Once upon a time, young Filipinos were given the chance to speak for themselves. This is through the Sangguniang Kabataan. However, the past SK officials neither sufficed nor fulfilled their duties and responsibilities. Hence, their voice was muted. And then one day, the mask on their lips were removed and today youth's voice echoe with euphonic splendor explicating the hope that its new breed brings saying it has already endured its toll.
This issue might be somewhat cliché and it had been recoursed several times. However, with the rebirth of Sangguniang Kabataan in the country and as young leaders are put to office, this issue has not yet doomed and yet is becoming a fear.
Retrospective Sight
The past could barely tell that failure was the word pinned to the SK organization. A 2007 study by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the UNICEF entitled, “The Impact of Youth Participation in the Local Government Process: The Sangguniang Kabataan Experience,” stated: “The SK’s performance for the past ten years has been generally weak. This is especially true in terms of coming up with legislations, promoting the development of young people, submitting reports and holding consultations with their constituents.” This is not to mention several more issues attributed to the institution such as corruption, nepotism, and recurring programs focusing only to sports and pageantry. These things things led to its suspension by the Congress.
New Breed
Truly, SK just needed to be overhauled and not to be abolised. Recently, by the virtue of RA 10742 or the SK Reform Law, elections for SK officials were once again conducted with the hope of giving birth to new generation of young leaders, hopefully now more ready to serve their functions.
However, while the government was given the ample time to sort things out altering what needed certain changes in the Local Government Code, success is not yet assured. They can just promulgate and revise the legal grounds for the SK organization but its sustainability and long-time effectivity chiefly rely on the SK officials themselves.
Legally speaking, the law is lenient towards the standards or qualifications for an SK official. While it may sound bias to say that it should have striffer qualifications to observe, it must have been taken into account by the SK officials that with their positions come tedious tasks and serious responsibilities.
Of course, the concept implied by the saying 'history repeats itself' is plausible. It is then a question of privelege to all SK officials if they allow history to perpetuate.
Sound Sleep
Apparently, without the lurking of prejudice, it seems that various plans of the SK organization are currently in a hiatus. It may be due to the school activities and personal matters of the SK officials, however they are still not excused from fulfilling their duties remembering what they ought to perform in their oath of office.
Are their plans being executed well? Or should it be asked if they do have plans to execute? Failure to execute plans is failure to serve, isn't it? The way to sustain the life of SK is making its officials active. Thus, it is high time to rewire their minds and wake them up from the lullaby of sound sleep.
True Spirit
SK is an avenue to train young individuals to become ready because in the near future, they would be the ones to lead the nation. Hence, the true spirit of service and leadership should already be imbibed in their minds so that they would be able to utilize them. And true spirit of service and leadership could be self- taught and these could be learned by practicing them as early as now.
Service is not merely about executing the things that have been planned, it is also extending your hands to those who urgently need them. Leadership is having the passion to stand, speak in behalf of your people and lead the way for them. If the leaders lose their way, and so are their people.
There are times that with the call of service and leadership, one can no longer eat or sleep properly, but that marks extra service, extra leadership.
Foremost, being someone worth- emulating is what makes a leader. What the leader does automatically becomes the standard that other people observe. That is why as young leaders, SK officials need to see themselves as mirrors who reflect their doings to their constituents.
Pursued Legacy
Leaving a legacy doesn't mean conducting recurring activities such as sportsfest or pageants. It doesn't mean constructing marker with names printed on it. It doesn't mean posting tarpualin with pictures attached to it. Legacy is more than these.
It is about proving them wrong. It is about showing them that SK is an organization of true service and leadership. It is about spending the fund wisely for the common good. It is about not corrupting the public funds. It is about getting that fulfillment whenever the stipend is received because one really worked for it. Yes. It is about proving wrong those who underestimate this organization, and proving the administration right in breathing to life the new SK.
Once upon a time, a new breed was born and its voice thrived.
Great post👌👌. Keep it up.