Essay About Philippine Youth

There is a saying often repeated in the Philippines that is attributed to the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, taken from his poem A la Juventud Filipina; that “[t]he youth is the hope of the future.” In the Philippines, a country highly characterized by its religious tradition and conservatism (by virtue of its colonization by the Spanish Empire of the Exploration Age), the youth (by virtue of their membership to generation Y, a.k.a. the Millennials) becomes its bridge to globalization and the modern era. As of 2007, the Philippine government stands as being the only nation in the world that actively involves its youth in public governance. The Filipino youth have proven themselves effective in this capacity all throughout Philippine

This is evident in Presidential Decree 603 (enacted by then-president Ferdinand Marcos on 10 December 1974), also known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code. In the 1987 Philippine Constitution, under Article II, Section 13, the following is written: The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being. It shall inculcate in the youth patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their involvement in public and civic affairs.
In practice, however, the Philippine government fails to manifest this stance. Case in point is the mismanagement of the Sangguniang Kabataan (hereafter referred to as ‘SK’), which runs contrariwise to what is written in the Philippine Constitution. In order to understand the issue of the SK, however, we must first examine its history and inception. Prior to the SK was an identical youth council system known as the Kabataang Barangay (KB). The KB was established by then-president Ferdinand Marcos on 15 April 1975 through Presidential Decree No. 684 for the following