2023 Philippine barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections

Eden Pineda Jessica Dy Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in the Philippines were held on October 30, 2023.

The elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials already and legally began their terms earlier at noon on January 1, 2023, and thus took office as soon as they were proclaimed to have won their respective positions.

Members of the Sangguniang Barangay designated as Indigenous People's Mandatory Representative (IPMR) were not elected on this day.

Unlike the barangay captains, who have their own national federation, the SK chairpersons do not have such an equivalent body after its reformation in 2018.

[6] On September 30, 2019, the Senate of the Philippines passed a bill postponing the date of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to December 5, 2022.

[10] In January 2022, a bill was filed by Davao Oriental–2nd district representative Joel Almario seeking to postpone this election to 2024.

[11] In May 2022, then–presumptive vice president Sara Duterte agreed to postpone the barangay election to 2024 as a cost-saving measure.

[17] COMELEC chairman George Erwin Garcia later said in Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People's Participation hearing that they would need an additional 18 billion pesos for them to hold the elections in December 2023, an increase from 5 billion pesos he earlier shared to the House committee, as it meant to cover increased honoraria for electoral board members.

[20] Further House committee hearings had Garcia suggesting to postpone to election to allow more voters to be registered.

[21] On September 20, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill postponing the election to December 2023 on third reading.

[22] Later that week, the Senate passed the bill on a 17–2 vote, with the dissenters solely coming from the minority bloc.

[25] A week later, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the said law.

[30] Separately, five of six provincial governors in the Bangsamoro also called for the election's postponement, at least after the decommissioning of combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after the failed ambush of Lanao del Sur governor Mamintal Adiong Jr.[31] In late June 2023, the Supreme Court struck down Republic Act (RA) 11935, the law postponing the election, as unconstitutional, declaring that "the law unconstitutionally exceeds the bounds of the Congress' power to legislate."

[34] The national president of the Liga ng mga Barangay, Faustino Dy V of Isabela, resigned in 2019 to run for Congress.

[36][37] On March 10, 2020, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) suspended voter registration in the entire Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

[54] The COMELEC also announced that early voting for senior citizens and persons with disabilities would be pilot tested in Muntinlupa and Naga, Camarines Sur.

[56] However such a plan was considered impossible by the Bangsamoro office of the Commission on Elections due to time constraints.

After the resolution of the Makati vs. Taguig Supreme Court case over which city owns Fort Bonifacio, the former Makati barangays situated in Parcel 3 and 4 of PSU-2031, which are mostly the Embo barangays of Cembo, Comembo, East Rembo, Pembo, Pitogo, Post Proper Northside, Post Proper Southside, Rizal, South Cembo and West Rembo, were transferred by the COMELEC to Taguig,[69] with filing of candidacies being done at the Taguig Convention Center instead of at Makati.

San Nicolas mayor Lester de Sagun questioned the holding of elections in those two barangays as it has been unpopulated for three years.

San Nicolas vice mayor Napoleon Arceo said that these barangays were previously abolished due to an eruption in 1965, but residents subsequently returned.

The COMELEC decided to suspend proclamation of winning candidates who had pending cases of vote-buying, premature and illegal campaigning.

[78] With the earlier decision of the Supreme Court from which this election should had been held in 2022 and that the incumbents were in mere hold-over capacity, the COMELEC ruled, after it was asked for advice by the Department of the Interior and Local Government, that winning candidates, upon taking the oath of office, "may immediately and effectively assume office".

[81] Campaigning ended on October 28, with the PNP reinforcing their numbers in Abra as there were reports of several candidates withdrawing due to intimidation.

Prior to voting, a shooting killed two people and injured four in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.

[85] In Buadiposo-Buntong, Lanao del Sur, voting was delayed as ballots did not arrive in time for election day.

[92] COMELEC chairman George Garcia announced that on November 1, all positions had declared winners, except for "the ones ordered suspended by the Commission and (those in) areas where the electoral board availed itself of the five-day notice rule".

The law allows for "drawing of lots" to settle ties, with coin tosses being an acceptable variant.

Senator Nancy Binay asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government to clarify the rules on the elections for the Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB) and Sangguniang Kabataan, saying that these should be free from political influence.

[98] Jessica Dy from Barangay San Fabian, Echague, Isabela, was elected national president of the league.

[102] The governor of Bulacan, Daniel Fernando, remarked that "no father is happy when he sees his child leave," but left the choice to the people.

Logo for the 2023 BSKE used for public materials and election awareness campaigns.