MANILA – The nationwide association of barangays has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the petitions questioning the constitutionality of Republic Act (RA) No. 12232, which extends the term of incumbent barangay officials and resets the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to November 2026.

In a petition for intervention, the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas, led by national president Maria Katrina Jessica Dy of San Fabian, Echaque, Isabela, urged the high court to junk the petitions for lack of merit. The filing was made through counsel Albert Agra, according to an SC post.

The group argued that RA 12232 validly fixed and extended the term of barangay and SK officials, a power that the Constitution grants to Congress.

They maintained that the law is different from RA 11935, which merely postponed the December 2022 BSKE and was earlier struck down by the tribunal as unconstitutional.

“To reiterate, the authority to extend the term of BSK officials is one that is granted by the Constitution to the legislature. The authority to question this wisdom without any evidence of its illegality, inequity, or grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction is one that the Constitution guards against,” the group said.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. earlier explained that he signed the measure to allow the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to focus fully on the first-ever Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections set for October 13.

The President said holding both the BARMM polls in October and the BSKE in December could overstretch the Comelec’s capacity and divert resources away from ensuring the success of the landmark Bangsamoro electoral process. (PNA)