LAKAS WANTS BARANGAY POLLS RESET TO 2008
Eighty-two lawmakers belonging to the pro-administration Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) have voted to postpone this year’s barangay elections to May 2008.
Party president and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said the move is aimed at saving P2.5 billion and "reducing divisiveness" in more than 42,000 barangays nationwide.
President Arroyo, Lakas-CMD national chairman, and the party leadership have endorsed the initiative formalized by Lakas lawmakers during a caucus last week, he added.
De Venecia said he was confident the other political parties in the majority coalition at the House of Representatives — Nationalist People’s Coalition, Liberal Party, Nacionalista Party, PDP-Laban, KAMPI and party-list congressmen — would support the initiative so it could be approved in plenary session and transmitted to the Senate early next month.
The postponement of elections would help reduce negative and destructive politics at the barangay level and enable Filipinos to face a looming financial crisis as a united nation, he added.
De Venecia and Deputy Speaker for the Visayas Raul del Mar — co-authors of House Bill 2803, one of several measures filed to postpone the elections — said that barangay elections this year are an exercise the country can "ill-afford at this time."
HB 2803 seeks to reset barangay elections to the second Monday of May 2008, a year after the local elections in 2007, when the fiscal problem would have been scaled down to manageable levels, De Venecia and Del Mar said.
The postponement of elections to May 2008 would allow the government to have more resources for the people’s basic needs without disrupting the flow of services to the barangays, Del Mar added.
The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 9164, a law providing for synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
The simultaneous elections were scheduled on the last Monday of October.
"This (postponement of elections) will have a calming effect on the nation in the midst of the financial crisis," said Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Lakas vice president for special projects.
"The national government can now focus its time and attention on solving this serious problem."
Party president and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said the move is aimed at saving P2.5 billion and "reducing divisiveness" in more than 42,000 barangays nationwide.
President Arroyo, Lakas-CMD national chairman, and the party leadership have endorsed the initiative formalized by Lakas lawmakers during a caucus last week, he added.
De Venecia said he was confident the other political parties in the majority coalition at the House of Representatives — Nationalist People’s Coalition, Liberal Party, Nacionalista Party, PDP-Laban, KAMPI and party-list congressmen — would support the initiative so it could be approved in plenary session and transmitted to the Senate early next month.
The postponement of elections would help reduce negative and destructive politics at the barangay level and enable Filipinos to face a looming financial crisis as a united nation, he added.
De Venecia and Deputy Speaker for the Visayas Raul del Mar — co-authors of House Bill 2803, one of several measures filed to postpone the elections — said that barangay elections this year are an exercise the country can "ill-afford at this time."
HB 2803 seeks to reset barangay elections to the second Monday of May 2008, a year after the local elections in 2007, when the fiscal problem would have been scaled down to manageable levels, De Venecia and Del Mar said.
The postponement of elections to May 2008 would allow the government to have more resources for the people’s basic needs without disrupting the flow of services to the barangays, Del Mar added.
The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 9164, a law providing for synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
The simultaneous elections were scheduled on the last Monday of October.
"This (postponement of elections) will have a calming effect on the nation in the midst of the financial crisis," said Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Lakas vice president for special projects.
"The national government can now focus its time and attention on solving this serious problem."
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
8:58 AM
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