SK registrants in Cebu City half than expected — Comelec

CEBU CITY — Less than half of the youths the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had expected to register for the Sangguniang Kabataan elections actually listed up, raising fears that the SK has ceased to be relevant.

Omar Sharif Mamalinta, the Comelec’s assistant city registrar, described the turnout of the two-day special registration that began Monday as low to moderate.

Mamalinta said the Comelec expected at least 10 percent of the qualified youths in each barangay to turn out and register but that did not seem to be the case.

According to Mamalinta, since the registration for the SK elections in July started last December, only about 15,500 listed up, which is way short of the 36,000 registrants the Comelec had expected in Cebu City, and the figures from this week’s special registration were not expected to alter the trend.

Mamalinta blamed the low turnout on the change in the age requirement for participation in the SK elections.

The previous age range for SK voters was 15 to 21. But Republic Act 9164 changed this to 15 to 17.

Only in Talamban, where registration forms ran out, had the turnout been encouraging.

The dismal turnout prompted Commissioner Evans Pino of the National Youth Commission to express fear that the SK might consequently be abolished.

Pino, who was in Cebu to monitor the conduct of the registration, said Congress might see the dismal turnout as an indication that Filipino youths are no longer interested in this type of political exercise, and move to scrap the SK. — Freeman News Service