By Jelly F. Musico
MANILA, (PNA) – Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday clarified that the recently-signed law postponing the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections does not allow incumbent SK officials to retain their posts in a holdover capacity.
Marcos, who authored the law in the Senate, said even appointments that would fill the positions to be vacated by the incumbent SK officials will not be allowed under the law which President Benigno Aquino III signed last Oct. 3.
Marcos explained that the “no holdover, no appointment” provision was the compromise reached at the bicameral committee deliberations on the SK poll postponement measure although the Senate proposal contained a holdover provision.
“That is why we are rushing to finish the work on the SK reform bills so we can restore youth representation as early as possible,” Marcos said.
Marcos said the Senate committee on local government had begun hearing on the two bills for SK reforms even before the signing into law of the SK poll postponement measure.
“We have already covered a lot of ground in our initial hearing on the SK reform bills. I believe with just one more hearing we can hand over the work to a technical working group to hammer out a consolidated version of the bill,” Marcos said.
Marcos had filed Senate Bill 1186 seeking to postpone the SK polls, originally scheduled for October 28 this year to give way for reforms in the youth organization widely criticized for corrupting youth leaders.
SB 1186 was the first bill passed by the Senate under the 16th Congress.