The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is verifying reports that not a single youth candidate had filed a certificate of candidacy (COC) for Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) in some villages.
In a radio interview over dzMM on Tuesday, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez noted the low turnout of COC filings for SK posts.
The Comelec said only 418,906 COCs were filed for this year’s SK election as 335,584 positions are available for the youth vote.
The barangay and SK elections are set this May 2018.
“Vina-validate pa rin ‘yung claim na walang kandidatong tatakbo (sa ilang lugar). Alam natin, kaunti lang ang kandidato, alam natin na baka may mga lugar na isa lang ang kandidato,” Jimenez said.
“Pero, ‘yung sabihin na walang kandidato at all – that might be a different story. Kailangan ma-validate muna ‘yan bago tayo (Comelec en banc) magdesisyon tungkol sa issue na iyan,” he said.
READ: Comelec: Over 1.1M COCs filed for 2018 barangay, SK polls
Should it turn out that no candidate would run for the SK in a village, Jimenez said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had proposed to constitute a local development youth council (LDYC) to serve as the youth’s representative for the meantime.
“Sa side ng DILG, I think ang kanilang action ay bubuuin or ico-constitute nila ‘yung local development youth council,” the Comelec official said.
The LYDC is provided under the SK Reform Act of 2015.
Under Section 23 of the law, the LYDC is composed of representatives of youth and youth-serving organizations in the provincial, city, and municipal level. It is mandated to assist in planning and executing SK projects and programs.
“Ayon sa kanila, pansamantalang wala munang SK official sa lugar na iyon. LYDC ang tatayong representative ng kabataan,” Jimenez explained.
The Comelec en banc, according to Jimenez, was still discussing the most viable move regarding the matter.
The Comelec has yet to screen all the COCs and should finish doing so before the start of the campaign period on May 4. /kga