BSKE Moved to 2028: RA 12326, Five-Year Terms and the Court Challenge

1What happened: the 2 November 2026 barangay and SK elections did not take place

Voters who expected to elect new barangay captains, kagawads and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials on 2 November 2026 did not go to the polls. On 24 September 2026, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 12326, a law that fixes the term of barangay and SK officials at five years and sets the next Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) for the second Monday of November 2028, which falls on 13 November 2028, according to fact checks by VERA Files on 7 October 2026 and 13 October 2026.

What began in mid-2026 as competing Senate and House proposals to move the polls, one to October 2027 and others to 2028, is therefore no longer a pending bill. It is an enacted statute. The live question has shifted from Congress to the Supreme Court, where election lawyer Romulo Macalintal and several youth groups have asked the Court to strike the law down. As of the research date of 6 November 2026, no temporary restraining order (TRO) or status quo ante order had been reported, and the Court had not ruled on the merits.

This article explains how the measure was passed, what it actually changes, how the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) responded, the Supreme Court doctrine that will decide the challenge, and what the change means for incumbent officials, would-be candidates, residents and businesses that deal with barangays every day.

• 24 Sept 2026
  RA 12326 signed
• 5 years
  New fixed term for barangay and SK officials
• 13 Nov 2028
  Next BSKE (second Monday of November)
• About P8 billion
  Spent by COMELEC on 2026 preparations, per its chairman

2How the bill moved through Congress

The 2026 BSKE had itself been the product of an earlier reset. Under RA 12232, signed in August 2025, the polls originally set for 1 December 2025 were moved to the first Monday of November 2026 and barangay and SK terms were fixed at four years. Within months, new proposals surfaced to move the 2026 vote again, citing fuel-price inflation and the clash between the 2 November date and All Souls' Day.

In late August 2026 a Senate committee approved two measures together, the Inquirer reported on 26 August 2026: Senate Bill No. 2067 by Sen. Imee Marcos, which would have moved the polls to October 2027, and Senate Bill No. 2387 by Sen. Francis Escudero, which would fix barangay and SK terms at five years. Escudero framed his bill as a term law rather than a postponement, saying the subject matter was “fixing the term, not just postponement.” At the same hearing, COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the commission had already spent P8 billion preparing for the polls.

The House moved first on the floor. Its counterpart bill passed third reading with 211 votes in favour, 13 against and one abstention, as reported by the Daily Tribune. On 14 September 2026, the Senate approved SB 2387 on third reading; the Daily Tribune reported 13 senators in favour and five against (Senators Sotto, Aquino, Pangilinan, Hontiveros and Villanueva). Opponents argued that the delay deprives voters of the chance to choose new leaders and, in Sen. Sotto's case, that the bill fails the Supreme Court's criteria for a valid postponement. Some suggested the five-year term could simply apply to officials elected on 2 November without cancelling that vote.

Rather than convene a bicameral conference committee, the House on 16 September 2026 adopted SB 2387 as an amendment to House Bill No. 10971, the Philippine Star reported. That left one text for enrolment and presidential signature.

1. 2025-08-13
   RA 12232 signed. BSKE moved from 1 December 2025 to November 2026; four-year terms.
2. 2025-11-11
   Supreme Court upholds RA 12232 as a term-setting law.
3. 2026-08-24
   Senate committee approves SB 2067 (Marcos) and SB 2387 (Escudero).
4. 2026-09-08
   House approves its five-year-term bill on third reading.
5. 2026-09-14
   Senate approves SB 2387 on third reading.
6. 2026-09-16
   House adopts SB 2387 as an amendment to HB 10971, skipping a bicameral conference.
7. 2026-09-24
   RA 12326 signed; COMELEC halts 2026 BSKE preparations.
8. 2026-09-28
   Macalintal petition filed at the Supreme Court (reported 27–28 September).
9. 2026-11-02
   Original 2026 election day passes without polls.

3What RA 12326 provides

The statute is titled, per the Daily Tribune's 25 September 2026 report, “An Act Fixing the Term of Office of Barangay Officials and Members of the Sangguniang Kabataan to Five (5) Years,” and it amends RA 12232. The title matters: the government defends the measure as a term-fixing law, and the postponement as a consequence of that choice. Its main features, as described in the published reports, are summarised below. The official text in the Official Gazette should be checked before relying on any specific provision.

Two features carry the most practical weight. First, because the extension counts as a completed term, a barangay official now in a second consecutive term in the same post cannot run for that post in 2028. Second, the Senate version, per the Tribune's report on its passage, would let COMELEC apply unspent BSKE funds to preparations for the May 2028 national and local elections. Whether that provision survived unchanged in the enrolled text should be confirmed against the signed law.

4COMELEC's response: stopping the count before it started

COMELEC's 2026 calendar had scheduled the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) from 28 September to 5 October 2026. Once RA 12326 took effect, the commission stopped all 2026 BSKE activities, including COC filing. “We have already stopped all activities related to the 2026 barangay and SK elections in recognition of the new law,” Chairman Garcia told the Philippine Star on 30 September 2026. According to VERA Files, citing the Solicitor General's comment, COMELEC also lifted the election-period prohibitions and called off the campaign period.

The financial picture is part of the public debate. Garcia has put spending on the cancelled polls at about P8 billion out of a P19.57-billion BSKE allocation. Of that, P200 million could not be recovered, while more than P7 billion in printed election materials could be stored and reused, according to the Tribune's Senate report. Garcia also said the commission would comply with whatever the Supreme Court decides, while noting it would need time to resume preparations if the Court ordered the elections to proceed.

5The constitutional questions and the Supreme Court record

The 2023 benchmark: Macalintal v. COMELEC

In Macalintal v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 263590, decided 27 June 2023, the Supreme Court declared RA 11935, which had moved the December 2022 BSKE to October 2023, unconstitutional. The Court found the law's main purpose, realigning COMELEC's budget, was not a legitimate reason to override the right of suffrage. Because voting was already near, it allowed the October 2023 polls to proceed and directed that later elections follow the earlier law. It then laid down guidelines for any future postponement:

1. Elections are the rule; postponement is the exception.
2. The reason must be sufficiently important, substantial or compelling, such as ensuring free, honest and safe elections or responding to a public emergency. Election fatigue, divisiveness or the shortness of a term are not enough on their own.
3. Voters must keep an effective opportunity to vote.
4. The postponement must be reasonably appropriate and narrowly tailored, and elections must still be held at intervals that are not unduly long.
5. It must not violate the Constitution or existing laws.

The Court denied the Solicitor General's motion for reconsideration, as announced in an SC press release dated 24 October 2023, saying the guidelines merely reflect limits already in the Constitution.

The 2025 ruling: term-setting is different

On 11 November 2025, the Court upheld RA 12232, which had moved the December 2025 polls to November 2026. According to GMA News, the Court held that it was a term-setting law, “not a law postponing elections,” so the Macalintal guidelines did not apply. It reasoned that Article X, Section 8 gives Congress the power to fix barangay terms, and that elections remain regular and certain when the interval is changed rather than abolished. A Philippine Star column reported the vote as 8–5 with two abstentions.

The 2026 challenge

Macalintal's new petition, filed in late September 2026, argues that RA 12326 is a postponement disguised as a term law and that it extends incumbents' terms by two years without the compelling reason the 2023 guidelines require. Youth groups filed a separate petition on 5–6 October 2026 seeking a TRO so the 2 November vote could proceed. The Court required the Office of the President, both chambers of Congress and COMELEC to comment. In a 64-page comment, the Office of the Solicitor General asked the Court to dismiss the petition. It argued that the case breaches the hierarchy of courts, that no interim relief is warranted, that the law carries a presumption of validity, and that the postponement is “a logistical consequence of the term extension.” On 25 October 2026, Macalintal asked the Court to hold oral arguments and act on his TRO plea, according to the Daily Tribune. Reports up to 6 November 2026 show no ruling.

6Holdover, term and tenure: why the labels matter

Philippine law distinguishes a public officer's term, the fixed period set by law, from tenure, the time actually served. In Macalintal (2023), the Court explained that holdover is allowed unless the Constitution or a statute prohibits it, that it is not a “legislative appointment,” and that it extends tenure without extending the statutory term. That is why officials elected in October 2023 were treated as serving a term defined by statute, even though their actual time in office changed.

RA 12326 takes a different route. Instead of letting incumbents hold over after their term ends, it lengthens the term itself to five years and counts the extended service as one full term. This affects three things:

• Legitimacy of acts. While the law stands, incumbent officials hold office under an enacted statute. Clearances, certifications, ordinances and protection orders they issue are presumed valid.
• Term-limit counting. Treating the extension as a completed term prevents a two-term official from running for the same post again in 2028.
• Remedy if the law falls. In 2023, the Court did not reverse past acts. It recognised the operative effects of the voided law and ordered the next polls under the prior statute. Macalintal now argues that COMELEC could set a new date reasonably close to the original one. How a ruling would affect the counting of terms, SK appointments made in the meantime and the election calendar cannot be predicted and would depend on the Court's dispositive portion.

7What it means for officials, candidates, residents and businesses

Incumbent barangay and SK officials

Incumbents continue to exercise full powers. Those in a second consecutive term should assume, while RA 12326 stands, that they cannot run for the same position in 2028 and should plan accordingly. SK officials should note the new appointment rule for member vacancies and the one-term limit. Officials remain subject to administrative discipline and, separately, to the recall process under the Local Government Code. Recall has its own timing restrictions, discussed in our note on recall election timelines for local officials.

Aspiring candidates

No COCs were accepted for 2026. Anyone planning to run in 2028 should track COMELEC's future calendar and qualification rules, especially the SK age bracket, since some prospective SK candidates may age out by November 2028. Grounds for denial or cancellation of a COC are covered in our guide to certificate of candidacy disqualification and nuisance petitions. Pre-election disputes, protests and filing deadlines for the next cycle follow the rules described in our article on barangay and SK election disputes.

Residents and families

• Barangay Protection Orders. Under RA 9262, the punong barangay, or an available kagawad if the punong barangay is unavailable, still issues BPOs, which last 15 days. The postponement does not suspend this remedy. See our guide to barangay protection order enforcement.
• Katarungang Pambarangay. The lupon tagapamayapa, chaired by the punong barangay, continues to conciliate covered disputes. The usual requirement to try barangay conciliation before filing certain cases in court still applies.
• Clearances and certifications. Residency certificates, indigency certificates and barangay clearances continue to be issued by the incumbent officials.

Businesses

Under the Local Government Code, a barangay clearance is generally required before a city or municipality issues or renews a business permit. Companies dealing with barangays on permits, community relations or local projects will deal with the same officials until at least late 2028. Memoranda of agreement, project timelines and permit calendars that assumed new leadership in late 2026 should be reviewed.

8What to watch next

Three developments will shape what happens next: whether the Supreme Court sets oral arguments or acts on the pending TRO and status quo ante pleas; the Court's eventual ruling, including how it distinguishes or applies its 2023 and 2025 decisions; and COMELEC's calendar for both the May 2028 national and local elections and the November 2028 BSKE, including any use of materials and funds left over from the cancelled 2026 vote.

• The 2 November 2026 BSKE did not take place. RA 12326, signed 24 September 2026, set five-year terms and moved the polls to 13 November 2028.
• COMELEC stopped all 2026 preparations, including COC filing, after spending about P8 billion.
• Petitions challenging the law were pending before the Supreme Court as of 6 November 2026, with no TRO reported.
• The outcome likely turns on whether the Court treats the law as a valid exercise of Congress's power to fix terms, as it did in 2025, or as a postponement subject to the 2023 Macalintal guidelines.
• Barangay services, including clearances, BPOs and lupon conciliation, continue under incumbent officials.

If you are an incumbent official assessing your eligibility for 2028, a prospective candidate, or an organisation whose permits or projects depend on barangay action, Abanto Law Firm's election law practice can review your position against the text of RA 12326 and any Supreme Court ruling. You can reach the team through our contact page.

9Frequently asked questions