SURIGAO CITY—Surigao del Norte House Representative Robert Ace Barbers says it is high time for the government to look into the composition of barangays so that delivery of goods, programs and services from the government will be facilitated.
“Sa aking pananaw at opinyon, mababawasan ang kurapsyon sa barangay nito at madali na silang mababantayan. Malaking din ang tulong na maibigay nito sa national government,” said Rep. Barbers during a live TV-radio interview aired over DZBB on Sunday, and monitored by Sandigan News and Banat Pilipinas News.
Barber’s proposal to split the barangays in accordance to their population is not the first one. In fact, many representatives and city governments have tried to do it but failed. Some moves to add, merge or divide barangays like Barangay Bagong Silang, Caloocan City did not see the light of day in the halls of congress or in the city council due to many reasons, including political ones.
Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1992, as amended, puts the population requirement of a barangay to not less than 2,000 but it has no provision on the limit. “Ang census ay nangyari nuong 2015 pa at according to the National Statistics Authority na almost 2 percent ang dagdag nito every year kaya lumaki talaga ang barangay,” Rep. Barber said.
He noted though that his proposed bill would undergo intensive scrutiny in congress so consultations with the League of Cities, League of Barangays and other interest groups are needed to thresh out many issues.
“Ngunit sa nakita nating mahirap na ipapamahagi ang tulong sa Social Amelioration Program sa mga malalaking barangays, mas madali seguro kung limitahan natin ang numero ng mamayan sa isang barangay basta ang objective natin ay ang effective and efficient delivery of services and programs of the government to them,” he said.
His proposal to limit the population of residents of each barangay into 15,000 will also address the issue of peace and order according to Rep. Barbers. He said that if the Barangay Captain has only 15,000 people to monitor, he can immediately detect if there are terrorist dens or an apartment in his area is being used as shabu plant.
Rep. Barbers hopes that his bill will be supported by his colleagues in congress and in the senate because he said it is also a “good peace and order measure. Mas madaling malaman na may gumawa ng bomba sa barangay dahil konte na lang ang babantayan niya.”
