EDITORIAL
The race is on for a pot of gold
The campaign period for the Barangay and SK Elections
(BSKE) started last October 19, 2023, and will end on October 28,
- On election day, on October 30, 2023, the people will
decide in whose hands the powers of the barangays will be
entrusted.
The BSKE is a political exercise through which our local
communities are empowered to carve their destinies by ensuring
that those wielding the powers of the most basic unit of society
respond to the needs of the people. This allows the people to
strengthen their local communities and build a more vibrant
democracy. Some political scientists describe this as grassroots
governance.
In terms of area and population, the barangay and the
Sangguniang Kabataan or SK officials may be leading the smallest
unit of society, but they are entrusted to manage not a minuscule
public fund.
In 2024, the country’s 41,953 barangays will handle
Php174.27 billion national tax allocation or NTA. The SK will get
10% of this budget, or 17.43 billion. Some barangays also
manage a hefty locally sourced income and allocation of local
taxes from the municipality, city, and province where they belong.
The Department of Budget and Management, or DBM,
mandates that 20% of the annual budget must be appropriated
for development projects. Funds must also be allocated for
programs, projects, and activities as mandated by pertinent laws.
The P174.27 billion pie for the barangays and the SK is
bigger than the budget for the state universities and colleges and
bigger than the allocation for medicines and vaccines. The
budget for DOH-run hospitals and the Department of Agriculture
proper also pale in comparison.
The law requires that any person aspiring to become a
barangay official must be able to read and write Filipino or any
local language or dialect and must be resident in the barangay for
at least 1 year immediately preceding the day of the election,
among other qualifications. For SK positions, the candidate must,
in addition to other qualifications, be a resident of the barangay
for not less than 1 year immediately preceding the day of the
election and be able to read and write Filipino, English, or the
local dialect.
Although the NTA varies in each barangay, barangay and SK
officials will certainly manage millions of pesos of public money,
which must be used following a labyrinth of laws, rules, and
regulations.
The law may have set the bare minimum – able to read and
write and one-year residency – for those aspiring for barangay
positions despite the job’s complexity and level of difficulty. But
this does not mean the upcoming barangay and SK elections must
be trivialized. We elect first responders and frontline service
providers in the barangay who handle significant public money.
We must, therefore, choose the best and the brightest for the job
who will serve their constituents.