Monday, January 28, 2019

This woman from a remote Palawan barangay is the first in her tribe to get a college degree





For someone like Juda Diklay, who was brought up in an isolated tribe, it is hard to imagine how she made it through the difficult challenges of being away from home starting from her elementary years up to finishing college at the Western Philippines University (WPU) in Puerto Princesa City, hundreds of kilometers away from home. 


But Juda, who is now 25 years old and who belongs to the Tau’t Bato or Taa’wt Bato, an indigenous tribe who lives in the remote, rugged lands and dense forests of Singnapan Valley in Rizal municipality, managed to graduate last year with a degree in Elementary Education.


Palawan News reported that members of her tribe are self-contained. They rarely go down the mountain to buy food from the market. They subsist through gathering wild fruits and vegetables, hunting, and planting rice and other crops.

Her community can only be reached through an eight-hour hike from Barangay Ransang (pop. 4,983) where she studied elementary and one of the 11 barangays of the Municipality of Rizal. Read more here

Photo credit:  (SMU DSWD MIMAROPA)


Lawmakers OK barangay road program, The State recognizes the barangay as the smallest and most basic local government unit. This being said, it is expected that barangays deliver services to its citizens. In order to do so, the State shall provide the necessary funding for the establishment of infrastructure and roads for the development of all barangays to achieve its prime mandate.

This is exactly what the recently signed House Bill 6014 is pushing for. Principally authored by Rep. Mark Go, the House Committee on Public Works and Highways approved HB 6014 or the establishment of the “Barangay Road Development (BRD) Program” under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Stated therein was that the BRD Program shall undertake the construction of all road projects allocated directly to the identified barangays in the country. Read more here


Pimentel bill seeks to make barangay officials regular government employees.  A bill has been filed by Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III seeking to declare barangay officials as regular government employees.

Recognizing the crucial role that barangay officials play, Pimentel said: "As the basic political unit, the importance of barangays in our system of government cannot be over emphasized. It is therefore fitting that measures to promote the welfare and prosperity of barangays be enshrined in a Magna Carta to give due recognition to the crucial role they play."

In proposing the Magna Carta for Barangays, Pimentel said the punong barangay should have a salary equivalent to that of a sangguniang bayan member of his municipality or city.  Read more here


Mental health services are now available at the barangay level–DOH. After years since it was first passed into congress, Republic Act 11036 or the Mental Health Law had its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) finally signed for execution at the National Center for Mental Health last Jan 22.

The law’s implementation seeks to provide accessible mental health services down to barangay-level, along with measures to remove the shame that goes with mental health issues.

The IRR specifies that mental health services, which include neurological, psychological, and psychiatric concerns, should be “accessible, available, affordable, and acceptable” upon implementation. This means that, now,  help will not be limited only to those who can afford the high cost of consultation at private clinics. Read more here


DILG warns barangay officials not to engage in partisan politics. DILG Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Martin Diño warned local government and barangay officials with suspension and, in the worst scenario, dismissal from the service once proven to be engaging in partisan politics.

Diño’s statement came after numerous complaints against some barangay and other local officials who are intentionally barring prospective candidates or making it more difficult for them to conduct lawful campaign sorties in their communities because they are from a rival political party.

He said that all he needs is a formal written complaint from constituents to make the barangay captain concerned to explain within 72 hours, for him to initiate action against the erring official. Read more here


Cebu town barangay officials fear for their lives.  Barangay officials in San Fernando town in Metro Cebu fear now for their lives following the series of killings of local officials, which has resulted in the deaths of two colleagues.

They expressed their fears in a dialogue with Cebu Provincial Office Police Director Debold Sinas and Cebu 1st District Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas due to the death of Barangay Councils (ABC) president and Panadtaran Barangay Captain Ricardo “Nonoy” Reluya Jr. and two others during the ambush-slay attempt on San Fernando Mayor Neneth Reluya.

Unidentified men also gunned down Magsico Barangay Captain Johnny Arriesgado last Jan. 16.

During the dialogue, barangay officials informed police about suspicious persons who recently moved into town. Read more here



Batangas City barangays visited by “compartmentalized” garbage trucks. Compartmentalized garbage trucks (those with partitions for biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes) were deployed by the city government in 18 out of the city’s 105 barangays as a means of promoting and instilling awareness among residents of these barangays the culture of cleanliness and upkeep in their homes and villages.

City officials led by Joyce Cantre, chief of the city’s General Services Department, said that it is also meant to address the intensification and  enforcement of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.   Read more here


ALL THE BEST to all barangay officials and staff.  Here’s hoping that you all benefit from the insights gained from the latest news and events taking place in the barangays nationwide this week.  For other government officials and the general public, this report should give you a front-row seat view of what’s going on at the grassroots level of governance that directly affects the day-to-day lives of more than 100 million Filipinos.

This site is a non-political, non-sectarian and non-government initiative and operated by individuals advocating positive change at the building-block-level of nation-building. Have a productive week ahead.

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