Senate to discuss proposals to defer barangay, SK polls

Despite President Benigno Aquino III's preference to go ahead with the scheduled barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the Senate will still hear the bills seeking to postpone the October polls. "We as senators need to continue the process of deliberating those measures," Marcos, who heads the Senate committee on local government, told reporters in an interview. On Wednesday, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino wants the barangay and SK polls to happen in October to pave the way for the same polls to be synchronized with the mid-term elections in 2013. But Marcos noted that a total of 11 measures have been filed in both the Senate and House of Representatives seeking the postponement of this year's barangay and SK polls. Included in these measures are Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri's and House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman's bills, which seek to move the October 2010 elections to October 2012. Marcos said they have to conduct hearings and consultations and determine whether there is enough reason to postpone the upcoming elections. "It will be interesting to see what the consensus will be," he said. He noted, however, that most of the local government units have expressed their desire to defer the October polls. "Generally, aside from one or two isolated cases, they would prefer postponement," he added. The Comelec earlier urged Congress not to postpone the October polls, citing the clamor of the voters for an election. No to scrapping of SK polls Meanwhile, a lawmaker representing the youth sector scored President Aquino's plan to abolish the SK (youth council) elections. Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino said the President's pronouncements to do away with the SK polls was "unreasonable and unacceptable," adding such move would only hamper youth participation in the country. "Aquino is depriving the youth of a venue which lets them stand up and participate in nation-building. The Philippines is the first and only country with a structure such as the SK," he said. "It is very disappointing that the SK is now being regarded as a mere dispensable expense more than a vehicle for youth in nation-building," he added. Instead of an SK composed of a chair with seven members, a draft bill by the Interior Department calls for the youth voters to elect just one youth representative to sit in the barangay council. — Kimberly Tan/Mark Merueñas/Nadezdha Tanola/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV