Elective barangay officials are covered by 3-term limit

By MYLES JOSEPH E. COLASITO
August 11, 2007

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  Elective barangay officials are covered by the three-term limit like elective provincial, city and municipal officials. This was the clarification issued by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) after receiving a number of queries regarding the synchronized barangay and SK elections in October.

DILG 8 Regional Director William C. Paler revealed that an advisory was issued recently by Undersecretary for Local Government Austere A. Panadero citing Section 2 of RA 9164 passed in 2002, amending the Local Government Code.

The above section states, “the term of office of all barangay and sangguniang kabataan officials after the effectivity of this Act shall be three (3) years. No barangay elective official shall serve for more than three consecutive terms in the same position. Provided, however that the term of office shall be reckoned from the 1994 barangay elections.” The section adds that “voluntary renunciation” shall not be considered as an interruption of the elective barangay official’s full term.

Dir. Paler said Section 2 of RA 9164 is not among the provisions expressly or impliedly repealed by RA 9340, which reset the barangay and SK elections from its original 2005 schedule to October 2007.