The SK fantasy

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

WHEN President Aquino, DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo and former Sen. Nene Pimentel called for the abolition of the Sangguniang Kabataan, some sectors (particularly the members of the Federation of SK chairmen) would like many to believe that it caused an uproar in the youth sector. Actually there was none, that is if you call the yearnings of the few current and former chairmen of SK across the country as an uproar; if you call the objection of local politicians who have groomed their children to become permanent chairmen of the their local SKs an uproar.

The fact is, the great (silent) majority of ordinary members of the supposedly biggest youth organization in the country don’t really care if it’s abolished. Why should they care when there’s absolutely nothing in it for them except the “honor and privilege” to be seen in the company of the SK chairmen.

Not many are aware that the SK chairman, not even the elected SK council (kagawad) members, earns a councilor’s salary and pork barrel fund from the barangay and municipal/city councils. Only the chairman and SK kagawads, not the lowly members, are entitled to the privilege of being exempt from payment of tuition and matriculation fees while enrolled in public tertiary schools, including state colleges and universities. The rest of the gang just usually wait for a generous dole-out from their chairman.

And who would likely be a SK chairman nowadays? The common profile of most (Note: Not all!) of today’s SK chairmen is: he/she is doting child of a congressman, mayor or vice mayor or barangay kapitan, an average student in school who does not head a school organization nor occupies a leadership post in student councils.

The SK today only feeds a fantasy that titillates only the imagination of young relatives of local politicos who foolishly believe they have what it takes to lead by simply having a politician’s surname.

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DIVIDED BY PRIORITIES. The main argument against the abolition is that it deprives the youth the opportunity from participating in local governance. Unfortunately, that’s all blah and an empty rhetoric that nobody can argue with but the reality on the ground spells differently.

Here’s the score. The SK chairmen elected to the local sanggunians are mostly considered ‘saling-pusa’ by their elders but they are considered vital and convenient allies when their votes are needed to pass or quash a resolution. Can you imagine an SK chairman standing up to either the mayor, vice mayor or councilor who is the chairman’s father or mother? Not on your life!

Assuming the dedicated SK chairman is wont to become a diligent public servant representing the youth sector in his locality, he is divided by the mandate to be present in weekly sanggunian meetings and his obligation to attend school regularly. Every week, he battles with a decision as to which should take priority in his schedule – the sanggunian session or his class! Either way, his presence/absence impedes his efficiency and diligence as a public servant and as a student but not his pocket.  Since the SK chairman is normally the apple of the eye of the town’s elected official who spent thousands to get him elected, present or not, the SK chairman is assured he continues to receive his full salary and allowances in return for an assured vote where it counts.  And more.

The fast learning SK chairman, who has his parents/elders in “public service” today as models, is taught how to plan and implement projects that pay…not necessarily for his sector but for his own “good”, i.e., to introduce projects enabling him to cause the purchase of sports equipment for donation, appointment of contractors for waiting sheds, negotiation with suppliers whether it’s for catering a meeting or a seminar or equipment rentals…and more importantly, to negotiate the minimum 20-30% S.O.P. kickback for himself! And why not? Whatever town or barangay funds are released to SK by LGUs are not covered by government audit!

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INEXPERIENCED YOUTH LEADERS. It’s a pity that all the good intentions for the SK as mandated in the Local Government Code have been fully co-opted to serve the corruption agenda of our elder politicians.

First of all, the avowed and much abused call for youth sector’s participation in governance is misplaced. Governance is serious business that impacts on a community’s life. It is not a place for student activism or juvenile interests at the very least.

A teener who’s grappling with his grades or has not even managed student affairs in his school absolutely has no business participating in local governance. What can he possibly contribute to any discussion in the sangguinan on legal issues (that require legal studies) and developmental projects (that require feasibility studies by experts)? Nothing. Those are completely alien to him. Yet, he is required to vote on these issues. Can you believe that?

So what can the inexperienced but energetic fun-loving youth (15-21?) do in tandem with his elders in government? They can act as regular observers during council sessions, an activity that should not be reserved for the SK chairman. Logically, one would expect undergraduate political science majors or law students to be interested but even this would be presumptuous because we have yet to see droves of these students eagerly sitting in during sanggunian meetings on a regular basis.

Colleges can (or should) ask political science and law departments to encourage their students to sit-in and observe during sanggunian sessions in their respective towns and be given credit for their reports.

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PAID LEADERSHIP. Paying SK chairmen salaries as “sitting councilors” is as absurd as it is a sheer waste of public funds. This policy should be the first to be deleted in the proviso. Many youth organizations across the country continue to perform creditably well because their dynamic volunteer youth leaders only seek recognition based  on their own merits as volunteers.  So why pay others whose only claim to greatness is to be a relative of an elected official?

Show me a leader of a youth organization who is paid for his services, and I will show you a leader who is bound to fail. And that’s the story behind the failure of SK as a great idea. Sure, a number of SK leaders are outstanding but they remain in the small minority when they should be the standard not the exception.

At best, the SK as crafted today has all the ingredients that ensure the continuity of political dynasties in the local level, nothing else. Yes, SK should be abolished or at the very least have its role, organization and authority drastically overhauled and amended.

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