Barangay parliament democracy

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Ike Señeres

It’s one thing to advocate for something that is not there, it is another thing to utilize the value of something that is already there. That is the case of the advocacy for the adoption of the parliamentary system as our form of government. For so many years now, many sectors are advocating for the adoption of the parliamentary system at the national level, but perhaps these sectors do not know that in a manner of speaking, there is already a law that provides for the implementation of the parliamentary system at the barangay level.

My friend Mr. Manny Valdehuesa, the founder of the Gising Barangay Movement (GBM) has written a handbook where it says that the Local Government Code (LGC) provides for the holding of Barangay General Assemblies (BGAs) at least once a year, without any limit as to the number of times these assemblies could be convened within a year. What that means is that it is even possible to hold these assemblies monthly, weekly or even daily.

Mr. Valdehuesa has explained to me that in reality (and not just in theory), the BGAs are actually the equivalents of stockholder’s meetings, whereas the Sangguniang Barangays (SBs) are actually the equivalents of board meetings. In reality (again not in theory), all registered voters in a barangay are stockholders, and therefore they could all attend all stockholder’s meetings. In reality (again again not in theory), the barangay is like a corporation and could function like one for all intents and purposes.

As it is now, the SB performs all the executive, legislative and judicial functions all rolled into one. In a manner of speaking therefore, the Barangay Chairman functions as the Chief Executive, Prime Minister and Chief Justice also rolled into one. No matter how he or the SB appears to be very powerful however, the real power belongs to the BGAs acting as the stockholder’s meetings, and not to the SBs acting as the board meetings. In other words, the SB headed by the Barangay Chairman should only implement the resolutions approved by the stockholder’s meetings.

According to Atty. Raffy Evangelista who is a co-convenor of GBM, the total turnout in the barangay elections is less than 10%. I could imagine that the total turnout in the BGAs is also that low, perhaps even lower than that. What that means is that the people in many areas do not care about their own governance, and perhaps they are not interested in what is happening around them. On the other hand, it is also possible that most people are really not aware of the political power that belongs to them, and even if they are aware, perhaps they do not know right now how to wield that political power.

Perhaps unknown to many barangay residents, each and every barangay has a share of the Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) that could be a huge source of funding for many of their local needs. As I understand it, many Barangay Chairmen are just appropriating these funds to whatever they like, sans the consent of the barangay residents. In many cases, these funds are just appropriated by the SBs, without the sanction of the BGAs.

This is what needs to be changed. This is what we need to take back; our rights to be consulted in whatever it is that would involve the use of public funds that are intended for our own communities.

Just to give them the benefit of the doubt, we could say that most residents are not participating in the BGAs, not because they do not care, but because they do not know.

Assuming that that is the case, it is now the duty of those who know, to let the others know. Looking at this from another angle, it is possible that many residents would know about the existence of BGAs, but they do not know its potential, meaning that they do not know how these assemblies could affect the quality of their lives. Either way, what is needed is a massive information campaign to get all residents involved.

It has not been tried anywhere before, but I think that absentee voting in the BGAs by way of internet and mobile means is now possible and allowable. The key to this is prior registration, so that the process could not be compromised by those who are planning to cheat. I think that this is the only way to bring up the turnout from the very low 10% rate. On a related matter, there is also a need to bring the local barangay issues to the local residents, and perhaps this could be done by using both social media and conventional media.

The global trend now is going towards the evolution of smart cities, as in intelligent cities, technology wise. Since that is surely going to happen in the Philippines also, it would be smart to start our own local evolution by making sure that our barangay units would become smart as early as possible. That would be a smart thing to do, because these barangay units are in effect the building blocks of the smart cities of the future.

Since I wrote many articles about megacities, I would like to clarify at this point that smart cities need not become megacities. It is possible that smart cities could just be small cities, small in size but very intelligent in terms of their technologies. Even without waiting for the future, the technologies are already here to make it possible to make our cities smarter, no matter how small they are. The best way to start however is to elect smarter barangay officials, prior to that, we should encourage all barangay residents to become smarter, by participating actively in their own BGAs.

For feedback, email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639083159262

Happy Weekend 

Gina Dizon

Sacred sites  and tourism

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- A very  recent workshop on  protection and promotion of indigenous knowledge reminded me of an incident in Sagada when  Me and You Productions, a travel documentary film company based in London, UK  conducted a documentation on how to make a coffin and have it  hauled up at Hanging Coffins at Echo Valley sometime this July 2013.

The company through their facilitator in the Philippines wrote a letter to the tourism officer of the local government unit of Sagada received by the office of the secretary to the mayor who reportedly gave the go signal for the company to proceed documentation. 

With a guide and an elder to complete the documentation, the film company was able to accomplish its mission, got photos on the making of a coffin and the hauling up of the coffin along the rocky slopes at Echo Valley. Besides, they did not pay the necessary fees as required in a municipal ordinance, as claimed by the treasurer’s office.

The Sangguniang Bayan heard about the incident and summoned the  guide, the elder and the secretary in accordance with the  an ordinance providing  specific amount on film making and other related activities, regulatory  provisions  for observance and compliance  prior to  the conduct of the activity, prohibitory  provisions on activities  that runs  contrary to the established  customs, culture and  traditional practices of the people of  Sagada. 

Among the provisions of the ordinance was a procedure  allowing documentation before the activity shall be done, and which was not  observed .  

The guide was penalized financially with her taking responsibility for what happened, and so with the elder customarily penalized with the incident talked about during cultural gatherings, and the secretary to  the  mayor who gave the go-signal un-penalized.  The legislative body also ruled that the documentation shall not be shown in public.

With the popularization of sacred sites as tourist spots poses vulnerability for picture taking, filming, and other documentation  without the people’s knowing and consent. What more, in the above scenario  where an ordinance is existing and still violated tells the vulnerable exploitation or mismanagement of sacred spots.           

Considered sacred sites in Sagada  include the ‘patpatayan’ or the ‘babawiyan’ where  old men congregate during  community agricultural rituals, the hanging coffins , caves, springs, falls and mountains much as there are spirits which guard these.  

Almost all sites  visited by  tourists  are sacred- the Sumaguing  Cave as this is a burial cave,  the Lumiyang burial caves too, Pongas falls, Bumod-ok falls  and all the waters  especially springs where it is believed that  spirits abound in these natural resources  guard these  so  the belief  that  the spring should not be  dirtied.   

Similarly in other indigenous places, sacred sites  are found  in almost  all natural resources  much as indigenous peoples  staying in these areas have beliefs close to the nurturing of spirits, of rivers, mountains and burial caves.

With the provision of  the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act  (IPRA)  for indigenous peoples right  to control, manage, develop, protect, and conserve sacred sites,  localized  procedures on their control and  management are  wanting , best left to the indigenous peoples  to come up with local guidelines  and have  these  forwarded to local government  units  for legislation.   

With these, the LGU and other  sectors as tourist  guides are  guided on how to deal with film and video companies, individuals and other institutions doing documentation, filming and research on sacred sites in particular and other natural spots and events as well.