Macalintal to Marcos: Veto Election Delay, Respect Voters’ Right to Choose
MARCOS – Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal asked President Marcos to veto the BSKE postponement bill due to its constitutional flaws.
Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal has urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to reject the unified version of a bill from both the Senate and the House that aims to delay the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) set for December 1, 2025.
Macalintal emphasized that supporting the bill would undermine the people’s constitutional right to elect their leaders, arguing that it carries the same constitutional and legal issues found in Republic Act No. 11935. That earlier law sought to move the December 2022 BSKE but was later deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC).
“The President must avoid repeating the error of endorsing what the SC has already declared unconstitutional,” Macalintal said.
He explained that while the bill is framed as an “Act Setting the Terms of Office for Barangay Officials,” its actual purpose is to move the elections to the first Monday of November 2026. This change would result in incumbent officials remaining in office beyond their mandate, effectively staying in power without electoral approval.
According to Macalintal, this form of postponement is inconsistent with the democratic principles outlined in the 1987 Constitution.
The President, Macalintal said, should heed the SC’s firm pronouncements that election postponement ‘could foster a government that is not democratic and republican as mandated by the Constitution.’
He also raised a constitutional concern regarding the bill’s scope, stating that the Constitution mandates legislative proposals to address only a single, clearly defined subject. The measure in question, however, deals with multiple provisions, namely: “setting a new term of office for BSKE officials, postponement of the December 2025 elections and authorization of holdover appointments of incumbents and extension of their tenure in office.”
Given these concerns, Macalintal strongly encouraged the President to veto the bill as a way to preserve the credibility of the electoral system and maintain local leaders’ accountability through regular and timely elections.
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