Corrupting the Young

Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Chair on Youth Apostolate, Bishop Joel Baylon, has joined his voice to those which call for the abolition of the Sanggunian Kabataan (SK). The massive instances of vote-buying and irregularities prior and during the just concluded Barangay and SK polls had convinced the Legazpi prelate that the SK, "lofty" though its goals may be, has proven to be "a corrupting influence on the youth."

Those are grave words from a bishop known for his passionate campaign to end election-related violence in Masbate and for his environmental advocacy. Those are damning words for an institution which has too often become an instrument by trapos and "evolved trapos" to advance their own political interests.

Consider the instances cited by the bishop: vote-buying at P1500 per head at its highest; funded "excursions" of youth voters to resorts during election day to prevent these youths from voting; and SK candidates bribery of others at the behest of parents or of political patrons. As is obvious from the last case, SK candidates could not have devised and carried-out these ignoble deeds by themselves. They were abetted by adults who, instead of guiding them morally, had their own vested interests in the outcome of the SK elections.

In a word, the political institution that is the Sanggunian Kabataan has been perverted ("co-opted" might be too archaic nowadays) by the corrupt political culture which, sadly, still prevails in our communities.

Bishop Baylon has, assuredly with much consideration, sought the abolition of the Sanggunian Kabataan. Like many who did so, those whose interests would be jeopardized by the scrapping of SK will protest against him. They will urge and attempt to delude the youth into denouncing the bishop as being "anti-youth" and being "anti-democratic." Worse, in order to cloak their real intent, they will portray themselves as advocates of youth empowerment even as all the while they disempower the youth by turning them into pawns; by corrupting them to view politics as a means towards personal gain and not public service.

It is true, nonetheless, that a long, hard, and factual look at the SK in its operations as a political institution-and not as it is depicted on paper-shows that it has not yet outlived its purpose of forming active citizens and future leaders of our youth. This cannot be an argument for its continued existence, however. For the SK, as the above cases bear out, has corrupted that purpose.