MONDAY last week was supposed to be the barangay election but this was postponed to Oct. 2023.
Barangay elections are important because barangay governance plays a vital role in the empowerment of people in the grassroots. People get to elect their grassroots leaders.
Grassroots/barangay leaders are important. They are the government’s frontliners in the delivery of basic services and government programs.
However, our barangay leaders are the most neglected public officials. Proof: they don’t even have fixed or standardized salaries like other government workers. This injustice has to stop.
What happened to the proposal providing for both fixed salaries and benefits for barangay chairpersons, kagawad (councilmen), barangay secretaries, and barangay treasurers?
Barangay officials are deemed persons in authority in their respective barangays, and are mandated to maintain public order and ensure the efficient delivery of basic services to the people. Their functions cut across the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.
Barangay captains used to receive honorarium, a measly sum of P1,000 while council members, secretaries, and treasurers used to receive P600 only as honorarium. In 1996, the Department of Budget and Management addressed this by fixing the honorarium of barangay captains at Salary Grade 14 and for the rest, Salary Grade 10. Payments at these new rates, however, are subject to the availability of funds of the local government unit concerned. As such, their compensation is subject to the whims and caprices of those in power.
To address this, the salaries must come from the funds of the cities and towns where the barangays are part of. Those funds include the internal revenue allotment as already provided by law, among them the Local Government Code.
There was even a proposal to raise the compensation of barangay chairmen to Salary Grade 15 and kagawad to Salary Grade 12, and give regular salaries to barangay officials.
Barangay officials should also be entitled to salary increases, as well as Government Service Insurance System, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG benefits, according to the bill.
These over 420 thousand barangay officials are on the frontlines of the delivery of the most basic government services on a daily basis, 24 hours a day. The salary and benefits actually compensate for only a fraction of the time and effort they put into their jobs. While some may be critical or cynical because there are indeed some lazy and corrupt barangay officials, let us not generalize because the vast majority are faithful and devoted to their barangay constituents.
