MANILA, Philippines - The Senate is set to recommend the postponement of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections scheduled on Oct. 28, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said yesterday.
Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, said they will come out with a report as soon as possible to enable the Senate to pass the needed legislation before Congress goes on break Sept. 25.
“The national government and many concerned agencies agree on the postponement of the SK elections on Oct. 28. But it is clear that there should be reforms in the SK system,” Marcos said.
The barangay elections will also be held on Oct. 28 along with the SK polls.
Undersecretary Austere Panadero of the Department of the Interior and Local Government proposed to the Senate committee on local government that the SK polls be moved to a later date.
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, national chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), said they support the proposal.
During a public hearing, a representative of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) also said prior consultations showed they are inclined to postpone the SK elections, although they have yet to come up with a collective stand.
Louise Gabriel del Rosario, national president of the National Federation of Sangguniang Kabataan, has said the postponement will pave the way for discussions on reforms in the SK system.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes, for his part, said he sees no problem if Congress seeks the postponement of the SK polls.
“We will have to see how we can conduct the barangay elections without the SK polls,” Brillantes told The STAR yesterday after a Senate hearing on the poll body’s 2014 budget.
Brillantes hopes a final decision on the conduct of the SK polls will be out by month’s end.
If the SK polls would be scrapped, the Comelec chief said they will be able to save P60 million as payment for the SK Board of Election Tellers, which will be composed of teachers.
There is a P3.4-billion budget for the synchronized barangay and SK elections.
Of the amount, about P400 million is expected to be spent for the SK polls.
PERSONAL REACTION
The Sangguniang
Kabataan (SK) (Youth
Council) is a governing body in every chapter of the youth federation. Each barangay in the Philippines is mandated by law to have its own chapter of the Katipunan
ng Kabataan, aging from 15 to 17 years old who resides in their respective
barangays for at least six months and registered in the Sangguniang Kabataan,
or in the official list in the custody of the barangay secretary. It is the
local youth program and projects implementation partner of the government.
Issues came out awhile ago regarding the postponement of the
SK elections. The people then came out and again, throwing negative feedbacks
about the issue. Well, if I were to think, I guess some people might react
violently with this scenario because of their efforts and time that have been
spent all the way through in order to make hand on hand service with the
society through campaign. Money, time and efforts were spent in order to
achieve the goals of every part that is to get the attention of the people but
in just one click it will all be lost because the SK election will be
postponed. Make sense.
On the other hand, I can see some positive outlook with the
decision of postponing the SK election. This is because truly I was struck with
the statement of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr “there
will be no hurry since a big part of our society is made up of young people”. I
guess there is too much time for everyone to prepare first before setting into
rapid SK election. The point of postponement is to give much time for the many
reforms that are needed for the SK to improve its implementation and its
service to its constituency.
