Reforms begin in the barangays

By Manny Valdehuesa

ANYONE who truly cares about the fate of Philippine society and government should learn to pay attention to his community or barangay and take part in governing it.

It is one’s barangay, along with over 42,000 barangays, that forms the base or anchor of the Philippine Republic.

Whatever happens in one’s barangay affects the condition of the Republic, just as whatever happens to one cell in one’s body can affect a person’s overall health.

Thus, if there is true democracy and good governance in one’s barangay, as well as in all others, so will there be true democracy and good governance in the Republic.

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If there is citizen dysfunction in one’s barangay, it matters. It can create imbalance or disharmony. It can create stress in the community and its government. It then becomes necessary for the barangay citizenry to restore balance and harmony by taking action.

“Taking action” may mean correcting or rectifying untoward behavior of individuals or groups—and even of the government. And it is the mandate and duty of the citizenry to do so.

The need for “taking action” in such circumstances is the reason why barangay citizens are vested with the powers of “Initiative” and “Recall.” Acting through their Barangay Assembly, their all-inclusive parliament, they can nullify or reject any decision or act of their government—and even remove an undesirable official for loss of confidence.

There is no reason for barangay folks to despair of any unacceptable condition that may arise in their community. They have the mandate and the power to effect or restore balance and harmony in community life and living.

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If only they would become active in their community’s governing task; few issues or problems would go unattended at grassroots level—the base of our Republic. And since the grassroots constitute its foundation and anchor, our Republic will become stable, with a government focused on its mission of peace and progress.

Like a vehicle with a well-functioning engine and good operating cogs and wheels below, the upper levels of our Republic (municipal to national) would then find it easier to cruise and navigate towards development and progress at optimum efficiency and speed.

Nothing happens at macro-levels unless they first happen below. A vehicle won’t move unless its wheels start turning and moving forward. Thus to be effective and successful, initiatives for reforming society and government should start at the base, in the barangay.

Reform should begin in the barangay because social or political change must involve the people, or at least be first understood and supported by them. It must start with them, in their community—radiating outward, spiraling upward until there is general acceptance.

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Take this business of Charter Change and the top-level initiative to convert our system into a federal structure. None of the members of the so-called “Consultative Committee” are known to advocate for the federal system in their own community.

Their advocacy has been waged mainly in elitist forums, kapihans, media interviews, books and articles they write, and through influence peddling—getting like-minded oligarchs to help the man in Malacanang and his cohorts in Congress to steamroller its approval.

So it’s no surprise that only a fraction of the population has any notion of what they’re changing or advocating. Those who do know have no sense of context or relevance to Filipino culture, experience, or sensibility.

They failed to factor culture and ingrained electoral behavior into their calculations. They did not start with the knowledge or appreciation that the essence of a federal system is local autonomy.

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Otherwise they would have started advocating local autonomy since long ago and get their community to exemplify its principles and practices.

Instead, they either governed their community like oligarchs do or left it to the devices of traditional politicos (trapos!) who did not take the Local Government Code of 1991 seriously.

And so, despite the almost three decades that have passed since the enactment of this Code (the so-called “autonomy law”) there is no experience of autonomy at any level.

Self-government remains elusive, just a vague concept espoused by academics and pedantic trapos.

If they were serious about autonomy, which is the essential requirement for a federal system, they would have empowered Filipinos from the grassroots-up. Then everyone today would have a sense of what a federal system is, that it is anchored on the sovereignty of the people, that power would be with the people and not in the hands of presumptuous oligarchs that infest government on all levels today.

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Today’s federalism advocates simply have it all wrong. They don’t even have a track record in introducing autonomy, to make it operative in their own community or district, or a reality overall.

Many of them can’t even win elections in their own barangay, being absentee citizens, uninvolved in its affairs.

But if they somehow manage to have their federal design railroaded through the trapo-infested Congress, you can bet they’ll win in the gerrymandered districts of their making, thereby assuring never-ending reign for themselves and their dynasties in the new federal territories.

It’s high time Filipinos learn to establish in their barangay a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Then they cannot be blithely manipulated by presumptuous autocrats who masquerade as democrats!

(Manny Valdehuesa Jr. is a former Unesco regional director for Asia-Pacific; secretary-general, Southeast Asia Publishers Association; director, development academy of Philippines; member, Philippine Mission to the UN;  vice chair, Local Government Academy; member, government peace panel during the administration of Corazon Aquino; awardee, PPI-Unicef outstanding columnist. An author of books on governance, he is chairman/convenor of Gising Barangay Movement Inc.. E-mail: valdehuesa@gmail.com)