Our Youth is the Future of Our Nation

8/13/2019 Our Youth is the Future of Our Nation

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Sangguniang Kabataan Should Be Abolished

Our youth is the future of our nation, a quote from our national hero Jose Rizal, but whatif our youth is already corrupt?

Objective and Purpose of the Sangguniang Kabataan

To establish Katipunan ng Kabataan as the mainstream government-sponsoredorganization for the youths in every barangay to serve as the barangay governmentspartner in identifying programs and projects in their respective communities and inidentifying issues and concerns affecting them;

To provide a framework for the improvement in youth governance bystrengthening the Katipunan ng Kabataan as the mainstream government sponsored

organization and reforming the Sangguniang Kabataan as the policy-making andlegislative body of the organization;

To provide the general directions in youth governance at the local level, settingpolicies and standards and establishing authorities, accountability and responsibility inachieving better performance outcomes;

To define the roles and responsibilities of members of the Katipunan ngKabataan and Sangguniang Kabataan officials and federation officers;

To provide resources to the Sangguniang Kabataan and implement youth relatedprograms and projects and other initiatives at the local level;

To make the Katipunan ng Kabataan the most important vehicle for youth

participation in the implementation of civic, economic and political activities in theirrespective localities and for the Sangguniang Kabataan as the training ground for futureleaders of this country by inculcating in them basic social values and spiritual values;and

To ensure that the youths receive the kind of focused attention from the nationaland local governments.

Why should SK be abolished?

"Because it only adds burden to the heavily grown bureaucratic red tape that is plaguingthe Philippine society today..It is the same way that Baranggays should be abolished so

that the Mayors had something to do...

The society become so useless If you keep on creating smaller and smallest units fromsmaller units..It becomes a burden.

If you will ask how to make the Philippine bureaucracy compressed and save resourceson useless politicians who steal money and break the colonialist past of Filipinos, giventhe country's small territory and population, It should be divided only in 13 federalregions with governors and 13 senators and maybe 26 representatives.

Currently, It is very bloated and very inefficient the reason why the country remains the

same."

-PHILCHN(yahooanswers.com)-

During the past SK and barangay election I participated on becoming one of thesupporters and poll watcher of a barangay chairman candidate to see the dirty secretsbehind Sanggunian Kabataan and Barangay elections.

As usual, dirty tactics are as planned. The money, the sure voters, the goons, and theguns are already prepared. But one thing I noticed, is that the SK election are more dirtythan the barangay. Registered SK voters are being forced to be kidnapped and keep on

a hotel until election day. They were given money, cellphones just for their vote.


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Most probably they were hakot, transferees, those who were paid, flying voters, andthose who were told that they would not get benefits if they did not register. Who toldthem that? The candidates, he said.Brillantes said that herding registrants was not illegal but the problem was that thisdiscouraged or disenfranchised legitimate registrants from signing up.

Brillantes said the ERB would use the Comelec biometrics system and the AutomatedFingerprint Identification System to purge illegal registrants from the list of new voters.Thats going to be easy because we now have biometrics. We will see who registeredtwice or who transferred (precincts) without meeting the six-month residencyrequirement, he said.

Illegal registrantsBrillantes said that as of Tuesday, the Comelec had recorded 2.3 million SK voters(those above 15 but below 18 years old) and 1.2 million regular voters.We already had 52 million voters registered last May. Why would there be anothermillion? Im sure were going to find many (illegal registrants), Brillantes said.

Time to abolish the SangguniangKabataan

`In theory, the Sangguniang Kabataan serves a very noble purpose. It was created toserve as a training ground for the countrys future leaders. It was a place where thosewho wanted to learn about politics might enter to enrich their skills and learn what it

would take to become a future leader of the nation.

Over the years though, as what often happens with a once-noble purpose, theSangguniang Kabataan has been twisted and turned into something that is no longer inunison with its original purpose. It has become as open to graft and corruption as thegovernment itself, and instead of fostering future good leaders, it only seems to teachthe youth about the corruption that exists in the government at a very early age.

I think that in the last couple of years the purity and purpose of the SK has beensomething that not everyone believed in anymore. However, it remained important forthe youth to feel they have a voice so that they remained interested in their government

and how the country was being run. Over the weekend, Caloocan Rep. Edgardo Ericeproposed an amendment that would, in effect, abolish the SK, something he hadoriginally proposed while he was in his first term in office.

I read about this news over the weekend and I could not help but agree with his line ofthinking. It just seems ridiculous to keep an institution around that is no longer servingits purpose. Unless drastic changes are made to return the so-called innocence of theSK, there really is no need to keep it around.

Other than just churning out younger corrupt future politicians, the SK has also beenknown to be the training ground for political dynasties, a place where politician families

can put their kids to learn about politics until they are of age and can take over thefamily business. This seems rather unfair to those who truly want to run for the SKbecause of a genuine interest in politics and serving the people. They stand no chancerunning against candidates who are backed by their political families. Its just anotherplace for politicians to gain a stronger foothold.

As mentioned by Erice, who himself had been a part of the Sangguniang Kabataanwhen he was younger, when he was in it there was absolutely no budget allotted for theyouth group. The group was pure volunteerism and those who joined did it out of asincere desire to learn and they worked on programs that directly benefitted them. Itwas very different from the current way the group is set up.

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They are now a logical first choice target for local politicians seeking a higher position.Because of this SK leaders are truly exposed to the ugly side of politics at a very youngage and instead of inspiration are being disillusioned and even jaded by the system

instead of striving to find ways to improve it and better it.

Of course, the idea of abolishing the SK is also having its fair share of opposition. Thereare those who claim that the importance of the group is still the sameand that isgiving the youth a voice in the government and teaching them about politics at a youngage thereby helping them understand how the government works. With this mission Iwholeheartedly agree, however, that is not what is happening now.

The Caloocan Representative went on to say that he understood the importance ofhaving a youth voice and suggested instead the organization of a Barangay YouthCouncil headed by the youngest elected Sangguniang Barangay member with four

chairmen appointed. They will tackle topics directly related to the youth includingeducation, sports, environment, and culture and the arts.

I can see the merits of his suggestions and I think it would be a good first step incleansing youth politics and keeping them focused on what really mattersbuilding abetter nation for themselves and their generation. As is, there are both pros and cons toabolishing the SK, but in the end we have to ask ourselves which is the path that willlead to more future growth and development.

While the concept of the Sangguniang Kabataan is noble, it is not being executedproperly. It cant be denied that it is a training ground for political dynasties and moreand more political names are being put in the SK than possible future leaders who maynot come from as prestigious a legacy but who are more than capable of serving. Plus,there is a substantial allocation of funds to the SK. If these are not being run correctly,the funds will surely not also be used the best possible way.

At the same time though, should the group be abolished, how would the funding beused in a way that it will still serve its intended purpose? That is a serious question thatneeds to be addressed as well. In an ideal world, the best way to approach this problemis to institute reforms and safeguards. I think the Barangay Youth Council is a good ideain the right direction. The government can also earmark the SK funds for youth relatedprojects in their districts such as school renovations, park and sports centerbuildings, and arts and culture programs for the youth. I think, in general, that is whatthese funds are for, but due to the nature of politics sometimes earmarking is not thesame as actual budget implementation.

Another idea given by the Representative of Quezon City is to continue on the SK butwith zero budget. Give the youth their organization to learn about politics and make theirsuggestions within their barangays but dont include money or budget in the process.He claimed that the SKs corruption comes from its leaders access to public funds. Abudget-less SK might be the antidote for such corruption. Its a very radical reform, butsomething that may also work. Without budget, the SK would return to the purity itformerly had because the young leaders elders politicians, barangay leaders, andetc would not be tempted to interfere.

Personally, I am not entirely sure about which road is the best one to take at this point,but I do agree that changes need to be made. This is no longer something we can justignore. The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to fix. Whether this is something thatcan be address before the elections in October is something only time will tell. Althoughfor the amendment to just come in now is cutting it quite close though I must admit.

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Our Youth is the Future of Our Nation