MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) began accepting on Monday, August 28, certificates of candidacy (COC) from aspirants seeking to be part of their respective barangay and youth councils.

A total of 672,432 seats are up for grabs as the Philippines returns to the polls on October 30 for the long-delayed barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections (BSKE).

The breakdown is as follows:

• 42,027 seats for barangay chairperson
• 294,189 seats for Sangguniang Barangay members
• 42,027 seats for Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson
• 294,189 seats for Sangguniang Kabataan members

The poll body will receive COCs until Saturday, September 2, from 8 am to 5 pm.

Premature campaigning is prohibited, as the official campaign period will start on October 19.

Anyone who holds an appointive post in government is deemed resigned once they have filed their COC.

The first day of COC filing coincides with the start of the three-month-long election period, which enables Comelec checkpoints across the country and prohibits numerous acts, such as the carrying of firearms.

Qualifications

An elective aspirant for the barangay council must meet the following requirements:

• Philippine citizen
• Registered voter
• At least 18 years old
• Resident of the barangay where they are seeking to run for public office at least one year before election day
• Able to read and write

Anyone seeking to be part of the Sangguniang Kabataan must possess the following qualifications:

• Philippine citizen
• Registered voter
• At least 18 but not more than 24 years old on election day (October 30)
• Resident of the barangay where they are seeking to run for public office at least one year before election day
• Must not have been convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude
• Must not be related within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent elected national official, or any incumbent regional, provincial, city, municipal, or barangay official in the locality where they aspire to be elected

Who’s voting

There are three age groups that will be voting for the polls in October:

• Individuals aged 15 to 17 will cast their ballots exclusively for the SK elections
• Individuals aged 18 to 30 will cast their ballots for both the barangay and SK elections
• Individuals aged 30 and above will cast their ballots exclusively for the barangay elections

The number of registered voters for the barangay elections stands at 67.8 million; for the SK polls, the number is at 23.2 million.

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Why is the next BSKE long-delayed?

The last barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections was held in March 2018.

The next one was supposed to be conducted in May 2020. But in December 2019, then-president Rodrigo Duterte signed into a law a measure rescheduling the exercise to December 2022.

In October 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. again reset the date to its current date of October 30, 2023.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that the law signed by Marcos rescheduling the polls was unconstitutional, but added that the elections must push through this year “due to legal practicality and necessity.” 

Watchdogs have decried the numerous postponements, saying it deprives Filipinos of the opportunity to regularly elect their leaders. – Rappler.com