SC Issues Amendments to Rules of Procedure in Barangay and SK Election Contests
The 2023 Amended Rules, which shall apply prospectively to all Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan election contests, provides for expeditious, inexpensive and just determination and disposition of such election contests.
The 2023 Amended Rules incorporates some of the provisions of the 2019 Amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure which include, among others, the provisions on the service and filing of pleadings and the judicial affidavit rule, as well as provisions applicable to automated elections in view of the Commission on Elections’ adoption of pilot automated election system in the three (3) barangays (one [1] in Quezon City and two [2] in Cavite) in the upcoming elections.
Moreover, like in the 2022 Interim Amendments to the 2010 Rules of Procedure for Municipal Election Contests (A.M. No. 10-4-1-SC), The 2023 Amended Rules also provides for an initial recount of ballots of the pilot protested clustered precincts or mono precincts, as the case may be. This initial recount is intended to determine whether the protest is meritorious upon showing by the protestant of at least 20% substantial recovery from the overall vote lead of the protestee.
The 2023 Amended Rules shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication once in a newspaper of general circulation or in the Supreme Court Official Website but its effectivity shall in no case be later than October 15, 2023. [Posted on August 30, 2023. Last retrieved on September 04, 2023. SC Issues Amendments to Rules of Procedure in Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election Contests - Supreme Court of the Philippines (judiciary.gov.ph)]
