Solon pushes for barangay, SK appointments instead of costly polls

Lamenting that the conduct of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections costs the government billions of pesos, a House leader has proposed that municipal or city mayor be authorized to appoint barangay officials.

Under House Bill 6125, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said the government should do away with the “expensive” practice of conducting barangay and SK elections and replace with least expensive mode of entering into public office by empowering municipal or city mayors to choose his or her Sangguniang members.

He said the strong bayanihan (community) spirit has been constantly eroded by the current practice of electing barangay officials.

“Barangay elections have brought animosity among neighbors and even family members, within the community. In some areas, the wounds of division have remained for decades. And it has gotten worse over time, as shown by reports of certain barangay electionrelated acts of murder, physical injuries and violence, which could have actually been avoided had the barangay elections not been reported to,” Evardone said.

“Moreover, the non partisan character of barangay has been illusory since the day of the election. In reality, candidates for a position in barangay would go to municipal, provincial and even national officials to solicit financial and/or material support in aid of election,” he said.

He also cited that previous barangay elections, including those for SK, have proved to be expensive especially to the government.

The vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations said for the 2013 barangay and SK synchronized elections alone, the government spent 5.72 billion to cover all the 80 provinces, 143 cities. 1,491 municipalities,42,028 barangay and 170,000 clustered precincts.