MANILA – Youth leaders at the barangay level will have another chance to serve their communities with the holding of Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) special elections early next year.
In a memo dated Dec. 20, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued guidelines for the filling up of vacant SK posts through succession and special elections.
SK elections were held on May 14, 2018 but resulted in some barangay having only an elected SK chairman with no or incomplete council members, or SK council with members but no chairman.
For SK councils with no chairpersons, the SK council member with the highest number of votes will assume the vacant chairmanship, while the next in rank will move up through succession, but for SK councils with no or lacking in members, the elected SK chairperson has been authorized to call for special elections.
For barangays with an elected SK chairman, the earliest SK special polls for council members will be held 30 days after Dec. 20, or Jan. 19, 2019 to be exact, but for the councils with no SK chairman, the 30-day countdown begins after the council member with the most votes assumes the chairmanship.
The barangays must have complete SK councils because they are the ones authorized by law to budget, approve and spend the mandatory 10 percent allocation of each barangay’s general fund.
Iligan City’s Cong. Frederick Siao, a member of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, appealed to “competent, idealistic, civic-minded, and self-less youths with leadership skills to step forward and step up to do their share in building our nation from the ground up.”
“Those who missed the chance to be voted upon last May have this second chance now. The delivery of basic services for the youths in barangays will be in jeopardy if barangays will have incomplete SK councils. The 10 percent of the barangay general fund is a big deal, especially in areas where there are many young residents,” said the congressman, also a member of the House committee on youth.
The SK funds cannot be spent by anyone else because only the SK is authorized by law, the Local Government Code as amended, to do that. (PNA)
