ILOILO City — A fiscal paralysis is gripping Iloilo City’s grassroots governance; 168 of its 180 barangays — or 93 percent — failed to pass their 2026 annual budgets, prompting the City Council to sound the alarm over what it described as a “widespread budgetary crisis” that threatens the delivery of basic services and stalls community development programs.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Committee on Appropriations disclosed that only 12 barangays have approved their budgets as of early 2026. It warned that the continuing failure forces most barangays to operate under reenacted budgets, effectively freezing new projects, limiting social services, and constraining their ability to respond to urgent local needs.
“This is a widespread budgetary crisis that affects the very foundation of local governance,” said committee chair Councilor Rex Marcus Sarabia said.
Without an approved annual budget, barangays cannot implement new infrastructure projects, expand social services, increase honoraria of personnel, or invest in critical programs that directly benefit their constituents. This ultimately delays development at the grassroots level.
The problem is apparently not new. At least 33 barangays had also failed to pass their annual budgets in previous fiscal periods, showing a recurring governance bottleneck that now affects nearly the entire city.
The impact extends to youth governance. Only two Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) barangay councils have passed their budgets, as SK allocations depend on 10 percent of their respective barangays’ annual budgets, the committee disclosed.
Without approved barangay budgets, youth programs are likewise stalled.
Sarabia filed a resolution seeking an investigation in aid of legislation to determine the root causes of the widespread delays.
The inquiry will examine whether procedural bottlenecks, lack of technical capacity, or coordination gaps between barangays and City Hall are to blame.
The proposed probe also aims to identify reforms that could strengthen financial governance at the barangay level, including expanded technical assistance, capacity-building initiatives, and policy adjustments to ensure timely budget preparation and approval.
Liga ng mga Barangay city federation president Maria Irene Ong cited compliance with long-term planning requirements — including the preparation of six-year development master plans — as one of the major hurdles confronting barangays.
Meanwhile, SK city federation president Jelma Crystel Implica said many SK councils remain unable to finalize their budgets pending the approval of their respective barangay budgets./PN
