MANILA – Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said a law is needed before President Rodrigo Duterte can appoint barangay officials in case this year’s barangay polls would be reset.
“Kailangan ng batas. Batas lang kasi nasa Constitution din po natin na the term of office of barangay officials shall be provided by law. Yun lang po yung local official na yung term ay batas ang nag-go-govern sa term,” Pimentel told reporters.
Pimentel said he will have to discuss the proposal with the President and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
"The law abhors a vacuum. The appointive Power is by default placed in the President," he added.
Alvarez, meanwhile, expressed full support for Duterte’s proposal, but he shared Pimentel’s position that a law must back it.
“Well, wala akong problema diyan at suportado ko ang ating Pangulo diyan dahil napaka-valid po noong reason, dahil tama yun, majority of the barangay officials are involved in illegal drugs, nagagamit ito,” Alvarez told dzMM.
“Kinakailangan po ng legislation diyan para magbigay ng kapangyarihan sa Comelec na huwag ituloy yung election,” Alvarez said.
The President last year signed a law postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls to October this year. This meant that barangay officials retained their posts on a holdover capacity.
This time, however, Duterte wants all barangay positions declared vacant if the polls would be reset again.
“We are looking for a way to appoint na lang the barangay captains but the mechanism of how to go about it, select them… Ako I can, but you know it’s always the President who has the power to appoint,” Duterte said.
Acknowledging that his proposal would be met with strong opposition, Duterte said he would like to seek a compromise with the Church and other sectors.
“But I’m going to a compromise with the Church and everybody. They can nominate three citizens,” he said.
Duterte said one of his qualifications for a barangay appointee is a clearance from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA).
“Pagka magsabi ang PDEA pati ang pulis and the military that they have no connections with the rebels, that’s one. Second is that they are not into drugs, and third is that they are not really the leaders of politicians,” he said.
“If you can have that, I would be happy to just coming from the Roman Catholic, from the Islam group, the Jehovah Witnesses. It’s not actually interference in the preference of the character that should be there. Election eh.”
Source : ABS-CBN