MANILA, (PNA) — The Senate has passed on second reading a bill postponing the holding of the Sangguniang Kabataan(SK) elections on Oct. 28 to give way to the needed reforms to the present structure of the youth council.
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. authored Senate Bill 1186 entitled “An Act to Postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on October 28, 2013, Amending for the Purpose Section 1 of Republic Act No. 9340, and for Other Purposes.”
Marcos noted that the general observation that the SK under the present structure has lost its effectiveness in advancing the democratic ideals of service-oriented youth leadership.
The senator also said there were reports that the SK leaders have become so politicized and susceptible to dishonest practices in handling public funds that are entrusted to them for the projects and programs intended for the welfare of their constituents.
“As a result, there are strong clamor from different sectors of the society calling for the restructuring and in-depth evaluation of the SK, and institute reforms,” Marcos said.
The National Youth Commission has earlier passed Resolution No. 18, series of 2013 expressing its “support for the postponement of the October 2013 Sangguniang Kabataan elections to give Congress time to legislate substantial reforms before the voting of new SK officials.”
Under the proposed bill Marcos, amended line 3, section 3 of the bill, by inserting after the word “necessary” the phrase “to implement this act” and deleting the phrase “to implement this act” on line 4.
Section 3 now reads: “The Commission on Elections and the Department of the Interior and Local Government shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement this Act within thirty (30) days after its effectivity.”
Last September 4, Marcos sponsored on the Senate floor Committee Report No. 1, the first committee report in the current 16th Congress, urging immediate approval of the measure.