Lawmaker slams delay in implementation of law increasing compensation for SK officials

Kabataan party-list lawmaker Raoul Manuel said Friday urges the National Youth Commission (NYC) to address the delayed implementation of the law increasing compensation for Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials as soon as possible.

Manuel was referring to the SK Compensation and Empowerment Law passed a year ago but still has no Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

“Under Section 14 of the law, the IRR should be in place within 60 days since the bill was signed into law so it can be immediately implemented, given that a lot of them had a huge workload amid the pandemic, and a tenure extended also due postponement of barangay and SK elections,” Manuel said in a press conference.

The said law expands honoraria benefit to SK members which was previously only limited to the SK chairperson.  

“But until now, the NYC is yet to release an IRR. NYC’s mandate is to manage and push for the SK’s benefits as young public servants. And so we ask NYC: where is the IRR? It has been a year but there is no IRR yet,” Manuel added.

Manuel said such delay has already deprived the SK officials of their due compensation.

GMA News Online has sought the comment of the NYC but has yet to reply as of posting time.  NYC is chaired by Ronald Cardema.  —VAL, GMA Integrated News