Congressional neglect

Manny Valdehuesa

IT’S unfortunate that no one in Congress, Lower or Upper House, bothers to take the initiative to address the weaknesses of government at the grassroots –in the barangay, which is the base and foundation of our Republic.

Not that this is surprising, given Congress’s record of selective compliance with mandates that threaten the personal interests of its members. One glaring example is the anti-dynasty provision of the Constitution (Section 26, Article II).

Today almost 90% of all jurisdictions—barangay, municipal, or provincial—are shamelessly infested by greedy political families who cling to power and make a living out of public service.

The president made token mention of this issue in his State of the Nation Address, but it is unclear how committed the remaining days of his administration is to the task. Will he really cleanse the bureaucracy and rid it of the dynastic barnacles that cling to the hull of our listing Ship of State?

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Another neglected mandate, clear and specific, is Section 521 of Republic Act 7160 (Local Government of 1991). Titled “Mandatory Review  Every Five Years” it states: “Congress shall undertake a mandatory review of this Code at least once every five (5) years and as often as it may deem necessary, with the primary objective of providing a more responsible and accountable local government structure.”

To this day, 25 years since they enacted it, no such review has taken place. And so the wrongful practices that obtain in our Republic’s 42,000-plus barangays have become, standard, rampant, and institutionalized—taken for granted as a given in our scofflaw society.

One practice, for example, seemingly a trivial one, is the persistent use of the title “kapitan” by everyone although the term is not even used or mentioned in the Code.

Any politician who’s ignorant of the distinction between a Captain (a military commander) and a Chairman (a presiding officer) is unfit for leadership in a democracy.

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Letting a “captain” head a democratic community of equals (a barangay) is like giving him command or authority over the people as if they his subordinates, ordering them around.

In fact the so-called Kapitan/barangay commander is really the community’s chief public servant. He is not its commander. He is merely its chairman. He convenes meetings, presides over the Barangay Assembly, and implements resolutions or decisions collectively arrived at. In the Sanggunian, he does not even vote except to break a tie.

But they behave like de facto commanders and everyone accept it without question. Worse, no one bothers to explain these fine points and their significance to democratic governance—e.g. that a chairman is merely “first among equals” and is akin to a “prime minister” in a parliamentary government.

No one seems to know that in fact the barangay has a parliamentary form of government—which explains why its leader’s title is chairman and not the kapitan of yore when barrios were commanded by captains and lieutenants of the Guadia Civil!

Next time you talk to your favorite senator or congressman, ask if he knows this, or why he hasn’t done anything to clarify this in his own barangay. Also, ask if he bothers to participate in barangay meetings, which is attended by his Bosses: the sovereign citizens of the community!

 (Author of books on governance, Manny Valdehuesa is national chairman and convenor of Gising Barangay Movement Inc.  valdehuesa@gmail.com)