TACLOBAN CITY – All elected Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials will undergo a mandatory orientation for them to learn how to do their job, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office here said.
The orientation will be held within 15 days before the official assumption of SK or the youth council of their respective positions, said DILG Regional Director Marivel Sacendoncillo.
“The idea is to bring all the SK officials elected to academic institutions to attend the orientation all over the region. Each area has an assigned campus where they will join the orientation,” Sacendoncillo said.
The orientation will gather more than 300,000 youth council officials from the region’s 4,390 villages.
“Each province will partner with state universities and colleges. In the case of big provinces, there would be instances that they will need the help of private institutions,” Sacendoncillo said.
The orientation will run from the third week of May to early June, but preparations have started as early as March.
“We need to help each other for the success of this mandatory orientation since modules are now ready and the educational institutions will find their resource speakers to help the SK learn their job,” Sacendoncillo added.
The village and SK polls will finally push through on May 14 after a series of delays. The last village elections were held in October 2013, while the last SK elections were held in October 2010.
Under the SK Reform Act of 2015, the youth council is composed of one chairman and seven members, who must be aged 18 to 24 at the day of the election, picked by majority of youth resident in the community.
Each elected youth official has a three-year term.
Section 10 of SK Reform Law includes an anti-dynasty provision prescribing that candidates should not be related within the second degree of affinity or consanguinity to any incumbent national, regional, or local elected official at the city, town, or village level.
(MELVA MAE C. MENIANO)
