The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections set for October may still be postponed should majority of the members in the House of Representatives find there is a lack of funds to hold the polls, a top House official said on Friday.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte raised the possibility of delaying the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections for at least one year due to financial troubles.

“I think a one-year extension is reasonable, a three-year extension of course is crazy. It’s too close to the past election and the coffers are not exactly in the best of condition,” Belmonte told reporters.

The speaker expressed doubt that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) still have enough cash on hand to conduct the polls just five months after the country's first ever nationwide automated presidential polls.

He also noted that there is "hardly any harm" in postponing the elections even as local officials have already started to get ready for it, citing two instances where barangay and SK polls have been delayed.

“What we are concerned about is the financial implications of it. Do we actually have the money for it? We have the appropriations, which is simply the authority to stand,” Belmonte said.

But the Quezon City lawmaker clarified that he would still have to wait for the recommendation of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, which has yet to be fully established in the 15th Congress. (Rio Rose Ribaya)