Some SKs will be ‘trentahin’ by 2028. They’re not happy about it either.

Angelus Collong ran for Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairperson of Barangay Pinili, Abulug, Cagayan, when she was 23 years old — just on the edge of the qualifying age bracket. She only did so because she was told no one else wanted the position.

Three years later, at 26, she had been considering applying for a job abroad once her term ended. “Hindi naman puwedeng ma-stuck lang tayo dito sa barangay,” she said. (I can’t just be stuck here in the barangay.)

Then, the barangay and SK elections (BSKE) slated for this year were postponed to 2028. She will be 28 by then — still technically classified as part of the youth bracket of 15 to 30 years old. But she will already be trentahin, a Filipino slang word describing people in their late 20s to 30s who are starting to feel the first signs of aging. 

Despite this new phase in life, she will be stuck in the same place she has been in since she was 23: balancing her SK duties with a full-time software programmer job and selling ukay-ukay (pre-loved clothes) on the side. 

“Kung anak-mayaman lang sana ako, eh ‘di kahit hindi muna ako magka-career, maghahanap ng trabaho…. Puwede lang ako mag-serve na ganiyan,” she said. “Kaso, hindi eh. Kailangan ko ring kumayod outside.”

(If only I came from a rich family, then I wouldn’t need to put my career first and look for a job. I can just continue serving as an SK. But I’m not. I need to find work.)

She simply cannot live off the P5,000 to P6,000 per month she gets from her SK post. But she also made a commitment to her barangay — even if she only signed up to do so for three years, the term of office for which she was elected.

She is not the only SK official facing this conundrum. Since SK candidates must be at least 18 years old but not more than 24 by the time of their election, the current batch of officials will be anywhere from 23 to 29 years old when the 2028 polls roll around.

“In our age bracket right now, we already need to start building our careers,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Left behind

More than 600 miles away in Barangay Piapi, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, SK Chairperson Don Ramirez was also 23 years old when he ran for his SK position. Three years later, he is still among the eldest in his batch of youth officials at 26.

But the realization that he was getting older — all while his honorarium remained insufficient — pushed him to find other work to augment his income. He now balances his public official duties with his work as a tutor as well as a freelance photographer and videographer. 

As he managed to wear these multiple hats, his council was even awarded the city’s most outstanding Sanguniang Kabataan council in 2025.

But while Ramirez is getting by, not all of his council members can afford the same. He now has one inactive councilor and two more planning to resign because of the BSKE postponement. They cited career priorities — which isn’t all that surprising since they were only being paid P2,500 per month for doing their duties.

He can’t blame them, but it doesn’t stop him from being disheartened. He knows he can’t handle all the preparations alone for the three to five activities that their SK council usually holds every month — such as leadership trainings, clean-up drives, sports tournaments, and scholarship programs.

Now, he has no choice but to limit the programs of their SK council according to the availability of the SK council members.

“If they are not available, who will conduct the activities? It will be me again. But what if I am not available or I am not there because I’m preoccupied with work?” he added in a mix of English and Bisaya.

‘Most frequently postponed’ elections

Poll watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections called the BSKE the “most frequently postponed democratic exercises in the country’s history.” Rappler’s own research found that the barangay and SK elections have been moved — either separately or jointly — at least 16 times since 1982.

Why is it an issue that these polls are perennially moved? It’s because the barangay and SK councils are the government units that Filipinos know and feel the most, said lawyer Ona Caritos, executive director of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections or Lente.

“It’s not every day that you get to interact with your mayor, with your congressman, with your senator, but we interact every day with our barangay officials,” she said. 

According to the National Youth Commission (NYC), SK officials also have the added responsibility of representing the youth in local governance and policymaking. The commission said these youth councils have control over 10% of their barangay’s budget to create programs that develop neighborhood youth, such as sportsfests, mental health seminars, environmental clean-up drives, and skills training workshops. 

These young officials are also being trained to be “future public servants,” according to the NYC. Many may go on to become barangay officials themselves.

Because of this, winning the support of these officials is also key for national politicians who want to consolidate power. Extending terms is a “carrot” these higher officials dangle to earn the loyalty of local leaders, according to Caritos.

And when their loyalties switch from the people who elected them to the politicians who kept them in power, it is the voters who get the short end of the stick.

But not all SK officials want to stay in power.

Seats left vacant

Caritos told Rappler that Lente had already expected a good number of SK officials to resign in light of the BSKE postponement.

“Because two years is two years — it’s not six months…. It’s a long time for a young person or a young individual to wait and delay his life plans yet again just for the barangay,” she said.

This would exacerbate the existing issue of vacancies in barangay and SK positions across the country. 

As of September 29, 13.55% of the 420,100 SK positions nationwide are vacant because the officials who held them have either resigned, died, been removed from office, or been absent without leave during their term. There are also almost thrice as many vacancies for SK councilors compared to their chairpersons.

That data only reflects vacancies four days after the postponement was announced — though attempts at the delay had been floated long before it was signed into law. Since then, posts announcing the resignations of SK officials and vacant seats have been all over social media.

Caritos said these vacancies can be attributed to the following reasons:

• a lack of effective communal support for elected SK officials
• SK duties taking a back seat in the list of priorities, since most officials are still of student age or at the beginning of their work career
• repeated postponement of the BSKE

“When they ran, they were running with the mindset that they would just serve [for] a certain period. If the elections are postponed, then this fixed period is extended — hence, the tendency is to resign or to just not appear,” she added.

Financial struggles

SK officials’ honoraria are based on the economic class and financial situation of their barangays. (READ MORE: What are the compensation, benefits of barangay and SK officials?) 

Barangay Pinili, where Collong serves, only has a population of just about 754 people based on the 2024 census — plus, it is in the 2nd-class municipality of Abulug. That is reflected in her four-digit honorarium.

Yet even that amount is depleted by the costs she incurs in fulfilling her duties, which include weekly trips to Manila to file reports. Those costs include travel and accommodation, with the fare alone ranging from P1,500 to P1,900 — even though the limit for reimbursements per trip is only P500.

Her other jobs give her the funds to continue her term, but at the cost of her own well-being. She said she barely gets any sleep when she has a night shift right before their morning barangay session.

But that’s not even the last of Collong’s troubles. She also struggles with the minimal budget for SK activities.

“If you want a grand program, you really need to pay out of your own pocket,” Collong said. 

The upside

Collong and Ramirez are not necessarily against SK officials having a five-year term. In fact, they see the advantages of a longer term — more time to learn the ropes and more opportunities to implement programs.

But, for them, extending their current term so suddenly isn’t the way to go.

Even Lente does not see the five-year term as necessarily a bad thing. There just isn’t enough data to back it up.

“When the first term-setting law was discussed in Congress, the four-year term, most of the stakeholders were in agreement that four years is enough for the implementation of the programs and policies at the barangay level,” Caritos said. “Let’s allow the [initial] law to be implemented — the four-year term — and let’s assess if the four years is enough or not enough. And then, if it’s not enough, then let’s talk about the five years.”

Holding on

Despite all these reasons to leave, some SK officials choose to tough it out because of their sense of responsibility.

Ramirez is afraid the council would fall into the wrong hands if he resigns. His worries are not unfounded.

Empty SK seats can be handled in three different ways: special elections, mayoral appointments of officers-in-charge, or an election during a Katipunan ng Kabataan (KK) Assembly, which is a gathering of all registered youth voters in a barangay.

But past attempts at special elections have often been deferred or suspended, usually due to funding problems, while KK assemblies have long been criticized for failing to convene regularly. 

That leaves appointments as the easiest option. But this method not only deprives voters of the opportunity to choose their own leaders but also opens SK seats to political maneuvering from higher offices. 

Collong said she now has no choice but to accept the way things are.

“Ako na lang mag-a-adjust, kasi nandiyan na eh, napirmahan na…. Pero kung hindi na talaga kaya ng mga SK, eh ‘di, pasensiya, magre-resign na siguro,” she said. 

(I will be the one to adjust, because it’s there already; the law has been signed. But if the youth council can no longer handle it, then I’m sorry, I have to resign.)

And if she resigns, she said her entire council could follow suit.

The BSKE postponement may seem like a cause for celebration for elected officials. After all, they get to stay in power for two more years without needing to court votes.

But for the young officials who have their whole lives ahead of them, the delay is an added burden they didn’t sign up for. – with reports from Jade Florido, Jedi Rollinas, Jerome Santos, and James Bones/Rappler.com 

Jade Florido, Jedi Rollinas, Jerome Santos, and James Bones are volunteers for Rappler’s Research and Data unit.