Scholars or servants?
Hands off the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK). Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s plan to grant scholarships and incentives to the newly elected SK officials may be questioned not just for the political motivations that may be behind the plan but also for the possible conflicts that may arise between the responsibilities of the SK leaders to their barangay and then to their studies.
During the recent mass oath-taking of the 630 SK officials, the Cebu City mayor announced that he was working on a program to grant scholarships and cash honoraria for the newly elected officials if the program is approved by the Cebu City Council.
“I want our future leaders to be educated,” said Mayor Osmeña, as reported by SunStar Cebu’s Rona Joyce T. Fernandez and Justin K. Vestil on May 18.
The timing of the mayor’s offer with the coming SK Federation elections was cited by two Cebu City opposition councilors who questioned the “good intentions,” or lack of it, behind the promise of future scholarships and honoraria for the SK officials.
Councilors Raymond Alvin Garcia and Joel Garganera recalled how, in 2016, Osmeña cut off financial assistance to all barangay officials except for those affiliated with Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), the mayor’s political group.
According to a May 20 SunStar Cebu report by Fernandez, Garganera pointed out that the “SK chairpersons (should be allowed) to choose leaders among themselves.”
Fifteen days from now, the SK chairpersons in Cebu City’s 80 barangays will elect their president and board members. Along with the president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), the SK Federation president will sit as an ex-officio member of the City Council.
Forty-one of the elected SK officials are allied with BOPK, with the other 39 belonging to the opposition.
The vulnerability of SK leaders to political machinations of more seasoned politicians had been pointed out as one of the roots of the SK’s ineffectiveness for democratic governance. Viewed as a breeding ground for nepotism, patronage, and corruption, the SK is the persistent target of calls for abolition.
Yet, the SK is a mechanism to represent the youth and involve the sector in participating meaningfully in governance.
The SK leaders’ inclusion and participation in barangay governance should not just be reduced to tokenism. The needs of the youth cannot just be addressed by organizing sports events and fund-raising parties.
Youth leaders must mobilize public resources to address the issues many young persons, specially out-of-school and other community youths, deal with: all forms of addictions, including to illegal drugs, reproductive rights, depression, poverty, and other circumstances limiting or obstructing their aspirations.
It is questionable, though, for SK officials to be “incentivized” to carry out their duty to serve the electorate. Many SK officials serve while still being in school. Yet, they must be mindful they are public servants, with obligations to carry out their duty to the public.
They are accountable to the people. SK officials cannot make their studies as an excuse for absenteeism or non-performance of their duties.
For this reason, Mayor Osmeña’s plan to grant scholarships must be questioned for raising once more this conflict of interest between the public duty and personal aspirations of youth leaders. It is presumed that in deciding to run for public office, the new SK officials already made clear their priorities are the people.
The mayor’s advocacy to educate future leaders can still be continued by making these much needed scholarships open to barangay youth who are not occupying official positions in the barangay councils.
Mayor Osmeña will find out that he does not need to look away from barangay constituents to find those who should benefit from scholarships and other opportunities to better themselves and serve the people.