Three more congressmen from Negros Occidental will file a house bill seeking the postponement of the barangay and the Sangguniang Kabataan elections set in October and its rescheduling to next year.
Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (Neg. Occ., 6th District) yesterday said she and her co-authors, Alfredo Mara?on III (Neg. Occ., 2nd District) and Alfredo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) will file the bill today.
Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel Pacquiao and Bacolod City Rep. Anthony Golez filed house bill 1098 on July 8 pushing for the rescheduling of the polls.
Alvarez said President Benigno Aquino III had disclosed that the government is facing a huge national budget deficit and rescheduling the elections next year will help save money that can be used for other projects.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri recently filed a bill in the Senate also for the postponement of the elections to October 2010 but Alvarez said it is not ideal since everyone will be busy for the Senatorial elections the following year.
All the house bills filed against the holding of the elections will be referred to either the Revision of Laws Committee or to the Local Governance Committee for deliberation and consolidation once the various committees in the Congress have already been organized, Alvarez said.
She added that President Aquino could certify the postponement of the elections as an urgent matter so both the Senate and the Congress could act on the matter immediately.
Commission on Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento recently emphasized that they are not keen on the postponement of the elections as the poll body has already made the necessary preparations for the conduct of the barangay and SK elections.*APN
