Sports Eye
Reform the SK, not abolish it
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
THERE’S a push by some of our country’s lawmakers to abolish the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) due to its failure to serve its noble purpose and instead has become the breeding ground of corruption and political dynasty. Spearheaded by administration (Liberal Party) Representatives Edgar Erice of Caloocan City and Mel Senen Sarmiento of Western Samar, they boldly branded the SK as the “school of corruption” and further called for the cancelation of the SK elections this coming October 28. Erice filed House Bill 1122, which aims to amend Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code, to do away with the SK and also seeks the creation of the Barangay Youth Council to be headed by the youngest elected member of a Sangguniang Barangay. Well-known election lawyer Romulo Macalintal echoed the duo’s views, believing that most of the running SK head posts are immediate relatives of politicians, a situation that breeds political dynasties and corrupt practices.
They could be right, and also maybe wrong. SK is the youth representative in government and are supposed to participate in policymaking. To repudiate the organization outright I believe is uncalled for. Maybe the present set-up has some loopholes and have to be studied carefully and corrected. There should be a room for improvement. If there are corrupt SK chairs mishandling the budget for his/her self vested interest only, well that has to be looked into and that will be the work of the COA (Commission on Audit). We have the law to punish them. Yes, I have heard about numerous SK heads who are so corrupt and have not initiated a single project during his/her term. In my town alone there are some but even that is mere hearsay.
A multi-purpose ’covered court’ was built in my village (Buenlag) using funds from the SK budget of 2002 to 2010, barangay council and from former Speaker of the House Joe de Venecia’s CDF (Countrywide Development Fund). This was under the initiative and leadership of our hard-working Barangay Chairman Melchor D. De Guzman, a sports fanatic himself and a former basketball player too. Yes, I believe that the three most important tasks of SK are sports and youth development, clean and green, and to help curb the drug addiction.
The present SK setup is fine but far from ideal because of bad implementation of policies. This is perhaps the reason why even Comelec commissioner Sixto Brillantes is now asking the 16th Congress to postpone the SK and barangay elections for at least a year or two to give enough time for the lawmakers to polish, restructure or correct the flaws. Brillantes also emphasized that only about two million SK voters participate in the election with 42,000 barangays nationwide or with an average of only 48 SK voters per barangay. Indeed, it’s a low turnout. Why? Because many young ones aged 15-17 are lazy to register and that’s the main cause. My village is one example, with only 111 registered and only 106 voted in the last SK election in 2010.
The SK and barangay elections are just 100 days away so let’s just wait and see. But I have a strong feeling that the SK election will soon be abolished or postponed because of the administration lawmakers’ strong push to amend the law.. But without SK, sports activities (especially basketball) in the barangays will be minimized.
I say, don’t abolish the SK but introduce reforms.
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My big congrats to my town mate Mark Anthony Caccam for passing the nursing board exam, landing tenth place with eleven others garnering 84.80 percent. Caccam of barangay Bari is a student of the University of Pangasinan-PHINMA. The board exam was topped by Beverly Anne Felicio Balagon of Velex College in Cebu scoring 87 percent. Mabuhay ka Mark Anthony. You put Mangaldan in the map in nursing course.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Jesus said “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, “You should not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.” But I say to you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your “Yes’ be ‘Yes,” and your “No” be “No.” For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. MATTHEW: 5: 33-37
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