Think about it
Lapid’s bill should not be laughing matter
By Jun Velasco
MOVES to scuttle the Sangggunian Kabataan should have been pursued seriously –and relentlessly — much earlier.
We’ve had too much of this “corrupt SK” burden.
It’s rather too late now because we are having our barangay and SK elections tomorrow, October 25. Yes, Atong, we are in for an extended SK reign in our barangays’ youth sector for another three years.
The SK’s abolition has become a nationwide sentiment. We’re at a loss why this sector, which should have been a repository of “youth power for development, has acquired a super-negative notoriety. It’s a common view that the SK’s presence in the political landscape not only highlights additional burden to our taxpayers; it is as well an insult to Rizal who had looked to the young as the country’s hope. Had he spoken too soon?
A careful diagnosis of the evil that has swooped down willy-nilly on our politics-stained SK would show however that the corrupt SK leaders are creations of the old.
The culture of corruption came from their model-parents, it is believed.
In fairness, there are still a few in the SK — those not related by blood or affinity to callous politicians — who aptly fit Rizal’s hope. May their tribe increase!
A not too-radical solution has been proposed by the president of the Pangasinan councilors league, Dong Perez — opting that the barangay council will just appoint a youth representative for his sector.
Aside from the huge budget for SK elections, it is the unwarranted exhibit of youth corruption that breaks our heart. SK politics seals their future, you can imagine its impact on the future of this country. Of course, we can understand — or we are forced to understand — the old’s unrepentant behaviour. That’s pardonable to say the least, but let’s shield and protect the young from the stigma of corruption.
By and large though, we can still count on majority of the Filipino youth — yes, those not in the sangguniang bayan. Every so often we still read about young Filipinos who are honored and recognized for their feats in the arts, sciences, and even in government service. How ironic indeed that no less than the father of the local government code, Senator Nene Pimentel, wants the SK abolished also for this reason.
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Postponement of barangay/SK elections in typhoon-affected areas should be considered favorably.
You can just imagine how voters in some flooded villages of Calasiao, San Carlos and Sta. Barbara would troop to flooded polling places, endangering their health.
Expect a low turnout of voters in these places.
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There’s merit to Senator Lito Lapid’s bill “Maintenance of Parents Act of 20l0,” which would enable parents to ask the court to require their children to provide them financial support in their old age.
A news story about Lapid’s bill should have been written seriously because it took the movie star-turned senator to do something about a phenomenon in Philippine life, which has sired a host of abandoned and grieving parents due to their ungrateful children.
The trouble with the news item — or whoever wrote it — was that it recalled the other bill filed by Lapid seeking school officials’ intervention to prevent school pupils from carrying too much book-load on their shoulders when they go to school.
It was learned that Lapid’s reason was inspired by his childhood experience gathering wood in the mountain that weighed heavily on his shoulders resulting, he said, in his 5’9″ height while his father was taller by 2 inches. Ha ha!
You laugh, but Lapid really filed those two bills.
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PRESSTIME NOTES: The barangay show down in Bonuan Gueset has re-electionist Angel Gumarang shellacking his rivals at the homestretch by waging a beachhead on all fronts of the city’s biggest barangay. He is expected to win by a mile.
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