August 17, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines —The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will support a move by Congress to extend the three-year term of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (BSK) officials.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body would not object to a proposal in the House of Representatives to give the BSK officials a fixed six-year term.
“We will just support whatever is the decision of Congress on that matter, since it is their pure discretion,” Garcia said in a recent forum in Manila.
He noted that Article 10, Section 8 of the 1987 Constitution gives lawmakers the power to set the terms of office of BSK officials, who are given three years per term.
“Their terms can be fixed by law. It can be three, five or six years. It is really under the discretion of Congress,” Garcia said.
Earlier, House Speaker Martin Romualdez filed House Bill 10747, which calls for a fixed six-year term for BSK officials.
Critics, however, are questioning the constitutionality of giving BSK officials a term longer than congressmen and local government executives.
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