Erwin Garcia

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has postponed the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) three days before the filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COCs). In a press briefing in Ilocos Norte on Friday, Malacañang Press Officer Claire Castro confirmed that Marcos has signed Republic Act 12326 deferring the elections scheduled for Nov. 2. RA 12326 also extended the terms of current local and youth leaders from four years to five years.

MANILA, Philippines — The incumbent congressman from the lone district of Batanes died on Monday due to cardiac arrest. He was 66. Rep. Ciriaco Gato Jr., a doctor who also headed the House committee on health, died while en route to Manila for treatment. Gato, of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, was Batanes representative since 2019. The NPC, now headed by industrialist Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp., issued a statement. “The NPC deeply mourns the passing of Rep.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A predominantly Muslim region in the southern Philippines held its first parliamentary election on Monday, seen as a crucial step in the long quest for self-rule after decades of insurgency and violence. The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was established under a 2014 peace deal in which the largest Muslim rebel group gave up its goal of a separate Muslim state in the south of the largely Roman Catholic country in exchange for broader autonomy.