Like in a Frankenstein movie, this institution is thrown
back to the laboratory so its creators can assess whether it’s best to just
kill it altogether or reincarnate it into a new body.
The nature and impact of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) has
been the subject of a long drawn debate with all-too-familiar arguments, but
let us just take a minute to see if one day, it will come to an end. Congress
finally decided to kill it. Will our society be any different? Will it be
better off? It can only keep us guessing. But let us try to imagine what would
it be like if it would happen.
For
a start, it would save a lot of money. For postponing the SK elections alone,
COMELEC is said to have saved P 100 million. Furthermore, if we consider the
yearly cost of the Sangguniang Kabataan, which is 10% of the Barangay fund, it
would be a staggering aggregate amount of cost reduced or diverted into other
expenditures. Let us not forget about their honorarium and educational trip
counter parts, which may now be added on to the salaries of barangay tanods and
street cleaners. Bottom line, the financial breather would be a definite
practical consequence of the SK’s death. Will this make us better off?
With
no more “barangay-based” political leadership formation opportunity, the army
of 420,028 SK officers will be looking
for leadership experience elsewhere if they so desire. They could find it in
schools, churches, advocacy groups and so many other youth volunteer groups. It
would at least free them from the unavoidable negative influence of barangay
politicking, which would tend to pollute their concept of public governance. They
could release their energies without thinking of any political calculation and reputation.
Much more, they can freely form organic groups – one thing the youth does best
- unburdened by their parents’ political plans for them. Will this form
our future leader better?
Barangay Sports tournaments would nose dive. In a
2007 study conducted by UNICEF, sports tournaments are the number one reported
activity of SK. It comprises 32% of all SK projects nation-wide followed by
infrastructure and the environmental projects, which are only 19% each – almost
a mile apart from the top 1. This number speaks of volumes. It speaks about
priority and quality of representation or the lack thereof as well as where the
money is being poured in. So when the SK is gone, so as our beloved sports
events. Would an unutilized barangay basketball court be such a depressing
scene?
With these rough projections, I do not know if it
would be enough to paint a reasonable answer to whether we are better of
without the SK. Surely in principle, the death of the SK is a national tragedy.
It would be a departure from a proud tradition of youth empowerment, which is
not only constitutionally commanded, but also internationally praised. On the
other hand, sustaining it with its present form would produce mixed results and
a whole lot of division.
In the end, we all agree that the soul of this
body should be kept warm and true. Time has come that its reincarnation into a
better form is an utmost national concern. Our communities might feel no different
in its absence but it does not mean we should forge its worth. There is always a
social good in building a lasting mechanism that converts the youths’ ideas and
energies into public policy and communal action.
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