PRESS RELEASE
Mobile No. 0918-9120137
10 July 2010


The postponement of the barangay elections was made a party stand of the LAKAS-KAMPI CMD (LKC) as it endorsed House Bill No. 104 of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman deferring the village polls to October 29, 2012.

Lagman announced that his party’s position was adopted in a caucus on July 7, 2010 in order “to prevent shortly after the national elections further countrywide divisiveness traditionally generated by barangay elections and to allow the realignment of more than P3-B earmarked for the forthcoming October 25, 2010 barangay contests to basic social services and infrastructure development.”

House Bill No. 104 antedates other bills seeking the postponement of the barangay elections.

Late in the 14th Congress, Lagman filed a similar bill but it remained pending with the Committee on Local Governments.

In his explanatory note, Lagman stated that:

(1) The postponement is consistent with previous deferments of the village polls to decrease the frequency of the barangay elections and minimize intense local rivalries and conflicts;

(2) The consensus in previous Congresses as expressed in numerous bills is to fix the terms of barangay officials to five (5) years. Thus, postponement of the October 25, 2010 election to October 29, 2012 would give the incumbent barangay officials, who were elected in 2007, terms of 5 years;

(3) Since barangay officials constitute the pool from which city and municipal officials often come from, there is merit for a longer period of five years to afford barangay officials adequate training and experience in local governance.

Lagman urged that the consideration and approval of a consolidated bill on the postponement of barangay elections should be prioritized for the guidance of the COMELEC and prospective candidates since under R.A. No. 9164 the village polls are scheduled on October 25 this year.