The Senate will decide this week whether to postpone the November 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) and extend the term of barangay and SK officials from four to five years, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday.
“We will discuss it this week. There should be a decision this week on whether the elections will push through because the filing of candidacies is at the end of the month,” Gatchalian said in Filipino in a radio interview.
Gatchalian said the decision must be made before the end of the week because any approved measure would still have to go through a bicameral conference committee, be ratified by both chambers and be published.
The BSKE is scheduled for November 2, 2026.
Gatchalian said postponing the elections could save the government the cost of conducting one election cycle.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has said it has already spent P8 billion of its P19-billion BSKE budget.
Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said some election supplies, including indelible ink, could go unused if the elections are postponed.
Gatchalian, however, noted that extending officials’ terms to five years could also have a disadvantage, as voters would have to wait longer to replace ineffective or frequently absent barangay officials.
The Senate is expected to go on a break on October 8 or 9, giving lawmakers limited time to act on the proposed measures.
