The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), originally set for December 2025, have been postponed to November 2026, effectively extending the term of incumbent officials.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on August 13 signed Republic Act No. 12232, which resets the 2025 BSKE to the first Monday of November 2026 and every four years thereafter, with winning candidates to assume office on December 1 following their election.
The measure also fixes the term of office of barangay and youth officials at four years, limits barangay officials to three consecutive terms in the same post, and restricts SK officials to one term.
The postponement comes despite a 2023 Supreme Court (SC) ruling that struck down as unconstitutional a similar law deferring the 2022 BSKE, in which the Court stressed that elections are a constitutional mandate and that postponements must be supported by ‘sufficiently important, substantial, or compelling reasons to safeguard the right of suffrage.’
The new law allows incumbent officials to remain in a hold-over capacity unless removed or suspended; however, barangay officials already on their third consecutive term are barred from seeking reelection in 2026.
Under the law, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is required to release implementing rules within 90 days of the measure’s effectivity.
Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal has filed a petition before the SC questioning the constitutionality of RA 12232, arguing that unlike the criteria laid down by the Court in 2023, the latest postponement was justified only by the supposed shortness of current officials’ terms, which he said does not meet the constitutional test.
Macalintal also claimed that the law violates the “one subject–one title” rule in the 1987 Constitution by combining four disparate subjects—postponing the 2025 BSKE, fixing new terms of office for barangay and SK officials, and extending the tenure of incumbents—into a single measure.
The petition also urges the high tribunal to issue a temporary restraining order or status quo ante order to halt the implementation of the law and direct the Comelec to continue preparations for the December 2025 polls.
Meanwhile, the SC on August 19 has directed the Senate, House of Representatives, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, and the Comelec to file their comments on the petition within 10 days.
The last Barangay and SK elections were held on Oct. 30, 2023.
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