Sangguniang Kabataan

        CHAPTER I        

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

“We run the risk of becoming museums of young people that have everything but without knowing what to do with them.”

                -Pope Francis

The youth is believed to be the crest of the future. A nation has no superior way to prepare for its future than to effectively and intentionally equip the upcoming generations. The creation of  Sangguniang Kabataan marked to create a venue where the youth involvement in governance can be exercised and enhanced. It has been envisioned to be the training ground of the youth, to be the future leaders of the country. The Local Government Code (LGC) where Sangguniang Kabataan provisions were integrated, imagined that it will be the best avenue for the youth to participate in the leadership and governance in the barangay.

Through the years, the youth has been an active chunk in the barangay holding important and worthwhile activities that aims to develop the potentials of the youth and their capabilities. Officials of the Sangguniang Kabataan are icons for their youth constituents in terms of good governance, leadership and moral values. They are epitomized as role models in their community that leads people to contribute to the development of the barangay and the municipality as well. However, in this recent time, the trust and confidence given to this organization seemed to decline because of various issues thrown to them. Issues of inefficiency, ineffectiveness, abuse, and worse, corruption, are the issues on the mind of the  public. 

The efficacy of the Sangguniang Kabataan will be studied with the help of the participants from Barangay Poblacion in the municipality of Pulilan in the province of Bulacan. The records of the present performance and records of the current SK officials will also be used to see the improvements and implementation of their programs as their term commences. The pieces of evidence will merely come from the interviews and views.

The Sangguniang Kabataan rooted from a series of efforts made by the government to involve the youth in nation building both in local and national affairs. On April 15, 1975 the late President Ferdinand Marcos created the Kabataang Barangay under Presidential Decree No. 684. However on 1986, Kabataang Barangay faced many criticisms due to speculations that KB was organized to oppose militant youth activity and their failure in developing the youth as a “democratic force responsive to the times”. In 1991, the Local Government Code (LGC) gave the youth another opportunity to directly participate in governance from the local level to the national level through the creation of the Katipunan ng Kabataan (KK) and the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK). On December 2, 1992, the first ever Sangguniang Kabataan election was held wherein 42,000 barangays participated.

The motive that drives the researchers for conducting this study is the curiosity to identify whether or not the Sangguniang Kabataan is carrying out its powers and functions as provided by the Local Government Code and other related laws, and also to see if they are performing what they are expected to do. And lastly, the motive of this research is to know how the Sangguniang Kabataan perceive their efficacy to their constituents.

Foreshadowed Problem/Statement of the Problem

This research attempts to explain the efficacy of Sangguniang Kabataan to their constituents.

Particularly, the researchers seek answers to the following questions:

1. What are the goals of the SK officials before election?
2. What actions to they do to fulfill their job?
3. What changes happen within their term?
4. What possible implications does the research pose?

Research Statement

 The goals of this research is first to recognize the perception of the constituents about the performance of the SK. In this way, the youth leaders will know their level of performance regarding their duties through youth’s evaluation and so that the older members of the community will be made aware of it so as to resolve the same for the benefit of the youth in the locality. Also, this study will determine the effectiveness of the SK and may serve as guideline for the State legislators.