The Senate has approved on third and final reading the bill that seeks to strengthen Republic Act 10742 or the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Reform Act of 2015, which aims to revitalize youth participation in governance.

Senator Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Youth and the principal author and sponsor of Senate Bill 2124, hopes passage of the bill into law will further empower the SK by addressing the various issues that have been raised against the youth organization.

Angara noted there were calls for the abolition of the SK in the past due to questions about its relevance and the supposed politicization of youth members.

“(But) I still believe that the youth should play a bigger role in nation building and a reformed SK law will help in achieving this,” Angara said.

The bill seeks amendments to the current SK law and fixes the grant of monthly honoraria to the SK members, secretaries and treasurers.

Currently, Angara noted only the SK chairpersons are entitled to honoraria by virtue of their status as ex-officio members of the Sangguniang Barangays.

Under the bill, a 25 percent cap was imposed on the utilization of SK funds for personnel services to ensure that the bulk of the budget allocated for the SKs would go to programs and projects that benefit the youth.

Among the programs and projects recognized under the proposed law include the provision of student stipends, food, book and transportation allowances; sports and wellness projects; skills training, summer employment, cash-for-work, on-the-job training, and livelihood assistance projects.

The bill also promotes projects which calls for greater participation of the youth and their initiation in agricultural, fishery, and forestry enterprises; programs and activities that address context-specific and intersectional vulnerabilities of young people; and capacity building for grassroots organization and leadership.

The bill also expanded the age range for the SK treasurer to 18 to 30 years old, “so there will be a bigger pool of candidates froom which the SK will appoint this key officer given the competency that will now be required of them as treasurer.”

The SK treasurer would also now be required to have an educational or background on business administration, accountancy, finance, economics or bookkeeping and must be a bonded officer.

Among the salient points of the bill include exempting SK officials from taking any of the components of the National Service Training Program (NSTP); and giving them appropriate Civil Service Eligibility (CSE) provided that they have rendered their full terms of office.

“Our youth represent a growing share of our electorate so we must support platforms that help engage them,” Angara said.

“Our work in reforming and improving the SK must continue, because the alternative—of not providing youth leadership and capacity building opportunities—would be worse,” the lawmaker stressed.