BARANGAY SANGGUNIANG KABATAAN, QUO VADIS?

Shakespeare said: "Youth's a stuff will not endure," meaning that it is ephemeral. Lilipas din yan. But youth's passing means maturity, a stepping into adulthood, and so we need to enjoy our youthful days and at the same welcome our becoming adults.

But in our country youth is idolized; it is perpetuated as the best stage of life as you can see how the parade of movie and TV stars in our milieu consist of a majority who could not even deliver a straight sentence, most of all a meaningful one for the audience, except how to tease them into maintaining their patronage of themselves.

Hence we need to look into the problems of the Sanggunian Kabataan as it is the breeding ground for serious youth in politics and culture. However, there is now a question on whether to retain SK or not.

But the brouhaha over it is not rising in crescendo although all the negative results from its creation have not been debated upon as fiercely as possible. Actually, it is a very grave issue of morality – that of using the youth for political ends. For what is the SK serving in but a political unit that is not shielded from being manipulated, misused and objectified for the purposes of national and other local officials, especially in terms of perpetuating a powerful political dynasty.

We have actually turned a blind eye on this matter because our thinking is that it is better for the youth to be busy with politics than with drugs. This is very much farfetched. On the contrary, politics is not the best way for any youth to engage in without any mentor who is politically correct and moral. Youth, being immature, with plenty of time to develop their values, shape their behavior, and cultivate their emotions, need guidance and mentors who could help them know what is being responsible politically, economically, socially and culturally.

Has the SK brought in a new healthy culture in the barangay? Has it brought in a more caring and sensitive perspective in looking at the youth? Has it shaped the youth to be more respectful of the elderly or even of those younger? Has it shaped young leaders ready to assume bigger adult roles not only in politics?

All these can be answered by nay. In reality, the SK experience has not brought about a good society for us. Instead, it has been used to milk the people’s coffers, has been a conduit for the youth learning how to manipulate politics, and “learn the ropes” so to speak for staying in the limelight. Just count how many barangays are steeped in tong-its, drugs, and violent competitions for power, economic survival, and cultural access. The SK experience has been a lesson in shaping insensitive and gangster-like youth ready to bow down to a dictator – as it was created to serve the purposes of Marcos during the martial law days. Marcos’ daughter served as the head of the SK to unite the youth for he was thinking of perpetuating himself in power down the family line.

Now why should we perpetuate the same family or families in political power? Are they the only ones bestowed with ruling qualities? And by what right could these leaders claim to lead the people permanently? It would be good if the relatives are morally upright and intellectually prepared to assume leadership roles, but more often than not, they step into the picture without any sterling credentials to back them up save as "relatives of this and that official."

What about democratic rights, especially the right of everyone to participate politically? Are we to be pawns or fencesitters? Supposing some natural event happens to them, God forbid, then who will take over to rule and unite the people to carry on the torch of change?

Actually, we need not abolish the SK, but it should be led morally and intelligently by those in the know. We can do this by creating and maintaining stronger ties between the academe and political units.

In this particular case, I am for making the leaders of the SK come from the senior student councils of the nearest school to the barangay office. The student councils are always advised by academicians who could make them tow the line because they would also grade their performance in school. Hence if a student leader becomes corrupt in the barangay, then he or she could be a candidate for expulsion or dismissal from the school as well. This double check on the youth: the way they conduct themselves in office and at school is the best way to keep them on that stage – that they are still learning how to BELONG to our society, in the most cultured, politically wholesome way.

In fact, given that set-up, whereby the SK leaders or council members would be chosen to lead, the youth might even be able to help the elderly in the barangay in many ways like in the staffing of the library, in training younger members, in research on the best way to tackle the environmental problems as schools are replete with knowledge on these.

Recruitment

Now how should recruitment of leaders be done? No, we need not have elections anymore for leaders. Say, if there are 10 schools near the barangay, give the mandate for all the presidents of the senior high school councils to get involved in the barangay activities. Let them rally all their classmates and the youth in the area to the wholesome activities that they could think of, under the guidance of the principal, the student counsellors and the school advisers for student affairs.

Now the budget for the SK should be disbursed according to the projects that would be conceptualized and implemented by the youth, to be approved and evaluated in coordination by the school and barangay officials concerned.

I think this would be a good set-up because it would also make the link of the academe with community affairs solid, and meaningful instead of their being considered purely an object for intellectual exercise. Everyone would feel safe in their barangays under this set-up because then we would have a totally new social set-up with healthy linkages. While making the school maintain real ties with the barangay, it would also shape the minds of the public into that kind of thinking that “learning” level is not confined only in the academe but also outside of it.

Here is where we would be able to breed real leaders from the youth– steeped in the thought that learning the political principles processes is a serious undertaking, and that moral guidance is important from the very beginning of their stepping into public activities. At the same time, the academes shall be made to seriously study also political science so that they can lead the youth along the proper principles for political involvement.

At the same time, teachers and school officials shall no longer feel inferior to barangay officials just because they operate on a bigger budget on they, but that they have a moral role to play as well in shaping community affairs. They could also make the youth emphasize what are important issues to tackle like maintaining that respect for the elderly, the need to gather other youths away from nefarious activities, and at the same time train them on what is real political governance – theoretically – which they could the youth could then reflect upon and apply as they become active in the barangay.

Along the same vein, the barangay shall be a wholesome hub of community affairs when this happens as the officials there would know that there are higher standards for judging their performance now – not the way they can bring in the votes for the higher officials who court them during election periods – but how they have shaped the youth to be ready to assume leadership after them.

The community would then benefit a lot from this set-up which is the major objective anyway as to why the Local Government Code was written in the first place.