ZAFRA
A bill seeking to postpone the barangay elections to 2020 and to allow President Rodrigo Duterte to appoint all the country’s village officials must be met with careful scrutiny, even as it is expected to breeze through Congress.
“Appointing leaders is controversial. On whether the President or any other person should choose the captains, that should be well studied by Congress,” said former Cebu episcopal vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay, one of Cebu’s highly respected church leaders.
As news of the House Bill 5359 filed by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers reached the Association of Barangay Council (ABC) Cebu City, its president Philip Zafra said all barangay captains in the country are bound to take this up in a national assembly on April 4 to 6.
“What will make them decide who to appoint to replace the barangay captains. I don’t think there is enough reason to postpone the elections,” said Zafra.
Postponing the already delayed barangay elections can only be justified if there is already a state of rebellion in the country, he added.
“If what they want is an appointment of an officer-in-charge to the barangay, I don’t know how they are going to justify that into law,” Zafra said.
For his part, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said that barangay residents should be given the chance to elect their barangay officials.
Speaking to reporters, Davide brushed aside fears on narco-politicians taking over barangay positions in the coming polls.
DAVIDE
“If they (public) are bribed, then voters should be sensible and this will be a test of maturity for the voters,” Davide added.
The bill filed by Barbers seeks to postpone the 2017 barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan (SK) elections to May 2020, and subsequent elections to May 2023 and three years thereafter.
It also seeks to amend Republic Act 10923, the latest law passed by Congress in 2016 that postponed the October 2016 barangay elections to the fourth Monday of October 2017.
“On the road to dictatorship”
Veteran Cebuano lawyer Democrito Barcenas, in a talk with Cebu Daily News, called Barbers’ move as “undemocratic.”
“It is denying the people the right to elect their leaders,” he told CDN in a text message.
“We are now on the road to dictatorship if we give Duterte the power to appoint local leaders just as what Marcos did during martial law,” he added.
Retired Cebu executive judge Meinrado Paredes also called President Duterte’s plan to appoint barangay officials instead of electing them as a slide down to dictatorship.
“The election and appointment issue, this is democracy versus dictatorship,” Paredes said.
Paredes said there is no constitutional or statutory basis to appoint barangay captains.
“That is the reason why a bill was passed authorizing the President to appoint barangay captains. Brace for the legal challenge though. It will eventually go up to the Supreme Court and we don’t know what the High Court will do,” Paredes said.
“Appointing officials is the hallmark of a dictatorship,” Paredes warned.
Lapu-Lapu City Association of Barangay Council president Jose Dungog also believes it is time to elect new village officials.
He said potential leaders should be given the time to serve while also giving people the chance to choose their officials.
“But if the administration simply wants to appoint leaders, then there’s nothing we can do” he said.
In a radio interview Monday, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Duterte’s staunch ally in Congress, said the lower house can pass the bill in time to postpone the upcoming October barangay and SK elections.