Representative Gavini Pancho of the National Unity Party (NUP) has proposed the use of  the untouched Sangguniang Kabataan fund to help develop public elementary and secondary schools across the country.

The Bulacan lawmaker said it is only fitting that the unused SK fund be spent on public schools because this will benefit the youth.

Sagguniang Kabataan members no longer hold office after the postponement of the SK elections last year, with the fund allocated for them remaining unused.

Pancho’s House Bill 3001 seeks to authorize the utilization of the SK fund for every barangay for the development of public elementary and secondary schools.

"It is therefore imperative that the 10% allocation from the barangay general fund for SK be spent for the development of elementary and secondary schools where most if not all youth with benefit," Pancho said in his explanatory note for HB 3001.

Pancho’s bill provides that projects for the development of public elementary and secondary schools to be charged against the SK fund may include rehabilitation and improvement of school buildings and sites, and purchase of books and other school equipment.

Section 329 of the 1991 Local Government Code states that the 10% general fund of the barangay shall be earmarked for use of the Sangguniang Kabataan and shall be administered and spent by the SK for the purposes provided in Rule XXVII of the IRR of the Code.

The IRR provides that the fund be spent to initiate programs designed to enhance the social, political, economic, cultural, intellectual, moral, spiritual and physical development of the members.