BOOK REVIEW ON BOOK III: TITLE I – THE BARANGAY

SYNTHESIS

Local governments constitute the foundation of the entire structure of the

government. These local governments can be divided into the provincial, city,

municipality, and barangay units. These units all have their own system of

government and duties toward the State.

I would like to focus my paper on the Barangay sector of the government.

Each municipality or city is composed of a number of villages or barangays. The

barangays are the smallest units of local government in the Philippines. The elective

officials of the barangays are the Barangay Captain and the Barangay Councilors.

As chief executive, the barangay captain is its recognized leader. He enforces all the

laws and ordinances applicable to his constituency. He may organize fire brigades,

preside over all meetings both of the barangay council and assembly, organize

groups of citizens to fight criminality and brigandage, and approve all payments from

barangay funds. He also signs all contacts in which the barangay is a party. They are

public corporations and so, they can sue and be sued in court; can enter into

contracts, can acquire and hold all kinds of property; and can exercise such powers

or perform such acts as are provided by law.

COMMENTS AND PROPOSALS

Our local government is a hierarchy of units in which it goes from national

government down to the local government giving each unit a respective duty. In my

opinion, the barangays have the heaviest work load of all. They have to have an

account of all their residents, they have to deal with issues which arise between their

residents, they have to handle everything which is passed on to them from their
respective cities or municipalities. In my opinion, the barangays should have the

least amount of responsibility since they are at the bottom of the hierarchy. They

should only be the messenger of the city to their constituents.

Under Sec. 389 of this code, the barangay has the duty to enforce laws,

ensure the delivery of basic services to their barangay, and are even allowed to

negotiate and enter in contracts. These duties are in excess of what the barangay

needs. The barangay should be only an extension of the city or municipality in which

they are located. They should be in charge of keeping their barangay at peace and

order and clean for the safety and welfare of their people. As to the enforcement of

laws and entering into contracts, I would propose that would be left to the higher

local government unit, the city or municipality, for the sake of formality within the said

city or municipality.

I propose this amendment to this provision as to prevent chaos and conflicts

within the city or municipality. If one barangay enforces a certain law to protect the

environment but the other barangays do not agree and choose not to enforce that

law, there will be a confusion and non-unified law which can cause many conflicts

within the area. The barangays should only have minimal duties and powers just

enough to manage their barangays with the benefit of their residents in mind.

Next, I would like to comment on the Appointed barangay officials. Under

Chapter V of this Book, there are two barangay officials who are to be appointed by

the Sanggunian Barangay; the Barangay Secretary and Barangay Treasurer. In my

opinion, these appointed barangay officials should already be part of the Sanggunian

Barangay. There are seven Sanggunian Barangay members as provided under this

Code. Instead of appointing another member of the barangay, the Barangay Captain
should appoint someone who is already a member of the Sanggunian Barangay.

This would lessen the needed money in each barangay and would make use of the

members of the Sanggunian Barangay. It would mean that less people are in power

and they would be able to do their jobs efficiently.

In addition, the qualifications to run for barangay should be at least that of

college level. The barangay is the smallest local government unit; however, it is still a

government unit. The residents in their barangay should be able to look up to their

barangay captain and the members of the Sanggunian Barangay with the utmost

respect. We have experienced being friends with the Barangay Captain, but us

residents should also treat them as we would treat the Mayor or Governor of a

certain place.

Lastly, the Sanggunian Kabataan. The Sanggunian Kabataan or more known

as the SK is a sub unit of the barangays we have. It focuses more on children and

their welfare. I believe this Sanggunian Kabataan should be totally dissolved from

the local government units. It is true that we do aim that the children of this

generation should become good leaders, but being a member of the Sanggunian

Kabataan should not be the way to start. Most kids who run in the SK elections are

also kids of Baranay Captains, or come from a wealthy family. We should not put into

the minds of children that you have to be rich to be a leader or you have to be the

son or daughter of a leader to be a leader.

The SK, in my opinion, gives off a bad impression on kids, especially because

minors are involved. Under our law, the legal age of a person to enter into a contract

personally is 18 years old. This is because the lawmakers believe that when you

reach the age of 18, you have a more mature and concrete mindset. So if we let 15,
16, or 17 year old kids to run for a public position where they are to make decisions

for the kids in their barangay, wouldn’t that be contrary to what the law has already

provided us?

The SK has a good purpose and a good goal, but how we execute this

government just wastes the national governments’ money and time because minors

really cannot make public decisions on their own. I propose the abolishment of this

unit of government and just let the barangays create a program which focuses on the

youth of the barangay. In that way, the barangay captain and the sanggunian

members will still decide on what activities and programs while the youth can benefit

from the same.