SANGGUNIANG Kabataan (SK) Federation president Jaffar Marohomsalic filed a resolution Tuesday, March 19, on the Davao City Youth Governance Ordinance (Davao City Youth GO), that would elevate the standards of youth governance in Davao City.
He said that the SK officials had long been pushing for incentives since the guidelines of the benefits stated under the Republic Act No. 10742 or the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015 is still being drafted.
“Daghan benefits na gihatag sa balaod, although dili pa siya ma-avail sa mga SK councilors. Maong dili pa sila maka-receive og honorarium ug benefits gikan sa barangay (The law provided benefits for the SK councils, although they still cannot avail it yet. That is why they cannot receive honorarium and benefits coming from the barangay),” Marohomsalic said.
“There is a 10-percent allocation in the barangay that we cannot use for personal services. We cannot consume that budget for incentives. We are hoping that maybe the city government could allocate budget with this request,” he added.
He also said that the national government, especially the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the agency that handles the SK, is not keen on providing them the fiscal autonomy especially in handling finances to be allocated for incentives, any time soon, due to its heavy responsibilities.
The SK councilor said that they are proposing at least P1,000 per month incentives for all SK kagawads, secretaries and treasurers.
Amidst being uncompensated, he said that the SK councilors in the city continues to work hard, to serve their communities.
Marohomsalic said that the ordinance also aims to develop a closer relationship within the SK community.