SK polls conducive to vote buying and influence

There is the imperative and urgent need to abolish the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and altogether cancel its scheduled election this October 25 because it is too easy and convenient to commit vote-buying in this election or directly influence our young voters in the choice of their supposed leaders.

The COMELEC admitted that only about two million SK voters participate in its election.  With 42,000 barangays nationwide, there is only an average of 48 SK voters per barangay.  As a matter of fact, there are barangays where there are only about 25 registered SK voters.

Clearly, with only such a handful number of identified SK voters in each barangay, it would be that easy to directly influence the said voters to vote for or against a particular SK candidate. Thus, our government is not actually helping our youth to develop and enhance their leadership potentials but only making the SK as training grounds to emulate the activities of traditional politicians.

Election of SK leaders destroys camaraderie or friendship among the youth in a particular barangay.  Instead of cooperating or working together, the said election causes divisiveness among the youth at such an early age because, like several traditional politicians, some losing SK candidates cannot likewise admit defeat in good grace and would claim that they were “cheated in the election” and file frivolous election protests that only clog the dockets of our courts and the Comelec.

Thus, time is of the essence that Congress cause the passage of the law abolishing the SK and its election. As an alternative, the youth committee of the various city and municipal councils should be headed by the youngest city or municipal councilor who should be more dynamic to encourage active participation by the youth to inculcate in them the spirit of volunteerism and develop their sense of nationalism.