House OKs postponing SK polls to 2016

MANILA, Philippines - A bill seeking to reset the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections from February next year to the last Monday of October 2016 was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives last night.

House Bill 5209 was passed with a vote of 193-8.

The authors are Reps. Nicasio Aliping Jr. of Baguio City, Mariano Piamonte of A-Teacher and Eulogio Magsaysay Jr. of AVE.

House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms chairman Fredenil Castro said resetting the elections would give Congress time to pass amendments to the SK Law.

Various bills seeking to amend or abolish the SK are pending in the House.

It is the second time that the Aquino administration has sought to reset the SK elections.

Last year, President Aquino signed Republic Act 10632 postponing the SK elections slated on Oct. 28 that year.

Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon said the Liberal Party is behind the move to postpone the SK elections as part of the administration’s preparations to ensure victory of their candidates in the 2016 polls.

“(The second postponement was) orchestrated by the ruling Liberal Party to take advantage of the vacuum left by the absence of local youth councils to build muscle at the local level,” he said.

“Apparently, Malacañang still wants to dangle the issue of SK abolition to aspiring SK candidates like a carrot-and-stick. It wants aspiring SK candidates to cooperate and pledge allegiance to the ruling party come 2016 presidential elections, that’s why the ruling party is making sure that the SK elections will come after the presidential election.” 

Ridon said the administration was in effect warning local youth leaders that they risk the abolition of the SK if they don’t support the LP in the presidential elections.

“By effectively removing the SK, barangay councils can now gain direct access to funds that are meant for the local youth council,” he said.

Under the Local Government Code, 10 percent of total annual internal revenue allotment of the barangay should automatically go to the SK, or about P6 billion from the IRA of some 42,000 barangays nationwide.