Barangay elections were held on Monday, October 28, 2013. The election shall elect the '' Punong Barangay'', more commonly known as barangay captains, and members of the ''

Sangguniang Barangay The Sangguniang Barangay, also known as the Barangay Council, and formerly as the Rural Council and then the Barrio Council, is the legislative body of a barangay, the lowest form of government in the Philippines. The term is coined from the Tag ...

'', or barangay council, in 42,028

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...

s throughout the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

whose terms start on November 30, 2013. Barangays are the smallest

local government unit Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

in the Philippines. Elections for

Sangguniang Kabataan Sangguniang Kabataan (abbreviated as SK; ) is a council meant to represent the youth in each barangay in the Philippines. It was put "on hold", but not quite abolished, prior to the 2013 barangay elections. In January 2016, the Sangguniang ...

, known as the SK Chairman, and members of the ''

Katipunan ng mga Kabataan The Katipunan, officially known as the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK; en, Supreme and Honorable Association of the Children of the Nation ...

'' were originally scheduled to be held at the same time but on September 24, 2013 the

Philippine Congress The Congress of the Philippines ( fil, Kongreso ng Pilipinas, italic=unset) is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, although colloquially the te ...

voted to postpone the elections for at least a year. These elections shall conclude the 2013 election cycle that started in May for the members of the

and provincial, city and municipal officials. Upon their election, barangay captains shall hold

indirect election An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...

s for their cities and municipalities representations in the local councils and provincial boards.

Background

Republic Act This article contains a partial list of Philippine laws. Sources of Philippine laws ;Notes : *Customs may be considered as supplementary source of law, however, customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not be ...

No. 9340 mandates that synchronized elections for the Barangay and SK elections to be held every three years on the last Monday of October. Presently (as of October 2013), there are 42,028 barangays across the Philippines. Several proposals were made to postpone the elections. Fourteen bills were proposed in the 15th Philippine Congress to postpone the election to a variety of dates. COMELEC Chairman

Sixto Brillantes Sixto Serrano Brillantes Jr. (, August 14, 1939August 11, 2020) was a Filipino election lawyer who was the chairman of the Commission on Elections from 2011 to 2015. He was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III on January 16, 2011 to serve ...

proposed postponing the elections to either 2014 or early 2015. Postponement would require amending Republic Act No. 9340 by an act of Congress, signed by the president. President

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

was opposed to postponing the elections.

Preparations

Postponement of the Sangguniang Kabataan elections

Because of allegations that the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) was a "breeding ground for

political dynasty A political family (also referred to as political dynasty) is a family in which multiple members are involved in politics — particularly electoral politics. Members may be related by blood or marriage; often several generations or multiple sibli ...

and exposes the youth to corruption and the practice of traditional politicians" known colloquially as

trapo Devonte Kasi Martin Perkins (born 21 October 1995), better known by his stage name K-Trap, is a British rapper and songwriter from South London. He is known for his prominence in the UK drill scene, releasing notable mixtapes such as ''The Last ...

s, on September 24, 2013, the Congress of the Philippines passed a bill to (a) postpone the scheduled October 2013 SK elections until sometime between October 28, 2014 and February 23, 2015 and (b) leave vacant all the SK positions until new officers are elected. The bill explicitly prohibits the appointing of officials to fill the vacant positions. Sen. Francis Escudero said the no-holder of officials would technically abolish the SK. The 10% funds from the

Internal Revenue Allotment The Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) is a local government unit’s (LGU) share of revenues from the Philippine national government. Provinces, independent cities, component cities, municipalities, and barangays each get a separate allotment. ...

designated for SK activities would be used by the barangays for youth development programs.

Special elections in Zamboanga City and Bohol

The Commission on Elections decided to postpone the elections in

Zamboanga City Zamboanga City, officially the City of Zamboanga (Chavacano and es, Ciudad de Zamboanga, Tausūg: ''Dāira sin Sambuangan'', fil, Lungsod ng Zamboanga, ceb, Dakbayan sa Zamboanga), is a city in the Zamboanga Peninsula region of the Philipp ...

in October 8 as the city was still reeling from the effects of the

Zamboanga City crisis The Zamboanga City crisis ( Filipino: ''Krisis sa Zamboanga;'' Chavacano: ''Crisis na Zamboanga'') or Zamboanga Siege was an armed conflict in Zamboanga City, Philippines between the government forces of the Philippines and Moro rebels from ...

and of massive floods On the aftermath of the

2013 Bohol earthquake The 2013 Bohol earthquake occurred on October 15 at in Bohol, an island province located in Central Visayas, Philippines. The magnitude of the earthquake was recorded at 7.2, with epicenter of Sagbayan, and its depth of focus was . It aff ...

, Chairman Sixto Brillantes announced on October 21 that the commission also postponed the elections in the entire province of

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It ...

. The next day, commission voted to hold the elections in both places to be held on November 25, or five days before the terms of incumbents expire.

Gun ban and official campaign period

A gun ban went into effect on September 28, 2013. The official campaign period was one week, from October 18 to 26, 2013. For the special elections in Zamboanga City and Bohol, the election period and gun ban went into effect from October 26 to December 10, 2013, filing of COCs was November 7–13, 2013, and the campaign period was one week, November 15–23, 2013.

Election

The election was a manual one and not automated as the May 2013 national elections were. The ballots were blank and voters were required to write in the name of the candidates that they wanted to vote for. In August 2013, there were 54,051,626 registered to vote in the elections.

Statistics

Results

, - ! !!Total !! % , - , Voter turnout , , 38,721,421 , , 72.11% , - , Registered voters , , 53,698,002 , , 100%

References

External links

Official Website of the Commission on ElectionsRepublic Act No. 9340
{{Legislatures of the Philippines

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2013 elections in the Philippines