Pages

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Litany on Barangay Politics

(from someone who's starting to abhor politics)

Is there still a sense of public service among the candidates for the coming Barangay Elections? Are they running because they want to be 'agents of reform (development)' in their respective communities? Or is it just the fame and the 'sure' source of income?

I've yet to receive a campaign material that gives information on the platform or the extent of participation of the candidate in the community. Is this too much to ask for? The usual assumption is that people in barangay know each other as it is well, a barangay. But population has grown, not to mention migration, hence, not everyone in the barangay knows everyone. We need to know the candidates better (through their campaign materials) to at least have an idea if they have the capacity to settle disputes and promote or develop programs aimed at participation of the people in community development.

Hindi naman kasi lahat ng kandidato dito sa amin ay kilala sa kanilang aktibong pakikilahok sa mga programa ng komunidad. O kaya naman ay kilala sila sa ibang larangan kung saan ang kanilang pagtakabo at pagkapanalo ay makakatulong sa ikauunlad ng komunidad.

Meanwhile, I found an interesting article that suggests for the abolition of the Sangguniang Kabataan. Mr. Llorito provides an alternative in making community-participation among the youth work better. It makes sense. These young kids are just being utilized by the Barangay Council candidates (bata-bata). And this also serves as training ground for children of Barangay Officials for their future political venture. Hence, the idea of instilling sense of community participation among the youth isn't really addressed by the estabishment of SK.

How many of you have actually participated (of course when you were 15-21) the Katipunan ng Kabataan, in assembly of youths in every barangaywhose primary objective is to enhance the social, political, economic, cultural, intellectual, moral, spiritual and physical development of the youth in the country? If you're not even aware of its existence, I think, there's a failure on the part of your SK to really encourage participation among the young people in your community.

0 comments: