Barangay merger to solve Baguio boundary disputes

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan said merger will solve the boundary disputes presently gripping some barangays in the city.

The mayor told a recent department heads’ meeting the unification of some barangays in the city will eliminate border problems caused by political and revenue-related motives.

During the meeting, Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda reported that more boundary conflicts are cropping up because of the barangay political boundary survey being conducted in the city.

The said survey was intended to establish the metes and bounds of the barangays to the city in development planning, policy formulation, program/project implementation, including the proper and definite resolutions of conflicts and inconsistencies.

Tabanda said some barangays are questioning the boundary delineation citing historical accounts.

Vice Mayor Daniel Farinas suggested the creation of a local committee to address the border issues and asked the city to stand by its positions on the delineations.

But the mayor admitted the difficulty of settling the disputes even with the use of the survey and said the city should recommend a status quo on the existing boundaries to avert exacerbating the conflicts.

He said however that the city should push through with the barangay merger plan to altogether solve the problem aside from improving the status of the city’s barangays particularly in enhancing the financial and administrative stature of these barangays.

The mayor at the start of his new term sought the revival of the merger.

He assured that the merger if adopted will not be implemented during the term of the newly elected barangay officials.

He said it will resolve the problems on funding and administration confronting the barangays at present. He said it is no longer practical to maintain the present set-up of having 128 barangays.

“As such, it is no longer practical to maintain the present 128 barangays. Some barangay can not stand on their own as they don’t meet the requirements under the Local Government Code so the city has to seriously consider the merger,” he said.

The merger was first proposed in 2003 but only reached the level of holding consultations.

In 2007, the matter again surfaced and again failed to materialize.

Pro-merger advocates then said the merger would lead to the professionalization of the service and standardization of salaries of barangay heads and councils which will redound to benefits for the constituents. The reduced number of barangays would also make it easier to manage on the part of the city government apart from the fact that it would in effect help the city comply with the requirements of the Local Government Code on the set up of the barangays.

On the other hand, those opposed to the idea cited concerns on the chances of smaller barangays to get a seat in the barangay councils and to get a share from the budgets should the merger be pursued. They also aired concern on the bigger responsibility that the merger would entail on the barangay officials.