Palace awaits House move on Sangguniang Kabataan poll deferment proposal

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is awaiting congressional action on the proposal to postpone anew the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections from Feb. 21 this year to Oct. 31, 2016 and synchronize them with the barangay polls.

There are calls to reform or abolish the SK due to observations that it is not serving its purpose but only becoming a breeding ground for corruption among the youth.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said President Aquino had long expressed his belief that reforms must be implemented with regard to the concept and system of the SK.

Coloma said the House of Representatives had passed a measure to postpone the SK elections and was just waiting for the Senate to approve the same.

“If we recall, the scheduled elections in October 2013 were no longer held because the reform bill involving SK had not yet been passed,” Coloma said.

Based on Republic Act No. 10632, the Commission on Elections could choose a date from Oct. 28, 2014 to Feb. 23. 2015 to hold the SK elections and it chose Feb. 21.

Asked if the problem was the Senate, Coloma said it would be best to just wait for its decision.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the SK elections will push through as scheduled next month unless Congress is able to wrap up and approve the proposed SK reform bill that remains pending in Congress.

Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on local governments, said the passage of the SK reform measure is necessary since it is the rationale used by lawmakers when Congress postponed the SK polls in October 2013.

Marcos lamented the lawmakers were unable to craft a better SK reform measure more than a year since the 2013 postponement.

“We vowed to wrap up the proceedings on the SK reform bill before the scheduled election. But it is more complicated at the House of Representatives because there are 11 versions filed before it,” Marcos said.

Based on consultations by congressmen and senators with Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr., Marcos said the lawmakers should speed up the passage of the reform measure.  – With Christina Mendez, Sheila Crisostomo, Evelyn Macairan