Elections postponed?

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The barangay and the Sangguniang Kabataan officials elected in 2002 are still in power because of perpetually postponed elections for those positions. Despite that glaring absence of democracy with regards to this very basic unit of government, the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms has unanimously approved a bill postponing yet again the barangay and SK elections set for October 2007 to the second Sunday of May 2009.

Certain barangay officials will have gone beyond term limits without even being re-elected, and so will members of the Sangguniang Kabataan all over the country who will also have most likely exceeded the age requirements for that particular council by now.

The continued postponement of barangay and SK elections has denied us our right to make our village and youth leaders account for their performance; and has given us the impression that our national government either does not appreciate the work of these public servants who are supposed to be the closest to the people, or still needs the same old reliables around for some secret political purpose. Senator Aquilino Pimentel contends that hundreds of millions of pesos of the 2 billion-peso budget has already been spent for this year's barangay and SK elections, including P300 million for the registration of new voters. If the funds are there, and the COMELEC proclaims that it is ready, then why can't we just go ahead with the elections as scheduled?

Democracy is not limited to the act of choosing a president, senators, congressmen, and local executives. The fact that our government is hesitating to implement a law regarding the election of barangay officials and SK members makes its repeated proclamations that democracy thrives in this land another hollow set of words.*