9 newly elected SK chairs can’t perform their duties
DUMAGUETE CITY — Even if they formally assume their posts on June 30, nine newly elected Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairpersons in Dumaguete City may not be able to perform their duties properly due to lack of SK council members.
Aquilina Eltanal, head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Dumaguete City, told reporters on Tuesday that five barangays have no SK members at all: Motong, Piapi, and Poblacions 3, 4, and 5.
Four other barangays - Bajumpandan, Banilad, Batinguel, and Poblacion 6 - only have two or three elected SK members, thus the SKs here will be unable to implement projects because technically they could not reach a quorum.
Because of this, youth officials from these nine barangays will not be able to use their SK funds for their projects, rendering them functionless.
Ethanal said a minimum of five officers, the chairperson and four council members, is required for an SK council to achieve quorum and hold sessions. She however said the elected SK chairpersons, who have no or lacking council members, may still attend the sessions of the Barangay Council as an exofficio member.
A total of 175 newly elected SK officers in this city took their oath before Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo and members of the City Council on Tuesday. Unable to attend were 65 of the total 240 officers, who will be serving in the city's 30 barangays.
Ethanal said that, in some of these areas, there were no candidates for SK members mainly because of two reasons: they were not qualified for the post; and some were simply not interested.
As of press time, the local DILG is still waiting for new guidelines from the national office on how to address the lack of SK council members in the nine barangays.
In the past, two methods were used to fill up vacant SK posts: by appointment or by special elections. Eltanal told reporters that she hopes the national DILG will employ the use of appointment, because special elections consumes more time and money.
Poblacion 5's elected SK chairperson Christianne Marie Oropel, who was the only candidate in the May 14 SK elections, said she hopes she can appoint seven youths in her barangay to fill up the council-member posts. But this may probe a problem to her because most of the youths in her barangay might not commit because they are currently employed or have jobs already.
Meanwhile, Remollo in his speech during the oathtaking rites Tuesday, assured newly elected SK leaders that the city government will support them. He noted that he started his political career as a member of the SK - at the time called Kabataang Barangay - in San Jose town of Negros Oriental.
Remollo also urged the young officials not be swayed by the influence and corrupt practices of their older counterparts, as this might be a reason for the SK to be abolished again. The SK was abolished in 2013 and was only revived this year, after almost five years of inactivity.