Bill on SK poll postponement hurdles House

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives has passed on third and final reading a bill that seeks to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to October 2016, or simultaneous with that year’s barangay (village) polls.

House Bill 5209 entitled “An Act to postpone the SK elections to the last Monday of October 2016” seeks to amend Republic Act 9164 or “An Act providing for synchronized barangay and SK elections.”

At least 193 lawmakers voted to approve the bill, while eight voted against it.
According to the bill, the law for synchronized SK and barangay polls is further amended to say that the youth polls will be held on the last Monday of October 2016.

The amended law originally said the polls should be set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) between October 28, 2014 and February 23, 2015.

According to the factsheet of the bill, postponing the SK polls will “allow Congress more time to legislate the appropriate amendments to applicable provisions of the Local Government Code.”

The House wants to further postpone the SK elections even as President Aquino signed Republic Act 10632 in 2013 amending the existing law and postponing the polls to 2015.

This as the executive is mulling moves to abolish the SK, seen as prone to corruption upon the prodding of unscrupulous higher officials.

The SK was created in 1975 to give the youth a definite role in community affairs and to provide the government a means to tap the youth in its development efforts.

According to the Local Government Code, the SK is composed of a chairperson, seven members, a secretary and treasurer. The SK chair and members have a term limit of three years.