The SK debacle: To abolish or not?

When I was at the United Nations General Assembly in New York three years ago, I co-wrote and read the country’s paper for the UN’s Third Committee Plenary Sessions. One of the highlights of my report was the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK)—fresh from the 2007 national polls, we were then about to elect a new batch of SK officials—and the great potential of these youth councils and their leader-members to be dynamic partners in nation-building. 

Before the recently-concluded barangay and SK elections, news broke on the front page of the Philippine Star: SK National Federation President Jane Censoria Cajes was dragged into a multi-million malversation controversy that became even more controversial after the supposed crime allegedly involved the misuse of funds for the SK president’s aesthetic enhancement surgery. Good copy, flabbergasting news.

The ‘great potential’ mentioned in my report to the UN’s Third Committee (focused on the world’s social situation, including discussions on the youth, the elderly, families, etc.) was actually embodied by Jane Cajes. She was smart and passionate enough. To top that, she was beautiful and captivating, and by any standard, did not need to enhance anything on her face (at least not yet). 

And she was on the right track. I worked alongside her for awhile when she served as ex-officio commissioner of the National Youth Commission (the SK national president has an automatic seat in the commission, like other leagues) and it seemed then that her heart was in the right place. I even lauded and supported her when she fought mighty hard against another NYC commissioner who figured into a string of damning controversies, never mind that he was her fellow Boholano.

But what happened? If all the allegations are to be believed (the sources I also know to be credible people), what changed along the way? What corrupted the great potential that is Jane to the great disappointment, national embarrassment that she is now? Is it the system? Is it the SK set up? And then, ultimately, the inevitable must be asked: Is it time to finally abolish the SK?

The SK, a unique platform for actual youth participation in governance, should really be a source of national pride. Thailand is said to have patterned a similar set up after the SK. My golly, this means we’re exporting ideas! Shouldn’t this make us proud and evermore supportive of the SK model? But we all know this isn’t the case. While there are some exceptions, outstanding SKs who have rendered all arguments against it rather lousy and lame (case in point: Cebu’s Glena Bontuyan), Jane’s situation is just a sad culmination of many an exasperating story involving the SK, and the seemingly failed socio-political experiment it has turned out to be. 

So back to the perpetual question: Should we abolish? I still believe we should do everything we can before we give up, so I say we reform. The only change the SK has undergone so far is one that isn’t favorable to their situation—the age qualification has been lowered significantly and this has lead to a multifarious set of problems for the young elected leaders and their grownup counterparts (responsibilities vs. schooling, too young to understand the concept of accountability, etc.). At their age, they should really be in school.

When I was in the youth commission a few years ago, I remember a study conducted by the UP NCPAG with conclusions and recommendations that zeroed in on the need to reform the SK, not abolish it altogether. Until now, no lawmaker has seriously taken the cudgels for the SK and has used this study as basis for possible amendments to the law that created the SK.

The problem with lawmaking in this country is a dangerous deficiency in the culture of research. Very few value the importance of surveys, pilot-testing, FGDs, among other scientific tools. It’s amusing how marketers and advertising practitioners can be more scientific than our elected policy-makers. 

There are so many points to thresh, but the bottom line is there’s a study, and everyone who cares enough to comment about the SK, whether for or against its abolition, should actually take the time to read it first.

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Tonight’s The Bottomline with Boy Abunda: Part 2 of Boy’s birthday episode where he himself answers the most personal and controversial questions from bottomliners and other important guests in a specially revised format (some guest bottomliners include Aquino sisters Ballsy and Pinky, Mike Defensor, Bianca Gonzalez, Ai-Ai Delas Alas, Dr. Manny Calayan, Erik Santos).

Watch it after Banana Split on ABS-CBN. Replay telecast on the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Sunday, 1:30 pm. 

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