A leader of the House of Representatives on Wednesday sought an amendment to the Local Government Code limiting the population of every barangay to 15,000 inhabitants in all urban areas of the country as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
In filing a bill, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers proposed that all existing barangay in urban areas with a population exceeding 15,000 inhabitants be reapportioned to create additional barangays to achieve fast and efficient delivery of essential services and orderly governance.
“This measure would bring great relief to both the local governments and the people, particularly in the management of people and resources during natural or man-made calamities, including times of pandemic like the Covid-19,” the chairman of the House dangerous drugs committee said.
Barbers said limiting a barangay’s population to a manageable figure would enable these grassroots officials to smoothly implement barangay peace and order and anti-drug campaigns, and carry out fast and efficient delivery of essential services and orderly governance.
The bill proposes to amend section 386 of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 which imposes a minimum requirement of 2,000 inhabitants for the creation of a barangay and 5,000 population in Metro Manila and other metropolitan areas and highly-urbanized cities.
In the bill’s explanatory note, Barbers said as the population in the Philippines increases, the number of inhabitants in each barangay increases as well. “And the population disparity between barangays can go from under 1,000 to over 200,000, especially in urban areas.”
“Consequently, the number of inhabitants requiring barangay assistance varies significantly. In times of disasters and emergency situations, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, where barangay officials are expected to be the first responders, barangays with high population density experienced more difficulties in reaching out to their constituents,” Barbers said.
“If my proposal is enacted, it would benefit the national and local governments, particularly the barangays. Government assistance and programs in the grassroots level can be carried out faster and easier, particularly in the implementation of the National ID system and during natural or man-made calamities, including pandemics like the Covid-19,” the lawmaker from Surigao del Norte said.
Under the current situation, Barbers said the delay in the delivery of essential services and implementation of social amelioration benefits spelled chaos to the intended beneficiaries who were left with the choice of either violating the quarantine rules in search of food and risk getting infected or wait in misery and starve until the barangay finally finds time to attend to them.
“The acute lack of resources of the big barangays left them no choice but to allow the people to wait in line for days to receive relief packages or social amelioration benefits, in total disregard of the safety requirements imposed by the government on physical distancing and wearing of face masks. It likewise brought undue criticisms to the national government,” he said.
