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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Bam pushes for SK polls in October

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Senator Bam Aquino on Tuesday said that the postponement of the Sangguniang Barangay elections for eight times should be enough as he insisted that the government needs young, passionate and idealistic leaders to help change it from within.

Aquino made the statement following moves to defer the SK elections slated on the last Monday of October this year.

“Eight postponements should be enough. Let’s roll out the new and improved SK and start developing better public servants for a better future,” said Aquino pertaining to Republic Act No. 10742 or the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act.

The new and improved SK, Aquino said, will give the youth a chance to contribute to the development of the country and emerge as better public servants in the future.

Aquino, the former chairman of the National Youth Commission, pushed for the law’s passage as co-author and co-sponsor during his time as chairman of the Committee on Youth in the 16th Congress.

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Earlier, Aquino opposed the government’s plan to postpone SK elections and appoint barangay officials instead.

“It is important that the public decides the leader they want to install. In this way, it can be seen that democracy still working in this country,’’ said Aquino.

According to the senator, more young Filipinos are joining the national conversation, taking to the streets to air their grievances and using social media to voice out their opinion and stand on matters of national importance.

He said the SK is an opportunity to go beyond the streets, beyond social media and really work on programs to change their communities for the better.

“Many people underestimate the capability of the youth to lead but in my experience, big changes can come from the youth sector. Marami tayong youth leaders na nakakatulong sa kanilang komunidad at kailangan sila ng ating bayan,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that it had already spent more than P300 million for the preparation of the synchronized village and SK elections scheduled this October 2017, but feared that the money would go to waste should Congress fail to act immediately whether to postpone or proceed with the elections.

The Comelec said it has already procured several equipment and materials for the conduct of the village and SK elections, and is currently conducting bidding procedures for the purchase of other elections materials for the local elections.

The Comelec has a P6 billion budget for the Village and SK elections. It added that it has  already printed millions of ballots last year which was originally scheduled October 2016  but stopped after President Rodrigo Duterte moved the elections to October 2017.

The poll body was supposed to print 85 million ballots. 

The Comelec said that if  there is still no law or a joint resolution from Congress on the postponement by August,  the poll will resume the printing of ballots.

The Comelec said that the cost per ballot is P3.00 from the initial price of P3.80 that was given by the National Printing Office.

Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez reiterated the call of Comelec chairman Andres Bautista, urging lawmakers to decide on whether to postpone or proceed with the village and SK elections. 

However, a bill was filed in the Senate seeking the postponement of the Barangay and SK elections to October 2018.

Jimenez said  there is also a pending bill at the House of Representatives that seeks to reset the Barangay and SK elections to May 2020. “The Comelec is seeking the earliest possible resolution to the question of whether the elections will beallowed, by Congress, to proceed as scheduled or not,” Jimenez said, adding that the poll body made the appeal considering the proximity of the election day. “The inescapable fact is that the Comelec is already on a trajectory that will lead to significant expenditures. It behooves the institution, therefore, to seek clarification from Congress,” Jimenez added.

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