Law delaying BSKE 2025 challenged in SC

National

WILL voters get to choose their barangay and youth leaders on schedule, or will a controversial law keep officials in office for an extra year?

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal is asking the Supreme Court (SC) to declare unconstitutional Republic Act 12232, the law that postpones the 2025 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) and extends the terms of barangay and youth officials from three to four years.

Signed by President Marcos on Aug. 13, the law moves the scheduled Dec. 1, 2025 elections to November 2026.

In a 33-page petition filed yesterday, Macalintal called the measure “unconstitutional, null and void,” saying it “smacks of deception and clear misleading provisions.”

He argued that it violates the people’s right to suffrage and their right to information, naming the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Office of the President through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as respondents.

The petition seeks a status quo ante order, a temporary restraining order, or a writ of preliminary injunction to block the law’s implementation and allow the elections to proceed on Dec. 1, 2025, or on a date “reasonably close” to it.

Macalintal stressed that RA 12232 lacks “valid, genuine or compelling reasons” as required by the high court, citing its 2022 decision in Macalintal v. Comelec, which struck down a previous law postponing the December 2022 BSKE.

President Marcos justified the postponement on the grounds that the Comelec must focus on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections on Oct. 13, 2025.

Macalintal, however, dismissed this rationale, saying it “is without merit” because the BARMM polls involve only 73 parliamentary seats, a scale he argued is insufficient to disrupt preparations for the nationwide BSKE.

“The Comelec’s capacity is not a valid concern,” he said in a Philstar report.

Macalintal also highlighted the financial and logistical implications of delaying the elections.

According to the petition, the Comelec reported that 2.8 million voters registered during the Aug. 1–10 registration period, and that postponing the elections would cost an estimated P4 billion.

Macalinta said delaying the BSKE would waste resources and undermine the preparations already undertaken by the poll body.

The petition further contended that the law unlawfully extends the terms of incumbent officials without voter consent.

“This action of extending the tenure of office of these barangay officials is a form of legislative appointment, which is constitutionally impermissible,” Macalintal said, adding that allowing officials to remain until 2026 effectively imposes “appointed” leaders on the public.

He argued that RA 12232 violates the constitutional rule that a bill must contain only one subject expressed in its title.(MyTVCebu)