...the youth

Empowerment of SK pressed

By MARIO B. CASAYURAN

March 16, 2011

Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines — Despite its being exploited by some politicians and political parties for their own political agenda, the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) must be enhanced and empowered rather than be abolished, Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., chairman of the Senate local government committee, said Wednesday.

Marcos stressed this after calls to rid of the SK because of perception that it is prone to corruption, its inefficiency and superfluity.

“We have been hearing calls to get rid of the SK on allegations that in some instances, youth leaders have been used, abused, and exploited by some politicians and political parties for their own political agenda. I say we give this institution a second chance.

Through restructuring, reforming and re-engineering, the SK can once again form our youth to be agents of change,” he said.

This developed as former Senate President Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. joined Marcos in pushing for the Aug. 8, 2011 election at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) although the Aquino administration wanted it postponed because it wanted it (ARMM elections) synchronized with the national and local elections in 2013.

Although Marcos asked that the Aquino administration consult first the people in the ARMM, Pimentel chided Malacañang for certifying as urgent a bill which seeks to postpone the August ARMM elections.

Pimentel pointed out that the President may only certify a bill as urgent to meet a public calamity or national emergency even as he emphasized that ‘’there is no public calamity except that which
Malacañang is foisting on the people of ARMM by denying them their right to elect their leaders.’’

“There is no national emergency except an imagined one by those close to the President who want to assume power at ARMM without a legitimate mandate coming from the electorate,’’ he said.

As a keynote speaker during the “1st Sangguniang Kabataan Joint Regional Assembly for Luzon’’ held in Zambales, Marcos emphasized that the problem of corruption is not confined to the youth.

“Corruption is a menace in our own society. The answer or solution to this social cancer of ours is a serious reconstruction of a new moral value system, which has been severely damaged over the years,” he said.