Barangays make up cities and municipalities and in turn are made up of sitios and puroks, whose leaders are not elected.
Terms of office for barangay officials are usually extended when elections are postponed as a cost-saving measure.
Winning barangay captains in a certain municipality or city elect amongst themselves an Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) president that will serve as their representative in the Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) or Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council).
SK chairmen undergo a similar series of indirect elections at every level, although there is no national leadership at the beginning of 2018.
Postponing barangay elections was done several times despite the 1987 Constitution and special laws like the Local Government Code of 1991 but in 2023, the Supreme Court held that the succeeding synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) shall be held on the first Monday of December 2025, and every three (3) years thereafter, pursuant to Republic Act No.