It’s amazing – almost 700,000 COCs for barangay positions

The Barangay election will be held next Monday, October 28, 2013. Are we all ready to vote? Somehow not everyone has given importance to this unit of government. The only eager beavers in this election are the politicians themselves. In fact, they will “kill” to make sure they win the race. Sanamagan!

The killing part has certainly proven how ‘bloody’ politics is in this country. Can you imagine someone would kill to be a barangay chairman, a barangay councilor or an SK chairman? This clearly shows how lucrative politics has become in the Philippines. Yes, it’s definitely all about money. If it were about love for country then we would have already seen the results around through the improvements of our communities and services.

Recently P-Noy signed the bill passed by Congress postponing the SK elections. RA 10632 amended RA 9340 and reset the youth council elections anytime between Oct. 28, 2014 and February 23, 2015. RA 9340 amended RA 9164 that synchronized barangay and SK elections. This bill came about because of allegations that the SK is a “breeding ground for political dynasty and exposes the youth to corruption and the practice of traditional politicians known as “trapos.”

Youth Councils were created under the Local Government Code of 1991 as a means of providing the youth with a representation in government. The objective is laudable but the policies and provisions that go with its implementation needs to be reviewed. Even the President has acknowledged this need.

Our congressmen should have made the move to make reforms on this graft-tainted youth council if not totally abolish its existence a long time ago. As a matter of fact they should also include reforms in the rest of the barangay unit. Not to mention the big budget attached to it.

What saddens me is that in many cities there are a lot of barangay units that clash with their mother municipalities. If an opposition wins, rules and directives in the barangay change and contradict that of the municipality. The city mayor and/ or barangay officials do not even see eye to eye. This is where the foundation of government systems breaks down.

We have 42,028 barangays throughout the country. The Local Government Code defines the Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) as the share of local governments from the national taxes. Under the law 60 percent of taxes go the national government and 40 percent is allocated to local government as IRA. Barangays get 20 percent of the IRA, while cities and provinces get 23 percent each, and municipalities 34 percent.

Sam Garcia of the DILG-National Barangay Operations Office said that the IRA is not equally divided among the barangays since their share depends on the earnings of the local government. This means the bigger the revenue of an LGU, the higher the IRA share.

On top of the IRA, barangay chairs have also shares from the taxes collected by their LGUs including real estate property and business taxes. A barangay can get as much as P100 million in IRA. Wow! That indeed is money talking! But I just wonder that with this amount a barangay gets, we still need to pay fees for services rendered to us over and above the taxes we pay. Where do all these fees go? If you look around your community or your city for that matter, do you see positive results of all these fees being collected for the purpose of cleanliness, safety, beautification projects, education, parking etc. etc.?

It’s no secret that many if not all of our politicians are in this job for one reason – money. The recent pork barrel scam proves this. Aside from the power and influence that go with the position, a barangay official handles the community’s share of the P59,165, 520,377 in IRA this year. According to the Department of Budget and Management, the IRA for the 1,706 barangays in Metro Manila alone amounts to P5,239,414,157.

A barangay chairman in Metro Manila receives about P23,000 as monthly honorarium and has the final say where to put their barangay budget. Barangay councilors or Kagawads receive over P17,000 a month. These are not too big of an income but still many would give up anything even their dignity just to get that post. Why? There’s more money there, more than we will ever know!

If it is not for the money, then why are we still a troubled lot? The poor is becoming poorer, the rich richer as they continue to amass fortunes at the expense of the taxpayers. Our systems suck! As a matter of fact maybe there are no systems at all. It’s like the blind leading the blind. No definite direction, no plans, just spur of the moment decisions. Everything is done on a piece meal. Susmariosep! I dread the day when another natural calamity happens. God forbid!

I have heard too many sad stories about socio-civic groups wanting to help improve the services of a municipality like energy-saving lights or electric equipment, eco-friendly garbage solutions, medical solutions, new farming technology, quality preschools, but the mayors shrugged this off because they are afraid that their own businesses may have to stop or they won’t profit a thing from it. Greed has taken the better part of them. Truly sad!

Anyway, according to the COMELEC, as of last week, over half a million aspirants (57,674 for barangay chairman and 467,196 for barangay kagawad) filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the October 28 barangay elections. The COMELEC is expecting COCs to reach 700,000. This number shows us how many people want to be part of the government. Amazing! Everyone wants to become a politician.

There is no argument to the allotment given to each barangay if it is a legal entitlement set by law. The question is how is the barangay allotment spent? Who monitors the expenses? What mechanism does the government have to ensure checks and balances of the expenditures?

It really irks me that despite the enormity of the funds allocated for the barangay, the services are still pathetic! Where does the money go? We, the taxpayers are all dried up as the BIR continues to squeeze us off of our juices. What frustrates us is, knowing that our hard-earned tax money is just going to the pockets of such pigs.

Our country is broken. It is only us who can put it together again. So, take extra precaution as you cast that vote on Monday. That’s the least we can do.