DILG probes Manila SK’s Thailand ‘junket’

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government will investigate the trip of Manila Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) leaders to Bangkok, Thailand, which netizens criticized as a junket using public funds, the DILG announced.

In ordering a probe, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said he wants to know if government funds were used in the travel of the youth leaders.

“We will investigate what is behind this,” Remulla said.

The three-day trip was exposed yesterday after SK Federation president, Councilor Juliana Ibay, posted on Facebook photographs of their travel and visits to tourism sites in Thailand.

A user of online forum portal Reddit posted photos from Ibay’s Facebook page that showed some SK leaders riding boats and elephants.

Although the Facebook post is no longer accessible, Ibay had said that the SK officials visited the Damnoen Saduak floating market in Bangkok as well as the Chang Puak Camp nearby for elephant rides and feeding.

The trip, described by some netizens as a junket, did not sit well with the public in the wake of alleged corruption in government-funded flood control projects.

In a post in the Philippine Reddit community, a netizen pointed out that while the SK federation described the trip as “capacity development training course and international benchmarking activity,” there was nothing to compare for “benchmarking” since Thailand has no youth-led political system similar to SK.

“True capacity development means building concrete skills and institutions, not flying abroad for photo ops. Taxpayer money deserves better than being wasted on misrepresented training activities,” added the netizen.

Remulla said the whole issue was brought about by Ibay’s carelessness when she posted pictures of the trip.

“It is as if she was flaunting on social media,” Remulla said in Filipino.

The SK Federation of Manila defended the trip, saying in a statement yesterday that it was held in partnership with St. Robert’s International College in Thailand and was designed to strengthen the competencies of youth officials in addressing human immunodeficiency virus cases in the Philippines.

“The training design was reviewed and approved by the DILG and the city government. All participants obtained the necessary travel authorities in compliance with DILG Memorandum Circular Nos. 2019-83 and 2022-134, which govern the foreign travel of local officials,” the statement read.

According to the federation, the “training design included formal seminars, institutional learning engagements and group planning sessions with Thai partner institutions, focused on sharing best practices and community-based interventions.”

The trip was also part of the “continuing leadership training mandated under the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act, as amended by Republic Act 11768,” the Federation added.

The group confirmed that 667 of 896 SK officials decided to participate in the activity it described as “voluntary and open to all SK chairpersons in Manila who expressed interest and met the program requirements.”

A report over ABS-CBN said each participant received P33,990 for airfare, food and accommodation. They also got P6,000 in daily subsistence allowances.