Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 30) — As voters elect new leaders in this year’s village-level polls, an analyst said the government needs to review and possibly amend the Local Government Code of the country to recalibrate the duties and coverage of barangay officials and youth representatives.
“There is a need to review our political structure and of course review RA 7160 or the Local Government Code,” analyst Edmund Tayao told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Monday.
After a series of delays, the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections finally pushed through on Oct. 30. Over 91 million voters are expected to choose new leaders for over 672,000 positions.
Tayao specifically mentioned the relevance of having barangays in urban and rural areas. He said barangays may no longer be needed in highly urbanized areas since residents there have easy access to establishments like malls where they can access different services.
“In highly urbanized centers, you already have the priority in the deployment of law enforcement groups, like the police, are already there,” he added.
Rural areas, meanwhile, need village governments in the delivery of basic services given the distance between local communities and the municipalities, Tayao noted.
The expert said instead of conducting polls in highly urbanized cities, mayors should just be allowed to designate people who they can trust and can perform duties similar to barangay officials.
Tayao said the government should also review the size of barangays all over the country. He said there are some already as big as a small municipality, and those as small as a block in highly urbanized centers.
When it comes to Sangguniang Kabataan, he said many youth leaders are unable to fulfill their duties as most of them are still studying.
