The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has asked the Supreme Court to deny a petition against the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) that were originally scheduled for this year. In a comment dated October 5, the government’s lawyers argued that a temporary restraining order (TRO) would disrupt the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which has already wound down its preparations.
The OSG filed the comment for the respondents in the case: the Office of the President, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and Comelec. The petition was brought by veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who is seeking a TRO and other reliefs. It targets Republic Act No. 12326, the law signed by the President that fixes the term of office of barangay officials and Sangguniang Kabataan members at five years. In practice, the law moved the barangay and youth council polls from November 2026 to November 2028.
Comelec stopped its election work after the law was signed. The OSG told the court that the poll body has suspended its preparations, lifted election prohibitions, and halted both the filing of certificates of candidacy and the campaign period. Restarting that process on the strength of an interim order, it said, would cause disruption that reaches beyond the parties in the case to the orderly conduct of the electoral process. The OSG said the public interest “favors maintaining a stable and predictable electoral calendar.”
The solicitor general’s office also argued that Macalintal had not cleared the heavier burden required to prevent a law from being implemented. According to the comment, the petitioner did not establish a clear and unmistakable right, a material and substantial invasion of that right, or an urgent need for the writ to prevent irreparable injury. The OSG said the petitioner had “utterly failed” to meet those requirements, and it asked the court to reject both the TRO and the other reliefs sought.
The Supreme Court had earlier ordered Comelec to comment on the petition, and the poll body has said it is prepared for the court’s ruling on the postponement. The move to 2028 has drawn criticism from election watchdog Kontra Daya, which has warned that delaying the barangay and youth polls risks disenfranchising voters. The court has yet to act on Macalintal’s request for a TRO.
