BAGUIO CITY — The mandatory training for newly elected Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials under the SK Reformed Act has begun in this city, with the first session done for three days until Thursday last week.
The three-day training covered three batches of youth council officials elected last May 14.
The newly elected SK officials are required by law to take the initial training before taking their oath.
The training covered topics, such as SK history, decentralization and local governance, parliamentary rules applied on meetings and crafting of resolutions, planning of programs, and ethical standards for public officials and employees.
Department of Interior and Local Government City Director Evelyn Trinidad said the training aimed to help prepare the SK officials before they assume their posts.
She said the SK is the strategy of the government to encourage the youth’s participation in good governance.
Trinidad said the SK officials need to know their responsibilities, understand the importance of their functions, and focus not on their honorariums, but on their role in community development.
In Baguio, only 327 had run for SK positions. The number is not even half of the total 896 SK positions available in all of the city’s 128 barangays.
Earlier, Trinidad said only seven of Baguio’s 128 barangays had complete sets of candidates for SK chairman and SK members.
Eight barangays did not have anyone vying for the position of SK chairman, while one barangay had no SK candidates at all.
Trinidad said SK officials would be needing the full support and guidance of Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan to educate them on leadership and for them to be exposed in local governance.
She said the DILG would give continuous education for the newly elected SK officials, mainly to teach them on their role as public servants.
One of them, City Camp District Chairman Aloisius Aldea, said he is happy for the training, as it helps him see the significance of SK in the community.
Aldea said his active participation in community activities in his district in the past four years had inspired him to run for a public post. (PNA)
