BACOLOD City – A total of 488 Sangguniang Kabataan officials gathered for a mandatory training and took their oath at the University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos (UNO-R) Auditorium.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government conducted the SK training in partnership with the National Youth Commission, the Local Youth Development Office and UNO-R.
The training covers governance and decentralization, SK history and salient features, holding meetings and making resolutions, planning and budgeting, and code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials.
SK officials could become future government leaders and should appreciate getting elected into public office, said Mayor Evelio Leonardia who inducted the youth council members on Wednesday.
“Someday they will take over the reins of governance in the city,” Leonardia said.
The training and induction were held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Present on Tuesday were SK officials from barangays 1 to 30.
The following day those from barangays 31 to 41, Alangilan, Alijis, Banago, Bata, Cabug, Estefania, Felisa, Granada, Handumanan, Mandalagan, Mansilingan, Montevista, Pahanocoy, Punta Taytay, Singcang-Airport, Sum-ag, Taculing, Tangub, Villamonte, and Vista Alegre attended.
According to Leonardia, there is no other country in the world with an institutionalized youth organization like the SK.
“Being elected is a privilege not granted to every young person but only to them (SK officials),” he said. “They should value it. It’s a blessing.”
But the city chief executive also warned that “to whom much is given, much is also expected.”
Each barangay has one chairperson and seven kagawads, or members of the Katipunan ng Kabataan.
Newly elected barangay and SK officials will start their terms at noon on June 30.
They will serve for only two years instead of three. Republic Act 10952, which rescheduled the barangay and SK elections to May 2018, also set the next elections in May 2020. (With Philippine News Agency/PN)
