Press Release
January 5, 2016

Marcos to Pursue Barangay, SK Term Extension

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. today vowed to support and seriously pursue his move to extend the terms of Barangay Officials and Sanguniang Kabataan (SK) members to five years from the current three years.

Speaking before Barangay Officials and workers in Rodriguez, Rizal, Marcos, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government and author of Senate Bill 3296 or the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Official Term Act of 2012, said while the bill failed to pass in the present Congress, he will still actively pursue it in the next Administration.

Marcos explained that his Committee received "mixed signals" from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on the passage of the bill.

"We initially wrote the DILG about this bill and at first they were supportive but in the subsequent correspondence, we received no reply from them," he said.

Marcos explained that the support of the DILG to the law is crucial to its passage because it is the agency that will implement it should it be enacted into law.

Marcos had filed the bill extending the term extension for barangay officials and members of the SK as far back as 2012 in response to clamor from the concerned officials themselves.

He said the three-year term is quite short for Barangay officials to effectively implement their programs in their respective areas, "A longer tenure would also enable the Commission on Elections to save at least P16 billion from the term extension. For every barangay and SK elections, the government spends around P8 billion so that in a fifteen-year period when only three elections are held under a five-year term instead of five, the government will save around P16 billion which can be used for other social services."

Aside from the term extension, Marcos is also the author of the approved bill that gives retirement benefits to barangay officials. Senate Bill No. 12 provides a retirement pay of P100,000 for each qualified Barangay Chairman, P80,000 for each member of the Sangguniang Barangay and P50,000 each for Barangay Treasurer and Secretary, Barangay Tanod, member of the Lupon Tagapamayapa and Barangay Health and Day Care Workers.

To be qualified for the benefits, a Barangay Official or Worker must be at least 60 years old and with at least nine years of service. Some 95,616 Barangay Officials and Workers are qualified to receive the benefit as on June 2013, according to the National Barangay Operations Office (NBOO).

The said bill is awaiting the signature of President Benigno Aquino III.

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