MANILA -- The Commission on Election on Tuesday said it welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court to deny its motion for reconsideration to move the next barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to 2026.

The rationale of the poll body is that since BSKE will be held on October 2023, then the next one should be done three years later given that the term of office for village officials is three years, not on 2025.

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But in its ruling, the Supreme Court said: "Since the term of office of the sitting BSKE officials shall be deemed to have ended on December 31, 2022 (as explained in the Decision), the 'term' of office of the October 2023 winning candidates shall be deemed to have begun thereafter pursuant to RA 11462."

In a message, Comelec chairman George Garcia said the Comelec is prepared to conduct elections "anytime, anywhere."

"It's not our duty to question the law, more so disobey it. As it stands now, BSKE is a go by Oct. 30, 2023 and Dec. 2025 is the next one. The SC have spoken. It has the last say on the issue of constitutionality of laws and actions of officialdom," Garcia said.

Republic Act 11935, signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in October last year, moved the schedule of the polls from December 5, 2022 to the last Monday of October 2023, supposedly to create savings amounting to billions of pesos.

In June, the Supreme Court announced it has declared the law postponing the BSKE unconstitutional but ordered the October 2023 polls to proceed anyway.

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Because RA 11935 was declared unconstitutional, SC said its predecessor, RA 11462, is revived, which limits the term to December 31, 2022.

All existing barangay and SK officers are deemed to be in a "hold-over" capacity.

To avoid confusion, the High Court made clear that the next BSKE will be held on the 1st Monday of December 2025 and every 3 years after that date.

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