By: Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

Elections constitute the bedrock of a democratic republican system. They are the veritable periodic and anticipated political exercise by the sovereign people of retaining or purging the elected officialdom.

It is for this reason that the right of suffrage is constitutionally guaranteed. It is equally accorded to both the powerful elite and the marginalized sectors.

The landlord and the tiller as well as the capitalist and the laborer each have one vote. Suffrage also recognizes gender parity.

Village elections are held to assure that barangay and youth officials are periodically fortified by the requisite electoral mandate for definite terms of office.

Twice the barangay and SK elections have been postponed by the present administration for no overriding reasons, even as in the past village polls were also repeatedly reset.

These postponements are mockery of the right of suffrage and subversive of the republican system.

I vote NO to a third postponement of the barangay and SK elections. Another postponement is inordinately offensive to the right of suffrage. It is not only grossly aggravating. It is also patent recidivism.