Senators divided over proposal to postpone barangay polls

Senators have expressed varied opinions on the proposed postponement of barangay elections supposedly set in October this year.

Senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino said it is important that the Filipino people are given the opportunity to choose their leaders.

''Pag may postponement may holdover status and I think in our laws, it does necessitate a hold over the status of elected officials. They cannot just be removed because they are elected. There has to be proper procedure because they are elected by the people and usually appointments are not allowed," Aquino said.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III during a speech to the Strategic Consultation and Workshop on Federalism, Barangay Reform, and Role of Barangays in National Security Concerns organized by the Liga ng mga Barangay (LNB) challenged barangay captains to clean their rank and to prove President Rodrigo Duterte that there is no truth to the report that up to 40 percent of village leaders are involved in illegal drugs.

"If the report is wrong, then maybe there is no need to discuss appointments to replace barangay officials," said Pimentel.

However, he added that the barangay chairmen would have to prove to the President and the anti-drug agencies like Philippine National Police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency that there is no truth to the report.

"So that is I think a challenge… to each and every one of you," the Senate President said.

Pimentel said, "If the barangay is drug-infested, heavily drug-infested, our intelligence community would believe that the barangay leaders are involved in drugs… that is a reasonable conclusion."

Pimentel urged the barangay chiefs to show policymakers that they are making a sincere effort to defeat the drug menace.

The President warned that the barangay elections is being used by syndicates linked to the illegal drug trade as an avenue to protect their interest.

Based on existing law, postponing the barangay elections would need an amendment of the law for the President to be able to appoint officials.

There are around 42,000 barangays in the country.

President Duterte believes that if elections were to be held, candidates with links to drugs would win.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto earlier filed a bill postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan election to October 2018, which he said will pave the way for the investigation of those allegedly linked to the illegal drug trade.

Sotto filed Senate Bill 1469 last May 23 to postpone the said election from the fourth Monday of October this year to the fourth Monday of October next year.

Senator Francis Escudero said it is the prerogative of Congress to fix the term of office of barangay officials and to set the schedule of elections but at the same time he asked how long it will be postpone.

“So will they be on hold over status or will they be removed? And if they are removed who will make the appointment because we have to remember that these are elected officials. 

We have to acknowledge that they were chosen by their constituents and we cannot just go against the will of the people,” Escudero said as he maintained that he will wait for the Congress to submit their justification and clarified that he is not opposing the postponement as long as there is strong reason to support it.

Escudero also urged the Department of Interior and Local Government to file the necessary charges against these barangay officials if there is proof that they are in cahoots with drug syndicate in their respective areas.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian criticized the DILG for not taking the necessary action against these said barangay officials who were being linked to the illegal drug trade.

Gatchalian said the idea of postponing barangay elections is not acceptable as far as he is concerned citing the fact that this was the second time the present administration asked for a postponement of elections.

“Ano nangyari sa loob ng isang taun? The original premise of the first postponement was to remove the 40 percent barangay captains who are supposedly involved in illegal drugs. Our question is, ano na ang nangyari doon sa 40%. Tinangal na ba nila?” Gatchalian asked.

He demanded that the DILG give an update insisting that the department was already given sufficient time to clean the barangay ranks.

Senator Franklin Drilon, for his part, said the people must be allowed to vote for their leaders through the barangay and SK elections as he expressed opposition to the possible postponement.

Drilon said the people must be allowed the opportunity to choose their local leaders through an open and honest election. (SunStar Philippines)  

Photo Credits: bamaquino.com; en.wikipedia.org; untvweb.com; rappler.com; politics.com.ph; gmanetwork.com

DILG considers merging barangay clearances with BPLOs

The process of securing business permits and licenses in local government units (LGUs) will soon be further improved as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is considering the integration of barangay clearances into the system.

The proposed inclusion of barangay clearances in the business permits and licensing process (BPLS) was one of the issues discussed during the consultation-workshop in BPLS held at the DILG-Napolcom Center recently.

DILG officer-in-charge Catalino S. Cuy says the activity gathered relevant inputs from LGUs on the rationalization of fees and charges at the barangay level, following the upcoming integration of barangay clearances in the BPLS.

“From the very start, President Duterte had very clear instructions that we should hasten and simplify the BPLS process in LGUs. By integrating barangay clearances in the BPLS, businesses would be more motivated to do business with the LGUs because they would find it easier to secure the necessary permits at the local level,” says Cuy.

Earlier, the President directed all national government offices to reduce the requirements and processing time of all transactions with the government in order to improve the delivery of frontline services.

Bureau of Local Government Development (BLGD) Director Anna Liza F. Bonagua explains that the activity is in accordance with Section 6.8.1 of the JMC 01, series of 2016, which states that “barangay clearance that are related in doing business may be applied, issued and collected at the city or municipality provided that all collections on the week shall be remitted to the concerned barangay by the end of the week.”

Bonagua mentions that the workshop clarified the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders of the process, as well as culled out possible enhancements on the policies and guidelines in the future.

One of the LGUs which shared their experiences on integrating the barangay clearance in their business permit system was the Valenzuela BPLO. Presently, 22 out of 33 barangays in Valenzuela already have ordinances authorizing the city to collect fees for business permits on behalf of the barangays.

Present during the workshop were representatives from partner agencies like the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) under the Department of Finance, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), as well as BPLOs from the cities of Valenzuela, Marikina, Paranaque, Manila, and Quezon City.

Also in attendance were barangay council members from Barangay San Roque in Marikina City and Barangay Gen. T. De leon in Valenzuela City, which are also model LGUs for the formulation of guidelines and policies on the streamlining of business permits and licenses.

The DILG through the BLGD will conduct a series of activities to increase the buy-in of the public on the implementation of the BPLS. A consultation with BPLOs, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), National Competitiveness Council (NCC), and the Department of Finance (DOF) on the unified BPLS form is set to commence to discuss the standardization of the form, which will be used for both new applications and renewal of business permits. (DILG News Archive) Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Only 4 Davao City barangays comply with Solid Waste Act: COA

ONLY four of 182 barangays in Davao City maintain material recovery facilities in violation of Section 32, RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, the Commission on Audit revealed in its report released last June 22.

This means 98 percent of barangays in President Duterte’s hometown are non-compliant with the law aimed at promoting recycling to bring down the city’s expense in hauling fees and reducing the volume of garbage that end up in landfills.

A breakdown of the city government’s operating expenses in 2016 showed it shelled out P151.735 million for “environment/sanitary services,” which was P17.02 million higher than what it spent for the same purpose in 2015.

Based on the record of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), there are supposed to be 16 MRFs already built and operating but onsite inspection by government auditors revealed the existing MRFs are located only in Barangays Crossing Bayabas, Dumoy, Hizon, and Mahayag.

“Previously established MRFs in Barangay Gov. Paciano Bangoy, San Antonio – Agdao, Centro – San Juan, Lapu-lapu, Sasa, Matina Pangi, and Calinan Proper were discontinued due to a variety of reasons such as funding and changes in priorities of the administration,” auditors said.

It is not that Davao City’s barangay executives do not understand their obligations under the law as COA even noted that “awareness of the Solid Waste Management Act is high” among them. The problem is the failure of the city official concerned to enforce the law.

“Interviews with barangay officials from Dumoy, Calinan Proper, Matina Pangi, and Indangan revealed that the City Environment and Natural Resource Office allows the collection of non-segregated wastes and the mixing of source-separated waste with other solid wastes,” the COA said.

Residents surveyed by government auditors from 14 of Davao City’s most populated barangays confirmed these observations. The figures all pointed at laxity in implementation: 84 percent of respondents said the CENRO permits collection of non-segregated/unsorted wastes, 78 percent said the city does not use separate collection schedules for bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable waste, and 62 percent said even waste already separated at the source were mixed together anyway during collection.

“These practices increase not only the volume of waste for collection and disposal defeating the purpose of waste segregation but also the spending for private hauling services. In addition, disposal of non-segregated or unsorted wastes in the sanitary landfill instead of strictly residual wastes reduces the useful life of the facility,” the COA pointed out.

These were verified during site inspection at the Davao Sanitary Landfill located at Barangay New Carmen in Tugbok, Davao City.

Engr. Elisa P. Madrazo, CENRO Davao City, acknowledged the audit findings but defended the office, saying she relied in good faith that the city barangays will “exercise due diligence in performing their functions as mandated by law.”

Madrazo assured auditors that CENRO will work to strengthen enforcement of RA 9003 by closely monitoring and coordinating with each barangay. (Malaya Business Insight) Photo Credit: Rappler.

PDP-Laban won’t collect fees for barangay posts

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) does not and will not solicit or collect “fees” for barangay positions, said party leader and Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

“PDP-Laban and any other group, especially those supportive of President Duterte will not, does not and cannot have such a program asking for money in exchange for a chance to be considered as barangay appointees,” Pimentel told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

In the first place, Pimentel said there was still no law scrapping the barangay elections set for October, much less authorizing the appointment of about 42,000 village chiefs across the country.

Pimentel warned the public against believing the scam of some individuals who were using the name of PDP-Laban to ask for “registration fees” or payments from those who wanted to be appointed barangay officials.

Shady activities

He said the cash collections were supposedly in exchange for inclusion in a list that would be used in appointing barangay officials when the barangay elections were postponed.

Pimentel said incidents were monitored in Pampanga, Bicol and also certain areas in Mindanao.

To thwart shady activities like this, he said the PDP-Laban was accelerating its reorganization nationwide and designating people in areas not yet covered by the party.

“In this way, people will be clear on who is the party’s point person per province so that when a group goes to Pampanga to solicit money in the name of the party, the member can easily [countercheck] with the point person,” he said.

President Duterte is seeking to postpone the barangay elections, claiming that 40 percent of officials in the country’s over 42,000 barangays were either corrupt or into illegal drugs. (Inquirer.net)

Barangay Tanods Kill 2 Abu Sayyaf Terrorists

Two Abu Sayyaf terrorists were killed following an encounter with members of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) in Basilan on Thursday.

The killed bandits were identified as Abu Sayyaf members Nasirin Awwalin and Hasmin Lajid.

It was learned that members of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPT) 4 of Barangay Guinanta, Albarka, Basilan engaged in a two-hour gun battle members of the Abu Sayyaf led by Sarwin Kasaram in Barangay Guinanta at 12:50 p.m. Thursday.

Kasaram is a follower of sub-leader Nurhassan Jamiri.

Troops of the Joint Task Force Basilan continue to conduct checkpoints to thwart the extrication of the Abu Sayyaf members.

Meanwhile, the offensives launched by the Alpha Company of the 10th Infantry Battalion resulted in a fierce gun battle between the operating troops and the Abu Sayyaf bandits in Barangay Tandu Bagua, Patikul, Sulu at 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

The troops were acting on reported sightings of the Abu Sayyaf bandits and their kidnap victims in the area of engagement.

The said armed confrontation lasted for 20 minutes, after which the Abu Sayyaf bandits fled, bringing with them their casualties.

A soldier died and 10 other personnel sustained wounds and were promptly extricated for medical treatment at the Kuta Heneral Teodulfo Hospital in Barangay Busbus, Jolo, Sulu.

Lieutenant General Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., the Commander of the Western Mindanao Command assured they will give their utmost best to track and eventually capture the bandits. (Tempo) 

Barangay chief nabbed for illegal possession of firearm

Photo Credit: PNP Lipa Facebook

A village chief has been arrested for keeping an unlicensed firearm in his residence in Lipa City in Batangas province, police said.

Chief Inspector Zyrus Serrano, Batangas Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) provincial officer, said the suspect, Barangay (village) San Guillermo Chairman Rodelio Fajutag, 60, was arrested in his own village on May 25.

Serrano said that joint forces from the Batangas CIDG, CIDG Region 4A and Batangas Provincial Public Safety Office implemented a search warrant against Fajutag at around 7 a.m.  Judge Agripino Morga of San Pablo City issued the search warrant against Fajutag for his alleged violation of Republic Act 10591, otherwise known as the “Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.”

Recovered from the suspect were a .45-pistol, a magazine and five rounds of live ammunition for the firearm.

Fajutag and the confiscated pieces of evidence were brought to the CIDG Batangas Office for documentation and proper disposition while police prepared charges against the suspect. (Inquirer.net)

Lady Barangay Kagawad In Hot Water for Immorality

A female Barangay 16 kagawad is being accused of having an extramarital affair with the husband of a resident.


In a complaint affidavit filed before the Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP), the complainant, whose identity is being withheld, said she discovered the extramarital affair in 2010 while she was working abroad.


She confronted her husband and said her husband promised to end the affair. Recently, however, the complainant discovered the affair never ended, adding, her husband has not provided financial support for their two children.


“The affair has caused mental anguish and brought shame upon my family,” said the wife.


The complainant pointed out, as an elected official, the kagawad is expected to be an example, however, she is exhibiting the opposite and acting as an example of immorality. (Watchman Daily Journal).