Election lawyer to challenge SC decision affirming BSKE postponement

National

VETERAN election lawyer Romulo Macalintal is not giving up just yet on his fight against the postponement of this year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

Macalintal said he will be filing a motion for reconsideration, asking the Supreme Court (SC) to review its decision upholding the constitutionality of the law that postponed the BSKE to 2028 and fixed a five-year term for barangay and SK officials.

“I cannot – and will not – fail the Filipino people now. I am preparing to file my Motion for Reconsideration and will reiterate my plea for oral arguments to expose the grave errors in the majority ruling,” Macalintal said in a statement issued on Monday, Nov. 9.

Macalintal said he would ask the SC to schedule oral arguments for his petition.

Macalinta said he intends to prove that the postponement was “deliberate and intentional to deprive citizens of our fundamental right to vote and choose our leaders.”

The majority decision – penned by then associate justice and now Chief Justice Rodil Zalameda – ruled Republic Act 12326 was a term-fixing law and not an election postponement law.

“If this ruling remains uncorrected, and if no one stands up to warn of its dangerous consequences to our democratic system, RA 12326 will not stop at the barangay level. It could embolden legislators to tamper with the May 2028 presidential elections under the guise of invoking the phrase ‘unless otherwise provided by law’ in Article VII of the Constitution,” Macalinta saidl.

Macalintal added that the SC may consider reversing its decision upholding the law, which got a vote of nine concurring, five dissenting and one “on leave.”

“With five justices already voting in favor of my petition, I only need two more justices to reconsider their positions… From a 9-5 defeat, I earnestly hope and pray for an 8-7 reversal in our favor upon reconsideration of the decision,” Macalintal said.(MyTVCebu)