Proposed abolition of village polls relevant

OPINION

Jun R. Guiang          

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte--Of all the solons, only 1BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello has thought of filing soon a proposed bill in Congress seeking for the abolition of the nationwide barangay elections. He aired the following relevant opinion on the issue:

1. "The village polls entail expenses.

2. The village polls cause division among families. He noted that most of the casualties in the politically related violence were family members.

3. He will propose to give the power to appoint village officials to the local   executives. This will ensure that his programs are supported in the grassroots level.

4. He downplayed the possibility that the mayors might abuse the power and perpetuate themselves in office, saying it would be up to the voters to decide on that." 

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Before Rep. Bello's proposal about the abolition of the barangay elections landed in a national daily as a news item, I have been telling my wife Nannette about the same idea of scrapping the village polls everytime I saw in the boob tube screen the video footage of bodies of slain barangay officials flashed on ABS-CBN TV Patrol Ilocos anchored by beauteous Grace Alba as well GMA BalitangIlokano anchored by handsome Jorge Guerrero. 

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While the police always ruled out politics in some cases of slain barangay captains or kagawad, say, in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and Abra,  we could not be sure how accurate the post-crime report submitted to their superior which eventually were picked up by the tri-media for broadcast or for publication. Whatever were the motives in the reported killings of several barangay officials in Ilocos during the recent village polls, people had their own point of view. It all boiled down to barangay politics.

What a waste of human lives for the fatal victims or mutilation of limbs for the severely wounded survivors! And to the miserable widow and orphaned children, what will be their future, financially-wise, if their breadwinner is gone? 

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The division of barangay folk does not end after the elections. It extends to the next election of Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) president in cities and towns. Every politician will dip his or her finger in the intramural squabbles for the ABC presidency. As I said, the division does not end here. All ABC heads will again elect their ABC federated president who will sit as ex-oficio member of the SangguniangPanglunsod or SangguniangPanglalawigan. 

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Why all these things are happening in our community? Simply because of: Power? Fame?Money? Your guess is as good as mine, as they say.