MANILA – An all-member caucus of the House of Representatives has agreed to reschedule the Barangay and Sangguniang kabataan elections to the 4th Monday of October, 2017.

According to House Majority Leader Rodolfo Farinas, they are in constant communication with their counterparts in Senate. The two Houses were supposed to file a joint resolution. However, Senate filed a substitute bill resetting the elections to the 5th Monday of October next year.

"I just contacted Sen. Angara to reset it 4th Monday of October because of Undas (All Saints' Day)," Farinas said.

The Lower House will file a bill in coming days regarding the rescheduling of the polls in hope of avoiding a bicameral conference, which can be a cause for further delays.

The postponement will have a holdover for incumbents, said Congress. Thus, one proposal by Misamis Occidental Representative Henry Oaminal was to let President Rodrigo Duterte appoint barangay officials. However, this proposal received mixed responses.

The Committee on Suffrage will meet on Monday to come up with a substitute bill, like what happened in Senate, Farinas said.

Comelec earlier urged lawmakers to decide before September 1 whether it will postpone the synchronized polls as they were scheduled to print ballots on that day.

However, they announced on Monday that they are temporarily stopping the printing of ballots after Duterte said he wanted the polls to be moved to a later date.

READ: Comelec halts ballot printing for barangay and SK polls

Last week, Duterte said he is in favor of postponing the barangay and SK polls, which are scheduled on October 31.

"Do you know the reason why I also agreed with some congressmen to postpone the barangay elections? Do you know why? Because I am afraid that the drug money will seep into the electoral process," Duterte told military personnel of the Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City.

-- With reports from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News