FOUR SANGGUNIANG Kabataan (SK) officials in the city facing complaints, mostly for failing to submit liquidation reports, were called for remediation.
Councilor Arnulfo Cabling, committee chair on ethics and governance, said the officials were given the chance to correct their errors rather than be punished.
“It is premature if we say that there is already unauthorized expenditure of money, because this is just failure to submit the liquidation report. That’s why we bring them to remediation,” Cabling said.
Cases are still at the pre-trial/pre-arbitration conference stage as he wants the complaints filed under oath to keep their number down.
The official said the committee is helping the officials prepare their reports. However, this doesn’t discount the possibility of filing a case against them if the situation warrants.
Five SK officials were originally covered by the complaints, but one official has passed away.
Cabling said administrative liability is personal, so a complaint against a deceased official is extinguished.
Councilor Ragde Ibuyan, vice chair of the committee on youth, said the council, the SK Federation, and the DILG have held financial literacy and good financial housekeeping for the elected youth officials.
Ibuyan said these cover budgeting, reconciliation and transparency and accomplishment reports.
“We want to ingrain in them na, yes, the SK Reform Act tells everyone that they are independent, but it does not free anyone from accountability,” the councilor said.
Asked about calls for SK officials to resign, the councilor said it is “unfortunate.”
He hoped the parties would go through remediation, noting the barangay and SK elections have been postponed to November 2028.
On the floated proposal to synchronize the approval of barangay and SK budgets to improve efficiency and administrative oversight, Cabling said it had been raised with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
He stressed any such change must go through the oversight committee, which he is planning to consult, and it cannot be applied to budgets already being submitted near year-end.
The councilor said a unified deliberation process would streamline operations and ensure better compliance for both barangay and youth councils across the city.
