Corruption in SK elections

EDITORIAL

The call of the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president in Baguio City urging President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III to cause the investigation of alleged massive vote buying during the election of officers of the national SK federation is one reason officials, groups and concerned individuals are pushing for the scrapping of the SK.

Pundits have claimed the SK, contrary to its creation as a body to promote welfare of the youth, had instead become a breeding ground for corruption in government.

According to the Baguio SK president, something drastic must be done before the moral fiber of today’s youth is totally undermined and eroded.

City Councilor Karminn Cheryl Dinney D. Yangot, chairperson of the council committee on youth welfare and sports development, said she decided to boycott the national SK elections because of evident vote buying efforts by some camps during the Yuletide season.

“I am not a commodity. My vote is not a commodity and has no monetary price. I am so disillusioned. We are supposed to promote that the youth is still the hope of the fatherland.” Yangot said.

According to her, the issue on vote buying must not be overlooked by the present administration considering that the youth is the generation that will take over the reins of government and of society in the future.

After the recent allegations about the previous national SK leadership embezzling SK funds, Yangot said SK leaders should be intent on disproving the seemingly widespread perception that the organization is a breeding ground for corruption.

Yangot said attending the SK national elections confirmed allegations of massive vote-buying being done by some influential individuals wanting their sons or daughters to be elected to the SK national presidency.

The 17-year old anthropology student of the University of the Philippines in Diliman said she refused to participate in a process that was tainted with corruption and whose outcome will be accomplished through corruption committed by no less than the hope of the fatherland.

As early as the Yuletide break, Yangot admitted a national SK candidate tried to bribe her with money for holiday shopping in exchange for her vote. Through his representative, he offered to host her and other SK federation presidents in a resort in his home province where they will be given shopping allowance. He also offered to shoulder the P10,500 registration fee of the SK national federation election.

However, she reconsidered her decision to boycott the elections when another national candidate called her up and was not offering anything in exchange for her vote.

In the last 24 hours prior to the elections, she was urged by a ranking government official to vote for the candidate offering to buy votes. She discovered that other SK federation officers were also urged by government officials in their respective places to vote for the candidate offering money.

“I am now convinced that the SK national federation elections will not be clean, honest and free. There seems to be a conspiracy between the candidate buying votes and government officials to catapult him to power, Yangot added.

This young, Yangot experienced how elections are done in this Banana Republic. Is anybody in government listening?