OROQUIETA CITY: The Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) is believed to be a failed experiment but federated provincial head Katrina Regalado has said abolishing it is a wrongful move and could defeat youth’s role in community development.
Regalado has voiced her strong opposition to a proposed bill filed by Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., author of the Local Government Code that reinvented SK from Kabataang Barangay and whose SB 2155 seeks for SK’s abolition.
SK was envisioned to be a training ground for youth leaders and a layer of government for the youth to harness their contribution in community development activities.
Pimentel’s present move is a twist to his previous stance in the 13th Congress when he filed SB 1126, an act to strengthen Sangguniang Kabataan by amending Republic Act No. 7160 known as the Local Government Code of 1991 and for other purposes.
Among the reasons Pimentel cited for filing the bill on the scrapping of the SK is that “the organization exposes youth leaders to situations that make them susceptible to dishonest or corrupt practices, especially in handling funds entrusted to them” and “SK chairpersons and officials are, more often than not, missing in their villages because they have to stay elsewhere to pursue college education.”
However, the proposal under SB 2155 is to have youth representatives in city, municipal and provincial councils elected at large during the conduct of regular local elections held every three years.
Regalado, in commenting, said that it’s not true that SK has lost its usefulness as a mechanism in getting the youth involved in community development.
Although she admits that with every election, many SK leaders fall prey to politicking by traditional politicians, being labeled as “corrupt” is none of it.
Corruption or being dishonest is within the person himself, she explained, and not in their membership to SK as Pimentel puts it.
In an article written for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes said that the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) has earlier expressed approval with SK’s abolition.
“The mayors do not openly speak about the issue because of political reasons, but they are for the abolition of the SK,” LMP president, Mayor Ramon Guico was quoted as saying.
Guico agrees with Pimentel that many SK presidents fail to attend their respective council sessions held during school days because they needed to go to their classes.
“So they are not really able to represent the youth during the sessions but local governments are spending for their salaries and other expenses,” he said.
Another is independence, Guico added, as SK leaders who build or make projects in their respective villages had to consult barangay chairs for decisions on where the budget should be spent.
This is out of the usual run of things because most SK leaders decisions are made by their parents “who dictate on their children what to do.”
“They can not really decide on their own yet, thus they can not effectively represent the youth sector,” the mayor justified.
Another article obtained by PHILIPPINE PREVIEW from Marlon Cornelio, entitled “Amidst Mounting Calls for Abolition, SK Should Start Working Good! A Position Paper on SK Abolition,” talks about SK being thought as a breeding ground of corrupt leaders.
Cornelio is the chairman of the Youth Governance and Participation Committee, Youth and Students Sector of National Anti Poverty Commission (NAPC YS).
Cornelio’s article also mentioned that aside from their non-performance to their function as they have to attend schools, SK officials are too young, easily corrupted and irresponsible.
“Given these arguments are sufficient to abolish SK, what are the alternatives? There are proposals for total abolition of SKs. These proposals argue that school council/government is a sufficient venue for the youth to participate in governance and train in becoming the future leaders of the land,” Cornelio said.
“On the other hand, other proposals still see the significance of youth participation in elections and actual governance. Thus, if SK is to be abolished there should be a replacement mechanism.”
“That the SK is a breeding ground for corruption means that the SK officials are not inherently corrupt. It points out to the fact that the environment to which the SK now is situated is the one’s causing the breeding of new trapos.”
“The answer therefore is to clean up the environment and not abolish SK which is ideally a venue for on-the-job training for good governance and principled leadership for the Filipino youth at the grassroots level.”
“That the SKs are non-performing or have insignificant program/projects can be attributed to the lack of support and guidance they get from their elders. SK was not put up for the youth officials to live on their own,” Cornelio explained.
“The SKs do not know their roles and responsibilities and neither do most of local government officials that limit SKs to beautification and sports projects. There are model SKs to talk of all over the country, both in rural and urban areas. What is common in these model SKs is the presence of guidance and support from the local government and non-governmental organizations.”
“SKs are definitely in dilemma of choosing between attending schools or council sessions. This problem sprout out after the Congress passed Republic Act 9164 in 2002, which reduced the age range of KK and SK eligible youth to 15 to below 18 from 21. This has amendment was made in the bicameral committee without prejudice to the age where which the youth are still in secondary schools. If the age bracket were higher, the elected SKs would have been in college and with more control over their schedule and academic load.”
“Finally, those who belittle the young will have to read up more on the role of youth in our history and nation building. They will have to be refreshed on the International Rights of Children,” the writer added.
“As the problems all point out, and as was found out in the national SK Study funded by UNICEF and spearheaded by DILG NBOO and NAPC Youth and Students Sector, the SKs need support and guidance for them to succeed. They need proper orientation on their functions and how to go about with them. They need trainings and capability/capacity building programs down at the grassroots level,” Cormenilo stated.
“The only way for the SKs to stop the mounting calls for abolition is for them to start working and working good, removing reasons for abolition one by one.”
“Unfortunately, these needs have never been met. Thus, the reasons for the calls for abolition remain and just gained momentum. The fight for long-lasting and institutionalized reform in Congress should continue but it should be coupled with actions on the ground.”
An online petition entitled “No to SK Abolition! Yes to SK Reformation!” and addressed to Congress, the youth, and local government officials was created by members of Brotherhood of Destiny Inc. (BROOD) called for “some degree of fiscal autonomy to the SK like those granted in other Local Government Units in order that the youth councils won’t be beholden or won’t be used for partisan activities by the barangay elders and the mayors.”
“This fiscal autonomy will entail legislation for the SK’s share in the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) to be released directly to the youth councils,” the petition said in part.
MICHAEL MEDINA, WITH ARCHIE AJIAS