Sangguniang Kabataan Should Be Abolished

Our youth is the future of our nation, a quote from our national hero Jose Rizal, but what if our youth is already corrupt? Objective and Purpose of the Sangguniang Kabataan To establish Katipunan ng Kabataan as the mainstream government-sponsored organization for the youths in every barangay to serve as the barangay governments partner in identifying programs and projects in their respective communities and in identifying issues and concerns affecting them;

To provide a framework for the improvement in youth governance by strengthening the Katipunan ng Kabataan as the mainstream government sponsored organization and reforming the Sangguniang Kabataan as the policy-making and legislative body of the organization; To provide the general directions in youth governance at the local level, setting policies and standards and establishing authorities, accountability and responsibility in achieving better performance outcomes; To define the roles and responsibilities of members of the Katipunan ng Kabataan and Sangguniang Kabataan officials and federation officers; To provide resources to the Sangguniang Kabataan and implement youth related programs and projects and other initiatives at the local level; To make the Katipunan ng Kabataan the most important vehicle for youth participation in the implementation of civic, economic and political activities in their respective localities and for the Sangguniang Kabataan as the training ground for future leaders of this country by inculcating in them basic social values and spiritual values; and To ensure that the youths receive the kind of focused attention from the national and local governments. Why should SK be abolished? "Because it only adds burden to the heavily grown bureaucratic red tape that is plaguing the Philippine society today..It is the same way that Baranggays should be abolished so that the Mayors had something to do... The society become so useless If you keep on creating smaller and smallest units from smaller units..It becomes a burden. If you will ask how to make the Philippine bureaucracy compressed and save resources on useless politicians who steal money and break the colonialist past of Filipinos, given the country's small territory and population, It should be divided only in 13 federal regions with governors and 13 senators and maybe 26 representatives. Currently, It is very bloated and very inefficient the reason why the country remains the same." -PHILCHN (yahooanswers.com)During the past SK and barangay election I participated on becoming one of the supporters and poll watcher of a barangay chairman candidate to see the dirty secrets behind Sanggunian Kabataan and Barangay elections. As usual, dirty tactics are as planned. The money, the sure voters, the goons, and the guns are already prepared. But one thing I noticed, is that the SK election are more dirty than the barangay. Registered SK voters are being forced to be kidnapped and keep on a hotel until election day. They were given money, cellphones just for their vote.

And when election day comes, the drama begins... goons and guns are all over the precinct, when the vote has come to a tie, a missing kid was the only hope to end the tie breaker. And then the opposing camp reacts violently after seeing the missing kid, because of that, one of their goons start shooting on the air. A good thing no one is hurt, but the trauma those kids suffered will mark till they grow up. The election used to be and only for the YOUTH has now become corrupt. Parents teaching their children to buy votes to get elected is a stepping stone to become a great corrupt leader. Most of them are not qualified either to become a youth leader, the salary they receive from the tax payers money are usually used to buy iPhones, beer, a motorcycle, all the things a youth desires... so much for public service. The objectives of an SK member is just a bluff, no one is really serious about public service if you are 17 years old. A teenager will do what a teens would do, like drinking beer, party all night, if you add money to that you are just tolerating their will to have fun and not minding obligations as public servant. Abolishing SK will save the government billions of pesos and will save our children from early corruption training. `

Brillantes: Abolish barangays, SK

MANILA, PhilippinesSmarting from the unruly hordes of would-be registrants who descended on election offices on Wednesday, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Thursday called for the abolition of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) systems. Brillantes also said the Election Registration Board (ERB) would go over the list of new registrants to weed out those who had illegally registered on July 22-31. He noted that a day before Wednesdays deadline, the Comelec had already recorded 1.2 million new registrants, or 50 percent more than the 800,000 it had expected would sign up to vote in the barangay and SK elections on Oct. 28. Maybe a good way to stop this from happening again is to abolish the SK and also the barangay. We have been advocating for that for a long time, Brillantes said in an interview. He urged President Aquino to at least certify pending bills in Congress calling for the postponement of the SK elections in October. Lets see whether the barangay will be able to run without the SK. If it can run without the SK, lets abolish the youth councils, he said. SK officials are 15- to 25-year-olds who have been accused of following in their elders graft-ridden political ways. Hakot system Brillantes noted that SK candidates also resorted to the hakot system of herding supporters to local Comelec offices to register. We are teaching them to resort to hakot even at their young age, he said. Brillantes said the unruly scenes outside Comelec offices on Wednesday was unprecedented and abnormal. What happened and the high number of people were abnormal. That cannot be ordinary. Did you see the large number of people? The unruly behavior? There was even a stampede. Has that happened before? No, Brillantes said. Hunger, rain, exhaustion My assessment is that one candidate herded his supporters and his opponent saw that and did the same. So they (registrants) all ended up waiting (outside Comelec offices), he said. Brillantes said he did not believe Filipino voters would, on their own, willingly suffer hunger, the rain and exhaustion just to register to vote. Ask them why they were willing to suffer the rain, hunger and exhaustion? Are our voters now that motivated? I dont think so, Brillantes said. Biometrics system

Most probably they were hakot, transferees, those who were paid, flying voters, and those who were told that they would not get benefits if they did not register. Who told them that? The candidates, he said. Brillantes said that herding registrants was not illegal but the problem was that this discouraged or disenfranchised legitimate registrants from signing up. Brillantes said the ERB would use the Comelec biometrics system and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System to purge illegal registrants from the list of new voters. Thats going to be easy because we now have biometrics. We will see who registered twice or who transferred (precincts) without meeting the six-month residency requirement, he said. Illegal registrants Brillantes said that as of Tuesday, the Comelec had recorded 2.3 million SK voters (those above 15 but below 18 years old) and 1.2 million regular voters. We already had 52 million voters registered last May. Why would there be another million? Im sure were going to find many (illegal registrants), Brillantes said.

Time to abolish the Sangguniang Kabataan

`In theory, the Sangguniang Kabataan serves a very noble purpose. It was created to serve as a training ground for the countrys future leaders. It was a place where those who wanted to learn about politics might enter to enrich their skills and learn what it would take to become a future leader of the nation. Over the years though, as what often happens with a once-noble purpose, the Sangguniang Kabataan has been twisted and turned into something that is no longer in unison with its original purpose. It has become as open to graft and corruption as the government itself, and instead of fostering future good leaders, it only seems to teach the youth about the corruption that exists in the government at a very early age. I think that in the last couple of years the purity and purpose of the SK has been something that not everyone believed in anymore. However, it remained important for the youth to feel they have a voice so that they remained interested in their government and how the country was being run. Over the weekend, Caloocan Rep. Edgardo Erice proposed an amendment that would, in effect, abolish the SK, something he had originally proposed while he was in his first term in office. I read about this news over the weekend and I could not help but agree with his line of thinking. It just seems ridiculous to keep an institution around that is no longer serving its purpose. Unless drastic changes are made to return the so-called innocence of the SK, there really is no need to keep it around. Other than just churning out younger corrupt future politicians, the SK has also been known to be the training ground for political dynasties, a place where politician families can put their kids to learn about politics until they are of age and can take over the family business. This seems rather unfair to those who truly want to run for the SK because of a genuine interest in politics and serving the people. They stand no chance running against candidates who are backed by their political families. Its just anoth er place for politicians to gain a stronger foothold. As mentioned by Erice, who himself had been a part of the Sangguniang Kabataan when he was younger, when he was in it there was absolutely no budget allotted for the youth group. The group was pure volunteerism and those who joined did it out of a sincere desire to learn and they worked on programs that directly benefitted them. It was very different from the current way the group is set up. Opinion ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

They are now a logical first choice target for local politicians seeking a higher position. Because of this SK leaders are truly exposed to the ugly side of politics at a very young age and instead of inspiration are being disillusioned and even jaded by the system instead of striving to find ways to improve it and better it. Of course, the idea of abolishing the SK is also having its fair share of opposition. There are those who claim that the importance of the group is still the same and that is giving the youth a voice in the government and teaching them about politics at a young age thereby helping them understand how the government works. With this mission I wholeheartedly agree, however, that is not what is happening now. The Caloocan Representative went on to say that he understood the importance of having a youth voice and suggested instead the organization of a Barangay Youth Council headed by the youngest elected Sangguniang Barangay member with four chairmen appointed. They will tackle topics directly related to the youth including education, sports, environment, and culture and the arts. I can see the merits of his suggestions and I think it would be a good first step in cleansing youth politics and keeping them focused on what really matters building a better nation for themselves and their generation. As is, there are both pros and cons to abolishing the SK, but in the end we have to ask ourselves which is the path that will lead to more future growth and development. While the concept of the Sangguniang Kabataan is noble, it is not being executed properly. It cant be denied that it is a training ground for political dynasties and more and more political names are being put in the SK than possible future leaders who may not come from as prestigious a legacy but who are more than capable of serving. Plus, there is a substantial allocation of funds to the SK. If these are not being run correctly, the funds will surely not also be used the best possible way. At the same time though, should the group be abolished, how would the funding be used in a way that it will still serve its intended purpose? That is a serious question that needs to be addressed as well. In an ideal world, the best way to approach this problem is to institute reforms and safeguards. I think the Barangay Youth Council is a good idea in the right direction. The government can also earmark the SK funds for youth related projects in their districts such as school renovations, park and sports center buildings, and arts and culture programs for the youth. I think, in general, that is what these funds are for, but due to the nature of politics sometimes earmarking is not the same as actual budget implementation. Another idea given by the Representative of Quezon City is to continue on the SK but with zero budget. Give the youth their organization to learn about politics and make their suggestions within their barangays but dont include money or budget in the process. He claimed that the SKs corruption comes from its leaders a ccess to public funds. A budget-less SK might be the antidote for such corruption. Its a very radical reform, but something that may also work. Without budget, the SK would return to the purity it formerly had because the young leaders elders politicians, barangay leaders, and etc would not be tempted to interfere. Personally, I am not entirely sure about which road is the best one to take at this point, but I do agree that changes need to be made. This is no longer something we can just ignore. The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to fix. Whether this is something that can be address before the elections in October is something only time will tell. Although for the amendment to just come in now is cutting it quite close though I must admit.