MANILA, Philippines - A Zambales congressman is proposing the allocation of more funds for barangay communities, which are the country’s smallest political units.
Rep. Jeffrey Khonghun, a former three-term mayor of Subic town, made the proposal as the country gets ready to elect its new set of community officers.
“Our barangay units play a crucial role in nation building because more often, they serve as the face of the government, thus the need for them to have sufficient funding to be able to perform their duties well,†he said.
“Barangays are directly involved in the day to day lives and aspirations of the people, where governance and best practices can immediately be felt,†he said.
He said he would introduce a bill that would increase funds for the smallest political units and allow them to keep those funds.
“Every barangay’s function is not only to craft local laws, it also has the gigantic function of implementing plans and in mediating conflict,†he added.
Under the Local Government Code, barangays are entitled to a share of up to 50 percent of its community tax collection.
However, Khonghun lamented that in practice, the city or municipality would hand over the funds usually after a long waiting period and only when the barangay asks for it.
“The current system where barangays have to beg for additional funds from the municipal or city leaders must stop. This will just be a cause of delays in the delivery of services,†he said.
Under his proposal, barangay communities would be allowed to automatically keep their 50-percent share of the community tax collected and remit the remaining 50 percent to the city or municipality after the end of every month.
Aside from the community tax, villages have their share of national taxes collected from their areas.
The nation will elect next Monday its new set of barangay officers. No Sangguniang Kabataan officers would be voted as their election has been postponed to the latter part of next year until February 2015.