Schools should take over SK

Saturday, 30 October 2010

Comelec notes few voted in recent polls

By Llanesca T. Panti Reporter

A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official on Thursday suggested that schools and universities should take over the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK or Youth Council) to improve implementation of its mandate.

Ferdinand Rafanan, the chief of the Comelec Legal Department, called for the takeover during the weekly Serye news forum in Quezon City after noting low voter turnout in the recently concluded SK polls on October 25.

The polls were held simultaneously with elections for barangay (village) chairmen.

“The funding for the SK should be given to schools to strengthen their respective student councils,” Rafanan told reporters, saying that “this money, as well as the [Internal Revenue Allotment], should be used for training the student governments.”

Rafanan, however, clarified that he was not pushing for the Youth Council’s abolition.

“I don’t want it abolished because it [SK] is a very good concept. We just need to change [the] political environment,” he said.

The paltry number of young voters earlier prompted a lawmaker to call for the abolition of SK elections.

House Majority Floor Leader and Rep. Neptali Gonzales 2nd of Mandaluyong City (Metro Manila) said that it would be better if Sangguniang Kabataan members were recommended by the barangay chairman and appointed by the local barangay council.

Only 1.6 million young voters registered for the 2010 SK polls, falling far short of the poll body’s 3.8-million target.

“The dismal number of registrants for the SK and voter turnout on election day are clear indications . . . that the SK . . . has lost its meaning,” Gonzales said in a text message.

The appointment of SK officials, the lawmaker noted, would be subject to the condition that no relative by consanguinity or affinity within the fourth civil degree of any member of the barangay council will be appointed.

Rep. Elpidio Barzaga of Cavite, also the chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, said that he will study first why there was a low voter turnout before deciding on the future of the Sangguniang Kabataan.

There was failure of elections in at least 1,599 villages, prompting the government to declare October 26 a special holiday to enable holding of new polls in those villages again.

The Comelec did not make it immediately known whether Tuesday’s balloting was a success.

Monday’s exercise in part failed because of delays in deliveries by the Comelec of election paraphernalia to some of the more than 40,000 villages where the voting was to be held.

Some sectors suspected sabotage, prompting lawmakers to suggest investigation of the delays.

Meanwhile, the six Comelec commissioners were reported to be fending for themselves on how to address the apparent fallout from the October 25 vote because their chairman, Jose Melo, flew to Hawaii for a vacation on October 26, or a day after the scheduled barangay and SK exercises.

The apparent incompetence of the poll body in handling Monday’s elections angered President Benigno Aquino 3rd, who said that he was dissatisfied with what happened.