THE National Youth Commission (NYC) appealed Tuesday for the resumption of Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections scheduled in October this year.
Speaking to Palace reporters, NYC chairperson Aiza Seguerra said she was not amenable to proposals to suspend anew the youth polls until May 2018.
"Frankly, the National Youth Commission is saddened over reports [that calls for SK elections’ postponement]. For years, there’s no SK chair and SK council, and we know that if there’s no youth representation, it’s difficult because it’s hard if old people or adults will decide for young people," Seguerra said.
"What we want here is youth representation. It is very important that there is youth representation in our villages. If they want to push through with the barangay [elections], we understand that. But allow the SK," she added.
On Monday, House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms voted 19-2 to postpone the barangay and SK polls until May next year.
President Rodrigo Duterte has been pushing for the postponement of the twin elections, noting that 40 percent of barangay captains in the country are involved in the illicit drug trade.
On October 18, 2016, Duterte signed into law a proposed measure calling for the deferment of barangay and SK polls on October 31 the same year.
The law also seeks to move the elections, which was originally set on October 31, 2016 to October 23, 2017.
Before the polls were postponed, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has spent P197 million of the P7.4 billion earmarked for the barangay and SK elections.
Comelec has already printed 15,021 ballots for the upcoming twin elections for Batanes province despite moves in Congress to postpone it, as of August 11, 2017.
Seguerra said the commission would appeal the move to once again postpone the SK polls.
“It's been years and if their fear is to repeat history [of irregularities], there is a reform. There have been changes on SK. Please give SK a chance,” she said.
“The National Yout Commission will make sure that there will be youth representation whatever happens, with or without SK,” she added.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella meanwhile echoed Duterte’s earlier remark that the possible postponement of elections was meant to avoid the re-elections of local executives in villages who are connected to narcotics trade.
Abella said the President remains committed in his resolve to end drug proliferation by ensuring that “drug money” would not be used to “legalize the entry of a new set of narco-politicians.”
”We need to understand that the President is deeply committed to the transformation of the social structure of the nation, especially institutions like this. If we remember it right, [Duterte’s] position regarding postponement is to avoid the use of drug money for the elections of barangay officials who are linked to the illegal drug trade,” he said.
“The continued efforts to stop narco-politicians do not stop. It just so happens also that it is one reality on the ground that narcotics is deeply embedded within the society. However, it does not stop the President’s efforts,” Abella added. (SunStar Philippines)