The Supreme Court has already drawn a line on suspending the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections — and crossing it again would be a constitutional violation, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday.
Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, pushed back against lawmakers calling for yet another postponement of the November 2, 2026 BSKE, arguing the government has more than enough funds to run the elections without sacrificing its response to the fuel crisis.
“Kasi ‘yung barangay election is only P8 to P9 billion. Ngayon, meron pa tayong P230 bilyon na puwedeng gastusin. So in other words, hindi naman kulang ang pera,” he said in a radio interview on Super Radyo dzBB.
The senator also cited the Supreme Court’s position from the previous suspension, warning that the high court had treated that delay as a final concession.
“Sinabi na ng Korte Suprema nu’ng huling pagsuspinde natin, ‘last na ‘yan’ at hindi na natin puwedeng isuspinde dahil gumagawa lang kayo ng kahit anong dahilan, dahil ang katapatan nito ay pagkawala ng demokrasya,” Gatchalian said.
Commission on Elections chairperson George Erwin Garcia echoed the concern, cautioning that reallocating election funds could run afoul of constitutional limits — and potentially give the Supreme Court grounds to invalidate any postponement move.
“‘Yung pwedeng magamit sa ibang bagay, sana mapag-isipan ang legalidad dahil maaaring ‘yan din ang makitang dahilan ng SC later para mabalewala ang magandang initiative o plano na ipagpaliban ang BSKE,” Garcia said.
Taking the opposite stance, Senator Imee Marcos came out in favor of another suspension, framing it as a matter of fiscal prudence during a period of economic strain.
“At a time when the country is confronted with serious economic challenges brought about by the oil crisis, prudence demands that we prioritize the allocation of limited public resources,” Marcos said in a statement.
She cited Comelec’s own figures from last year’s budget hearings, saying the P16 billion still remaining in the BSKE budget — out of an original P19 billion allocation, with roughly P3 billion already spent — could be redirected toward fuel relief, food security, and basic public services.
Acting Budget Secretary Rolando Toledo, for his part, has placed the government’s available funds for aid programs and high-impact initiatives at P238 billion, drawn from the 2026 national budget and unspent continuing appropriations from the past two years.
Voter registration for the 2026 BSKE, which resumed October 20, 2025, runs through May 18, 2026. Comelec has already processed more than 3.9 million new voter applications — nearly three times its original target of 1.4 million.
