May as the date for the 1994 barangay officials, with the SK polls set to happen 120 days after, but only the barangay polls pushed through. An amendment to the law had been passed, resetting the SK elections to May 1996.

The same amendment set the barangay elections for May 1997, which was successfully conducted. Elected SK officials were to serve until the next regular election of barangay officials — which should have been three years later in 2000.

Change in term limits in 1998

Then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo passed a law in 1998 changing the terms of barangay and SK officials from three to five years, starting with those elected in May 1997.

This meant the next barangay and SK polls would be in 2002 instead of 2000. Another amendment to the Local Government Code would later set the exact date of the synchronized BSKE on July 15, 2002, which was successfully held.

2005 BSKE

The next synchronized polls were then postponed once again from 2005 to 2007, which a 2005 Philippine Star report said was prompted by the Arroyo administration saying there was no money available for the polls. 

At the time, P6.4 billion had been allocated for a charter change plan, the same report said. This plan did not come to fruition.

The 2007 and 2010 BSKEs then proceeded as scheduled.

2013 SK election

The 2013 polls only pushed through at the barangay level. The SK elections were once again postponed, although there was no holdover for then-incumbent youth officials, who stepped down from office at the end of their terms on November 30, 2013.

The new date for the SK polls was set between October 28, 2014, and February 23, 2015. This did not go as planned, either.

2015 SK elections, postponed twice

The 2015 SK polls were first set for February 21. But as the election date drew near, another bill seeking the SK polls’ postponement to October 2016 had passed in both houses of Congress, awaiting only the president’s signature. 

Because of this, the Commission on Elections initially moved the polls to April 2015.

A month before the April polls, then-president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III signed the law moving the SK polls to October 2016. 

2016 BSKE

Then-president Rodrigo Duterte signed another law postponing the BSKE schedule by one year, from October 2016 to October 2017. 

At that point, barangay officials were set to go beyond their three-year terms, since the new law also allowed a holdover for them to continue serving unless removed or suspended from office.

SK posts, meanwhile, had been vacant since 2013.

2017 BSKE

Duterte authorized another postponement of the BSKE — just three weeks before the scheduled polls — and set it for May 2018.

The 2018 BSKE finally pushed through on May 14, 2018. It replaced the barangay officials who had been serving for nearly two years beyond their allotted terms, and filled the SK seats that had been vacant for four and a half years.

2020 BSKE

Duterte again moved the BSKE originally set for May 2020 to the first Monday of December 2022. This gave elected officials a term of five years — beyond the three-year limit required by law. 

2022 BSKE

The 2022 BSKE was again postponed by Duterte’s successor, Marcos. It was moved to October 2023 and successfully conducted.

2025 BSKE

The succeeding elections were supposed to be conducted on December 1, 2025, but were again postponed after Marcos signed a law increasing the term of barangay officials from three to four years.

The next elections were scheduled for the first Monday of November 2026.

2026 BSKE

Marcos granted another term lengthening for barangay and SK officials from four to five years, effectively postponing the polls to November 2028.

Who postponed the most BSKEs?

Barangay and SK election postponements

Number of times elections were postponed during each administration

Barangay only SK only Both

Postponements have mostly been evenly distributed across presidencies — although each had its own context.

Noynoy Aquino’s postponements were only composed of SK polls, during a time when the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015 was being created in response to criticisms of the barangay youth arm being inefficient and corrupt. (READ: Why the Sangguniang Kabataan needs an overhaul) 

In Ramos’ case, two of the three postponements were only months apart.

It is during the last two administrations that postponements became regular for both the barangay and SK polls — and usually spanning one year or more.

Why are these postponements so frequent? Ona Caritos, executive director of election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections, said that the delays are a “carrot” dangled by national and local officials to gain the support of barangay leaders.

 “They [can] say, ‘Oh, I’m the one who filed the term-setting bill,’ or ‘I’m the one who filed this postponement of the elections yet again,’” she explained.

And while national and local officials get their incentives, voters get the short end of the stick when underperforming leaders overstay their welcome.

“We can file cases against them, but that’s not an opportunity or an avenue that all of us could explore. So, elections are the most basic accountability measure that every one of us could exact accountability from our elected officials,” Caritos said.

The law to postpone the 2026 BSKE may have been signed by the President, but the onus to set the record straight on these postponements lies with the Supreme Court. 

While the Supreme Court had already declared unconstitutional postponing elections without a compelling reason, it has not yet ruled on changing term limits that result in election delays. Now, a petition against the term-setting law has already been filed, with more possibly on the way.

For Caritos, these petitions are the only measures left against the 2026 BSKE postponement. With how frequent BSKEs have been postponed in the last three decades, the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision must go beyond this year’s polls.

“To avoid the possibility, yet again, of postponing the 2028 Barangay and SK elections… then there’s a need for the Supreme Court to really clarify what would be the decision when it comes to a situation like this,” she said. – Rappler.com

Coding for the charts used in this story was done with the assistance of AI.