CEBU City Rep. Rachel Marguerite “Cutie”B. Del Mar (north district) is pushing for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections be be reset and held next year.

Del Mar filed House Bill No. 1687 seeking a resetting of this year's scheduled October barangay elections to the last Monday of October 2011.

Del Mar cited the budgetary deficit of the government and that postponing the elections could save the nation an estimated P2 billion.

“The question is budgetary deficit, the apparently still unstable fiscal footing of the government, which has to put its limited resources to optimum use in terms of the immediate requirements of the people in the area of delivery of basic services like food, health, shelter and education,” said Del Mar in a statement yesterday.

She said that the nation had also not yet gotten over the last historic presidential elections and still had a political hang-over.

She said there was no sense of violating the better rule of not having two nationwide elections within the same year.

But Director Pedro Noval of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas (DILG-7) disagreed with Del Mar's reasons for not holding the elections this year.

“It's the same amount that the nation will spend even if the election is postponed.” Noval told in Cebuano.

He said that the only time that the nation could save would be when the two elections would be cancelled, which would be against the law.

“There is already a fund allocated for the conduct of the barangay and SK elections,” he said.

He said postponing the election could only mean prolonged agony of those constituents who are complaining that their chiefs were sleeping on their jobs.

“Just let it be. Let the elections happen as it should.” Noval said.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections Cebu City affirmed that they were prepared for whatever is going to happen.

“It is not up to us to say to postpone it or stall it but whatever happens we are ready,” said Cebu City Election Officer Marchel Sarno.

On August 1 to August 10 this year, the registration of citizens aging 18 years above will push through.

While for the SK, the registration is set on August 6 to August 16.

“But if you are going to ask me, why delay a very democratic exercise of choosing a leader?” Sarno said.

“What it appears now is that they are concerned about the price of the election. But a democratic exercise should be priceless. Election is a great democratic exercise to choose a leader you can’t put a price on it.”