Anti-gambling advocate and Manila 6th district Rep. Benny Abante Jr. has called on Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) leaders to push for anti-gambling drives within their communities .
Abante had this to say following the signing of Republic Act (RA) No.11768, which was inked last May 6. The law provides youth leaders with improved benefits with the intent of allowing them to better serve the country as community leaders.
“Our SK leaders can organize information drives to warn parents and youth in our communities, as well as think of productive outlets for the boundless energy of our younger kababayan. With the benefits now given to them by Republic Act 11768, they should be able to do much more,” said the Manila 6th district representative in a press statement on Wednesday, May 18.
Under RA No.11768, SK members will be eligible to receive honorariums or token payments, class exemptions, health insurance, and so forth.
Read more here:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/17/sk-members-get-more-benefits-under-new-law/
Before this, only the SK chairperson was eligible for compensation. The law will see to it that other SK officials will also receive honorarium at the end of every regular monthly SK meeting.
The anti-gambling solon was a principal author of House Bill (HB) 10698, the Lower House precursor to RA No.11768.
“Gambling, in particular, appears to be hooking more and more younger people. Before the President ordered a stop to e-sabong, we were getting disturbing news of teenagers regularly placing bets on online cockfighting,” he said.
“More should be done to warn our youth about the dangers of vices such as gambling, which is slowly creeping into their lives via the devices they hold in their hands every day: their smartphones,” Abante concluded.