SK Cebu to ask schools to implement exemption of youth officials from NSTP

Jerico Rubio, president of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation in Cebu Province.| CDN Digital photo/Rosalie Abatayo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation in Cebu will ask tertiary schools in the province  to implement the law that exempts youth officials from taking the National Service Training Program (NSTP).

Jerico Rubio, SK Cebu Province Federation president, said he has learned from a number of  SK officials from the towns that they are still not being exempted by their schools from taking NSTP.

Exemption from taking NSTP is one of the privileges of SK officials under Republic Act 10742, or  the SK Reform Act of 2015.

“Ang mga SK Federation president naa na silay mga yangungo. Estudyante man gud ni ang uban nga mga SK officials, unya ingon sila nga naay uban nga mga schools na wala gihapon sila gi-exempt (sa NSTP),” Rubio told CDN Digital.

Rubio, who heads the SK municipal federation in Malabuyoc and sits in the Cebu  Provincial Board (PB) as president of the SK Cebu Province Federation, said he has filed before the PB a resolution that will ask colleges and universities in the province to implement the NSTP exemption for SK officials.  The resolution is calendared for the PB’s regular session tomorrow, March 11.

Under RA 10742, SK leaders exempted from taking NSTP subjects, either the Civil Welfare Training Service (CWTS) or the Reserved Officers Training Course (ROTC),  are still required to submit written reports and documentation of their participation in barangay-related programs, projects and activities as outlined in their respective village’s Comprehensive Barangay Investment Program.

“Absence of such reports and documentations or a finding to the contrary upon verification of submitted reports, will disqualify the concerned Sangguniang Kabataan officials from this privilege,” reads Paragraph 2, Section 16 of the SK Reform Law.

SK officials are also exempted from attending regular classes if it falls during a regular and special SK meeting or Sangguniang Barangay session in the case of the SK chairperson who sits as an ex-officio member of the barangay council.

“A certification of attendance shall be issued by the Sangguniang Kabataan secretary, attested by the Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson and duly noted by the Punong Barangay and shall be submitted to the concerned faculty member and the dean of the educational institution as proof of attendance,” the law added./elb