Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker, members of the opposing team, and the members of the house.
I'm the Prime Minister of the affirmative side. Today, our motion is about the abolishment of
SK. Ladies and gentlemen, before I proceed with my arguments let us first define what
abolishment and SK are. Abolishment means "to officially end or stop something like laws. In
this case, SK. SK means "Sangguniang Kabataan" or youth council. They are meant to represent
the youth in each barangay all throughout the Philippines. The goal of this council is to
Promulgate resolutions necessary to carry out the objectives of the youth in each barangay.
Currently how things stand is the problem. There’s this thing called National Government
Budget which is the totality of the budgets of various departments of the national government
including the NG support to Local Government Units (LGUs) and Government- Owned and
Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) that decrease through time. Because of the insufficient
budget the possibilities we have are limited. But if we were to eliminate some of those
organizations specifically the SK, the funds for other departments could increase paving the
way to more possibilities. We are not saying that SK is not important it is but it’s not more
important than other departments. Mr. Speaker, the opposing team might state that we should
be involved in politics at such an early age. And that abolishing SK would cause the youth to be
unfamiliar with politics. Let me remind you that the age requirement in running for SK as of
today are ages 18 – 30. Why do we need to put a limit on the youth’s capabilities and
ambitions? Mr. Speaker, are you aware that Sandro Marcos is only 28 years old? Despite the
fact that Sandro Marcos is that young he is already a congressman. Mind you that the age limit
for running for sk is 30 years old. If the youth really wanted to be involved in politics there are
other more promising positions such as the Barangay Deputies “Kagawads” etc. The youth
council seems to be unnecessary when we already have Barangay Counselors to oversee the
youth because keep in mind that the youth is also a part of the barangay. Instead of SK being
helpful for the community it only makes it worse. In terms of budget, it goes down gradually
due to our attempt to rebuild our economy. In preparation for the budget cut, specifically next
year, the funds intended for the SK election and eventually the Barangay SK and the SK
chairman, the funds could go to more innovative projects that the citizens and the youth could
benefit from. For example, Mr. Speaker, when children here in the Philippines hear the term
“farmer” they don’t care. Why? Because they’re thinking of the traditional ways of farming. But
if we compare our ways to other countries like Japan that has amazing technology when it
comes to these… isn’t it more engaging, interesting. Wouldn’t the children of today be
intrigued? Okay, you could say that other countries may have been more advanced than us. So
let me bring up ILAB just here in Guiguinto where they are using new and innovative ways of
planting. Even the students and kids near there are intrigued and are participating on that
project already. If SK were to be abolished, the youth and the other citizens would benefit. How
you ask? Because our agriculture is important when rebuilding our economy and with the youth
growing up to be more focused on agriculture, we could rebuild our economy faster. Now for
this to be achieved, for this to be attainable we would need the help of local authorities in
abolishing the SK. There would be no need for clauses and rules etc if SK were to be abolished.
Based on what transpired in the previous years which is the global pandemic or Covid 19 it lead
to economies around the world collapsing. Budgets and funds need to be studied thoroughly in
preparation for rebuilding the economy. By next year our plan is reconstruction of the national
budget there will be cuts and decreasing in budget all over the local government in the
Philippines. Which is why Instead of giving budget for sk we should just abolish it entirely.
