Comelec chief: PH ‘mess’ due to voters themselves
Now comes a bit of reality check from Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia as he urged voters to choose wisely in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) to be held on Nov. 2.
“Only voters, or those citizens who do not choose the right leaders, can be blamed for the country’s mess. We should always remember this,” Garcia said during a voters’ education forum in the Biliran Province State University in Naval, Biliran, on Saturday.
He reminded voters, particularly the youth, that the barangay and youth council officials they would elect in November would be the “first responders” to the needs of the residents of far-flung barangays.
“We should not elect leaders based on social media, television, radio and newspapers. We should use our heart and our conscience in voting, especially for the first-time voters,” he said. “Your vote should be based on your study of who rightfully deserves to be officials.”
The poll chief also noted the role of first-time voters, especially after the 2025 midterm elections, as the polls recorded the highest voter turnout in the history of midterm elections in the country.
According to the latest data from the ongoing voter registration, there are already 2.7 million new voters, 65 percent of whom were youth.
82.2% voter turnout
Last May, the Comelec logged the highest voter turnout for midterm election in Philippine history at 82.20 percent, representing 57,350,968 of 69,673,653 registered voters.
The poll body said that this turnout was second to the 84.10 percent reported in the 2022 national and local elections, where over 55 million voters out of 65 million registered voters cast their votes.
The poll body completed the first phase of voter registration from August to October 2025 and resumed the listup from October 2025 until May and would accept new registrations, reactivations and transfers of registration from Mondays to Saturdays, including holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Registrants should bring any primary government-issued identification, such as the PhilSys National ID, Postal ID, Persons with Disabilities ID, Student ID or library card, Senior Citizen ID, Driver’s license or student permit, NBI clearance, Philippine passport, SSS, GSIS, PRC, IBP or UMID ID and NCIP certification.
The elections would determine officials of barangays and youth councils in each of the 42,011 barangays in the country.
The elections were originally scheduled to be held in 2022, but were postponed to October 2023.
The Supreme Court declared the law postponing the election to 2023 to be unconstitutional, although it still ordered the 2023 polls to continue, with the next elections in 2025, then every three years thereafter.
Republic Act No. 12232, signed by President Marcos Jr. last August, set the term of office for barangay officials and members of the sangguniang kabataan to four years.
The high court upheld the law’s constitutionality last November and ruled that Congress has the authority to set the term of office for barangay officials under the Constitution.
The Court emphasized that RA 12232 is fundamentally a term-setting law, not a mere postponement and does not violate the right to suffrage or the equal protection clause.
The law also rescheduled the BSKE from Dec. 1, 2025, to Nov. 2, 2026, and mandates that subsequent elections be held every four years thereafter.
