Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez today urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to sign the Congress-approved bill on the term of office and election of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (BSK) officials.

The bill gives BSK officers a term of four years and resets their election from Dec. 1 this year to the first Monday of November next year.

Rodriguez made the appeal days after election lawyer Romulo Macalintal called on the President to junk the proposed law.

“I totally disagree with Atty. Macalintal. There is no issue or debate that Congress possesses the power to fix their term of office of BSK officials and consequently to reset their election,” the Mindanao lawmaker said.

He said it is in the exercise of such power that the Senate and the House of Representatives approved their versions of the bill and ratified the consolidated version before adjourning last week.

He reiterated that if the next BSK elections are held in December this year as scheduled, village officers would have a shortened tenure of only two years.

“It would be unfair to them because the law gives other local officials a three-year term of office. BSK officials should enjoy the same privilege, which they would if their elections were postponed to November next year as proposed in the consolidated bill,” Rodriguez said.

He said that if the BSK elections are held this December, Comelec will be spending P12 billion, which could be better used for development projects in the country’s 42,046 barangays.

“Also, if BSK elections will be held this December, our country will be conducting three elections in one year: the recent May 12 national and local elections, the October 13 elections for BARMM and the December 1 BSK elections. This will result in multiple unnecessary expenses running to billions and billions of pesos,” he said.

Rodriguez also disputed Macalintal’s position that the bill covers three different subject matters in violation of the Constitution.

“There is only one subject matter of the bill, i. e. the change of term of BSK officials,” the Mindanao lawmaker said.