Comelec chief asks lawmakers to decide BSKE fate by September

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives should decide on the fate of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) by September so that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) can make the necessary adjustments and prevent further wastage of government resources.

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia conveyed this message when he appeared before the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms on Thursday to discuss bills proposing the postponement of the BSKE, which is scheduled for Nov. 2.

“The Comelec is ready to conduct the elections this coming Nov. 2. We are just appealing to you to decide by September,” Garcia told lawmakers, even as he acknowledged that Congress still has the prerogative to decide on this matter.

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Lawmakers have filed several bills to postpone the November polls, citing the economic and domestic crises due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

To test SC ruling

San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Zamora, one of the authors of a bill calling for a postponement, said the elections should be moved to a later date so that the government could first focus on economic recovery.

READ: Macalintal to challenge proposals delaying 2026 BSKE

Addressing the committee, Garcia said the bill, if approved, will test the “very strict guidelines” that the Supreme Court previously issued.

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“We saw that the title [of the bill] is really [for] postponement because of the energy crisis, because of what is happening in the Middle East, and because of what perhaps will be [an increase] in the prices of commodities,” he said.

“This ground, should the bill be passed by Congress, will be tested against the very strict measure or guidelines issued by the honorable Supreme Court […] And therefore, whoever are the proponents of this postponement should be prepared to defend it to the honorable Supreme Court later […],” Garcia said.

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In July 2023, the Court declared Republic Act No. 11935 moving the BSKE from its initial schedule of Dec. 5, 2022, to the last Monday of October 2023, as unconstitutional.

While it recognized the legal practicality and necessity to proceed with the polls in October, it said there was “no legitimate government interest or objective” found to support the postponement and that the law “unconstitutionally exceed[ed] the bounds of the Congress’ power to legislate.”

It also outlined the circumstances when a postponement can be justified, including, among others, a “public emergency situation” and “election fatigue.”

Garcia reported that the Comelec had already finished purging the national voters’ list of multiple registrants, as well as the printing of the ballots.

The poll body has already spent P8 billion of the P19 billion funds allocated for the BSKE, he added.

The balance, Garcia said, would be allocated for teachers’ honoraria (P9 billion), training (P1 billion), and deployment (P1 billion).

Preparations

Garcia appealed to lawmakers to reset the polls not later than June next year, should they choose to postpone it, “because June 2027 onwards will be critical for us for our preparations for the national and local elections.”

Should the polls be postponed, he said, the Comelec will resume its voter registration drive in September, which would also entail increasing the number of precincts and printing new voters’ lists.

The Comelec held the registration for BSKE from Oct. 20, 2025 to May 18, 2026, and received over 5.4 million voter applications.

Garcia said the ballots that have already been printed can still be reused, but the markers and indelible inks may go to waste given their mere one-year shelf life.

If approved, this would be the second time for the BSKE to be rescheduled.

On Wednesday, speaking at a news forum in Manila, Garcia recalled: “There was an election in 2023; there should have been another in 2025, but the BSKE was reset to 2026. That is entirely within Congress’ discretion.”

It was his personal view, he said, the Nov. 2 poll should already proceed as scheduled as “having regular elections is crucial (and) postponements create uncertainty in governance.”