Comelec mulls holding SK polls in February 2015

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is considering holding the Sanguniang Kabataan (SK) polls in February 2015, Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. bared yesterday.

Brillantes noted that although the SK elections could be held as early as October this year, they prefer to do it in February.

“When SK was postponed in October 2013, it has been reset between October 2014 to February 2015. Now we are in talks with Congress and although there is no definite schedule yet, we prefer to do it in Feb. 2015,” he added.

The postponement of the SK polls was provided for in Republic Act 10632, supposedly to allow Congress to review whether or not SK should continue.

But Brillantes reiterated that for the Comelec, SK has not served its purpose of training the youth in leadership and governance.

“We are not keen on holding SK elections. For us it’s better to have no SK anymore and then appoint youth leaders, if possible, maybe from the schools’ student councils or youth organization in the community,” he maintained.

The Comelec believes that SK had only exposed the youth to the practice of traditional politicians in mishandling the budget and politicking, and it has become a breeding ground for political dynasties since most of those who run for SK posts are children or relatives of politicians.

“I’ve always felt that we don’t need SK and it should already be abolished. But it’s still up to Congress,” he said.

According to Brillantes, the preparation for the 2016 local and national polls will also be disrupted if they hold the SK elections.

“It’s really a distraction for us. We’ll have to suspend the voter’s registration by three months because of SK and it’s really a big loss for us,” he claimed.

Brillantes added that, for one, there are 9.6 million registered voters who are in danger of not being able to vote in 2016 because they do not have their biometrics data with the Comelec.