Congress approves of postponing SK elections
Two House Bills that aim to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan elections were consolidated and approved for amendment.
House Bill 5006 and 5043 were the bills that were deliberated during the Committee Hearing of the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms on Monday at the House of Representatives.
Seven were affirmative while two voted for the opposing side. The members of the technical working group that will work on the consolidated bills’ amendment on Oct. 22, Wednesday, were Representatives Edgar Erice as the head, and Nicasio Aliping Jr., Anthony del Rosario,
Terry Ridon, Sherwin Tugna, Henry Oaminal, and Jose Belmonte as the members.
House Bill No. 5043 aims to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan elections to be held on February 21, 2015. While House Bill No. 5006 aims to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan elections on February 21, 216 as well, it also aims “to synchronize it with the next barangay elections on the last Monday of October 2016.”
The postponement was decided because the initiated reforms that were laid after the Sangguniang Kabataan elections was cancelled in 2013 were not yet passed as laws. The Sangguniang Kabataan elections on 2013 was cancelled by President Ninoy Aquino III’s approval on Republic Act No. 10632
Reforms such as to raise the age level of the candidates were laid on the Sangguniang Kabataan governance because the current age bracket of the candidates stated were from 15 to 17 years old and according to Rep. Tugna, “they are too young to govern, too young to sign a contract.”
However, Rep. Edgar Erice said that there are big differences between the House and the Senate versions. “There are many versions, I don’t think we can come up with a solution,” Erice said.
House Representative Edgar Erice discusses the versions of the bills regarding SK Elections from the Congress and Senate.
Akbayan Youth Representative Rafaella David said in an interview that postponing the Sangguniang Kabataan elections will only increase the abuse and harassments, and get less participation from the youth.
“We supported the postponement of the Sangguniang Kabataan elections on 2013, but we are now opposed to it,“ said David. They supported it because of the reforms laid for the Sangguniang Kabataan, but David said they were disappointed because none of those reforms were turned into law. “Para po itong déjà vu,” she added. ###
