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Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.

Paulit-ulit po nating naririnig, "Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan,"sapagkat hindi po mapabubulaanan ang kapangyarihan ng kabataang Pilipino bilang instrumento ng pagbabago.

Sandigan naman ng kaunlarang panlahat ang mga baranggay - the smallest unit of our government yet it is the frontliner, the primary government that breathes through meaningful people participation.

That's why, I believe that the Baranggay and SK elections is important because it's an opportunity where young people can directly exercise their right to suffrage and influence governance.

But I also believe deeply that holding the Barangay and SK elections this year will cause delays and slow down crucial economic projects of the national government; for one thing, there will be temporary bans and restrictions in several government processes throughout the entire election period.

Kung itutuloy po natin ang eleksyon ng Barangay at Sangguniang Kabataan ngayong ika-31 ng Oktubre, mahigit dalawang buwan na lang mula ngayon, tiyak na magiging dahilan po ito ng pagkaantala sa pangako ng gobyerno na bilisan ang pagbibigay ng serbisyo at programa para sa ating mga kababayan.

Katatapos lang po ng ating halalan at ni wala pang isandaang araw ang bagong administrasyon. Nararapat po sigurong ibigay sa kanila ang karampatang panahon para makapagtrabaho ng tuloy-tuloy at naka-pokus sa kanilang layunin, lalong lalo na ang mabilis at tuloy-tuloy na pagpapatupad ng mga proyektong pangkaunlaran.

It is for this reason that I filed SENATE BILL 1041, resetting the upcoming synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections scheduled on October 31, 2016 to be held on the last Monday of October 2018.

I believe that moving the date of the Barangay and SK elections will have more positive than negative effects:

FIRST, since voter turnout in barangay polls is historically low, the potponementwill give an opportunity for the Comelec to improve voter turnout in the SK and barangay elections, which is way below Comelec's target of 5 million new voters.

According to Comelec, there were only 1,035,474 out of 3 million expected new voters for the SK elections and 785,582 out of 2 million expected voters for the barangay elections.

SK and Barangay polls postponement is a chance for Senior High School and college students to be able to register for barangay and SK polls since classes were already ongoing during the 15-day registration period last month.

SECOND, the upcoming polls, being manual, is costly.

In fact, Comelec recommends to synchronize the holding of the Baranggay and SK polls with the proposed Constitutional Convention as "this will save the government as much as 5 to 6-billion pesos".

Furthermore, if elections would push through, there could possibly be another power outages in different parts of the country because of a directive for all power plants to be always available during the election period. The delay in the maintenance shutdown of several power plants, due to the May 2016 elections, is being cited as the major reason of Luzon's recent power problems.

THIRD, and most importantly, the deferment of the polls would give way to the continuing fight against crime and corruption of President Duterte. With the general perception that crimes surge during election season in the Philippines, the barangay and SK polls might be used by some to distract the momentum against drugs and criminality, especially that the PNP and PDEA claim that 11,321 or 27% of all barangays in the Philippines are drug-affected.

With less than 100 days, the new administration is in its early stages of laying down its projects on infrastructure and social services. Holding the Barangay and SK elections two months from now will result to, as I've already mentioned, additional delays in the implementation of government projects, such as increasing infrastructure to address exacerbating traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

However, we should also re-visit the revised Omnibus Election Code and find ways to make our electoral systems better attuned to our present conditions. For example, there's a proposal to separate the holding of national and local polls or merge the barangay and SK elections to the local elections.

Napakahalaga po sa atin ang karapatang bumoto lalo na ng kabataang Pilipino pero batid kong mauunawaan nila, lalo na yaong mga naglalayong maglingkod sa kapwa nila kabataan sa pamamagitan ng SK, na ang kaayusan ng ating lipunan, paglilinis ng gobyerno, at pagpapaunlad ng ekonomiya para makalikha ng mas maraming trabaho ang pangunahing kailangang pagtuunan ng pansin ngayon.

Sa bandang huli, ang halos 20-milyong kabataan (edad 15-24) at ang mahigit 42,000 baranggay sa Pilipinas ang makikinabang sa tiyak na mas malinis, mas maayos, at crime-free na halalan sa Oktubre, 2018.

Marami pong salamat at pagpalain tayo ng ating Panginoon.