Leaders of the House of Representatives on Monday agreed to postpone the 2017 barangay elections and synchronize it instead with the plebiscite for Charter change and the proposed Bangsamoro basic law.

In an interview after the House majority caucus, Majority Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas of Ilocos Norte said members of the lower chamber have reached a consensus to hold the barangay elections in May 2018 from October 2017.

According to Fariñas, the lower chamber has also agreed to retain the incumbent barangay officials in a holdover capacity. The last barangay election was conducted in October 2013.

The decision of the lower chamber appears to be in contrast with the proposal of President Duterte to appoint replacements of barangay officials.

Earlier, Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez supported the call of the President for the postponement of the barangay elections in October this year.

Alvarez said Duterte is concerned that, if the elections were held in October as originally scheduled, the candidates backed by money from drug lords would likely win.

He said it would help Congress to act on the proposed measures for the postponement of the October elections if the President would certify these as urgent.

There are several bills currently pending in the House of Representatives seeking the postponement of the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls in October.

Alvarez said that, aside from allowing the government to thwart the growing influence of drug lords over the barangays, postponing the October barangay and SK polls will save the government money.

Besides, Alvarez said, while barangay officials are supposed to be non-partisan, the reality is that politics has greatly influenced barangay elections, as indicated in often-bitter election contests in the country’s villages.