Neglect, abuse, graft are most common charges filed against barangay officials

Neglect, abuse, graft are most common charges filed against barangay officials

By Rommel Lontayao, Manila TimesReporter

Critical appraisal heaped on barangay chairmen and council-members’ conduct and performance range from negligent, lazy and incompetent to greedy, corrupt and murderous—just like those used to describe higher government officials.

Corruption, neglect of duty, and abuse of authority of officials at the barangay level are three of the most common reasons various groups are pushing for the abolition of the barangay elections and the elimination of the Sangguniang Kabataan itself.

Most of the cases filed against barangay officials are for—or related to—these offenses.

In the country’s capital city alone, many cases filed at the Manila Barangay Bureau are complaints of corruption and abuse of authority against barangay chairmen and kagawads (councilmen).

One complaint involving corruption is that filed by a former barangay councilman and a former barangay secretary against their chairman. This man had allegedly sold his own private vehicle to the barangay, but never changed the ownership of the vehicle afterward. He received the purchase payment but retained ownership of the vehicle.

Paid absentee kagawads

Besides this, complainants Johnny Balbona and Jesus Jacinto, residents of Barangay 816 Zone 88 District V, in Paco, Manila, complained that their chairman, Arturo Lantin, had continuously given honoraria to former barangay councilmen even if they had already transferred to residences outside and distant from the barangay. These kagawads were therefore unable to do their duties at Barangay 816.

Balbona further claimed that one councilwoman, Imelda Lantin, who is the wife of the chairman, had received her honoraria and cash gifts despite being out of the country for nearly 11 months.

According to Balbona and Jacinto, their barangay hall is not being used for barangay council meetings and other official purposes. It is instead now being leased to vendors for P30 a month. At night, Balbona and Jacinto said, the barangay hall becomes a “pot session room” for illegal drug and solvent addicts.

Included as respondents in the complaints filed by Balbona and Jacinto, who are backed by more than a hundred residents of the barangay, were councilmen Gemma Ordona, Nene Amaneo, Boy Caponpon, Alvin Franco, Merlita Manalo and Joenery Estillero. These had allegedly connived with the Lantins.

Denied barangay certificate

Another complaint was made by Loreta Godani. She was allegedly not given the barangay certificate she needed, when she approached Barangay Chairman Lantin.

You cannot apply for or be issued some government documents without a barangay certification. Barangay chairmen are obliged to issue these certifications when asked to do so by legitimate residents.

Meanwhile, in Barangay 142 Zone 12, a complaint charges that Belen Lariosa, barangay chairman; Rosanna Rubio, secretary; and Daniel Garde, councilman, committed grave abuse of authority and dereliction of duty. This case was filed by Carmelita Gardon, a resident of Barangay 143 Zone 12, Balut, Tondo, Manila.

Gardon had reported to the barangay authorities that certain persons destroyed her family’s water meter and steel gate. She then filed cases against these vandals. But her complaints were not acted on. She now charges Barangay Chairwoman Lariosa, Secretary Rubio and Councilman Garde of dereliction of duty in ignoring her requests for action on the cases she had filed against the vandals. She also accuses the three officials of using intimidation to stop her family from pursuing the cases she had filed. This clearly, if true, was grave accuse of authority.

Gardon also added in her complaint that the chairwoman even told one of her relatives that “she will not entertain nor issue any permit, clearances, or certification when it involves any member of the Gardon family.”

“It is evident that the respondents are using their influence and position in harassing and influencing the witnesses as well as preventing access to documents relevant for filing the appropriate criminal and civil charges against [those persons involved in the destruction of our water meter and steel gate],” Gardon added in her written complaint.

Humorous, scary and sad

The Manila Barangay Bureau-Complaint and Investigation Section also has the humorously interesting case of a barangay chairman reported to be squatting in the middle of a street, of a scary and grim case of another chairman charged with committing acts of lasciviousness and making grave threats, and of the sad case of still another chairman who had allegedly cheated the Meralco or the city government by illegally tapping an electricity supply line.

Investigator Teddy Remandaban of the Manila Barangay Bureau-Complaint and Investigation Section estimated that their office receives more than a hundred complaints annually. At present, he said, they are attending to some 30 pending cases.

Remandaban confirmed that most cases filed are those involving corruption, dereliction of duty and abuse of authority.

The barangay bureau, by itself, does not have the authority to suspend or dismiss any elected barangay official from his position. It can only endorse complaint charges against the barangay officials to the city council, which is vested with disciplinary and penal powers.

Perhaps except for those whose residents are severely terrorized by the barangay officials or where the barangay has very few residents (like the country’s smallest barangay, Quezon City’s Barangay Manga, with a population of only 494), there must be tens of thousands of similar complaints of abuse, corruption and dereliction and abandonment of duty throughout the country.

The many barangays throughout Metro Manila—like many in Pasay City where garbage is left uncollected and whose culverts are clogged—must be manned by derelict officials.

Those who allow their streets to be used as parking areas day and night by commercial trucks—despite no parking signs—must correctly be suspected of being both derelict and corrupt.

Meanwhile, nationwide very few officials accused of various crimes and offenses related to the October 29 barangay and SK elections have been punished by their town and city councils.

Most likely these criminal barangay officials did the wrongdoings they did on barangay election day with the approval and support (or at least the acquiescence) of the officials of their superior town or city and province.

Social scientists, politicians, youth leaders unite to kill SK

Social scientists, politicians, youth leaders unite to kill SK


OUTRAGED by the trapo-linked politics of candidates in the last barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, social scientists, politicians, youth and student leaders are moving to abolish barangay elections and abolish the SK itself.

The barangay and the SK are forbidden by the Local Government Code from being political and partisan.

Nearly everyone wants to kill the SK—including the creator of that body itself, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel.

Other politicians who want the SK abolished are former Iloilo congressman and now Vice-Governor Rolex Suplico and Batangas Vice-Governor Jose Antonio Leviste 2nd.

Besides the SK’s having become as bad as trapo politicians, Suplico is for abolishing the youth assembly because of its dismal performance.

Leviste was an SK official before he became a professional politician. He is also disgusted with the SK’s failures and present trapo-style behavior.

The sentiment in the House of Representatives is growing that SK should be abolished because it can never be kept pure from partisan politics and the manipulation of powerful political parties and individual politicians.

It seems that most of the mayors of Pan­gasinan also want the SK abolished. The Inquirer even reported League of Municipalities of the Philippines President Mayor Ramon Guico as having said, “The mayors do not openly speak [about the issue] because of political reasons, but they are for the abolition of the SK.” The Inquirer report also quoted Guico saying, “many SK presidents fail to attend the municipal, city and provincial council sessions held during school days because they need to go to their classes.”

A report by the Philippine Council for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) came out just after the October 29 elections. By Avigail Olarte, it had the title “Kickbacks and love gifts SOP for SK execs.”

The report details how corrupt the young trapo-clones of the SK have become.

Samar News of Catbalogan City ran a well-reasoned article, “The case against the Sanggu­niang Kabataan [SK],” by political scientist Antonio Morales. It is the most incisive and devastating paper written to support the death of the SK.

Several student groups have also registered their desire to see the SK abolished by Congress.

The National Confederation of Youth Advocates, however, insists that the SK merely needs to be reformed not abolished.
--The Manila Times staff

Sangguniang Kabataan creator: Abolish SK!

SPECIAL REPORT: BARANGAY AND SK MESS

Sangguniang Kabataan creator: Abolish SK!

Senator Pimentel wants barangays converted into bigger and viable economic units

By Efren L. Danao, Manila Times Senior Reporter

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.,the “Father of Local Autonomy” and the lawmaker who “created” the Sangguniang Kabataan, are among the millions who are disgusted with the monster that the SK has become. He now wants the SK abolished.

He is also unhappy with the performance of some barangay officials and this most basic political and administrative unit’s failure to achieve its potential.

He wants the barangay to be converted from a political unit into a properly organized and therefore viable economic unit.

Pimentel told The Manila Times that he conceived of the SK as a vehicle for the youth to be actively involved in community development. Now he laments that this ideal has not been achieved.

“I now have very serious doubts in keeping the SK as such,” he said.

For him, the last straw was the conduct of the SK election on October 29. “The supposedly more idealistic youths were imitating their elders by engaging in cheating, vote-buying and intimidation. There was even a killing,” he said. “It was ugly before but now it is already a serious moral and social problem.”

SK monster created

It would seem then that Pimentel had created a “monster” in the SK where the youths get indoctrinated fast and early into the ways of the older, corrupt politicians of their localities. Very often, the SK chairmen are related to the powers-that-be in the local government.

Pimentel, however, has not given up his desire to involve the youth in development efforts. But this would have to be through vehicles other than the SK, which he hopes would eventually go. He said he is now consulting with acting Chairman Re­surreccion Borra and Commissioner Florentino Tuazon of the Commission on Elections to map out plans on how to accomplish this.

“One proposal is to elect at large a youth representative in the municipal or city council. This means that a youth candidate will run alongside those for councilors,” he said.

Under the Local Government Code, it is only the president of the SK in the entire town or city that becomes ex-officio member of the municipal or city council. Pimentel noted that vote buying is also resorted to in the election of the president of the local association of SKs.

Pimentel’s proposal for the conversion of barangays from political to economic units is a radical departure from the barangay as seen by the code he authored. The barangay is the smallest political unit but Pimentel said its potentials would be enhanced if it becomes a true to its ideal as an apolitical entity and becomes a true economic units instead.

He said that it is about time that barangays become financially autonomous and viable. He lamented that the continuing dependence of barangays, as well as other local government units, on their internal revenue allotments is keeping them tied to the strings of the power that disburses the IRA.

He pointed out that the Local Government Code had given the barangays the power to become true economic units by raising local taxes but most of them had failed to exercise this power.

Pimentel said that if barangays continue to depend on the IRA for their operation, they would remain subject to the dictates of higher local government units and this negates the autonomy envisioned for them under the Local Government Code.

“There will be consultations on how to convert the barangays into economic units. I am confident that concrete reforms would come out within the next three years, before the next barangay election,” he said.

He also called for a more rational creation of barangays by municipal or city councils to make them more effective in local development instead of being mere instruments for scheming politicians out to distribute largesse to their loyal followers.

He noted that among the country’s barangays are those with very small population and land area. Most of these barangays were created through a resolution that ignored the provision of the Local Government Code stating that a barangay should have a population of at least 2,000.

Thus, there is a big disparity between Barangay Commonwealth, the most populous barangay in the country with almost 180,000 residents, and Barangay 660 in Ermita, Manila, the smallest with a population of only 74. Despite its small number of residents, Barangay 660 gets an IRA of P260,000 a year. Barangay Commonwealth has an IRA of P24 million a year. The smallest barangay in Quezon City, Barangay Manga, has a population of only 494.

The most popular barangay in the country, Forbes Park in Makati , has a population of 3,420 and an IRA of P1,016,808.

Pimentel said that the people are not necessarily better represented by the creation of a big number of barangays. He lauded Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim for deciding to rationalize the city’s 897 barangays. (See related story tomorrow, “Barangay execs must remain elective–Lim.”)

“This means that a single street in Manila with very few residents would no longer be recognized as a barangay,” he said.

Scrap ‘useless’ SK, says Nene

By: Bernadette E. Tamayo - Journal

SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday said he supports the abolition of the Sangguniang Kabataan, noting that it no longer serves its purpose as a training ground for youth leaders and as means for them to be involved in the community.

He cited persistent reports that officials of SK in various barangays have neglected their duties, although they continue to get allowances.

However, he said an alternative mechanism should be created to ensure continued youth representation in local government units.

In several cases, the SK chairmen and other officials are oftentimes not around in their respective towns because they are studying in colleges and universities in Metro Manila and elsewhere, Pimentel said.

But the worst cases are the SK leaders who commit corrupt practices, unable to resist the temptation to which they are exposed in handling public funds that are entrusted to them.

“Given these unsavory reports, we should now consider the abolition of the Sangguniang Kabataan and replace it with some other mechanism,” Pimentel said.

“While I am for abolition of the SK, it is not right that we should dissolve it without a replacement because I believe that the youth should not be deprived of representation in the government,” he added.

He said even some mayors whose sons or daughters are SK officials have endorsed the scrapping of the SK because it is not delivering any services while continuing to receive funding from the government for its operations.

Pimentel said he is disturbed over reports that SK officials are tempted to take advantage of their positions for monetary gains due to the absence of serious efforts to prevent fund irregularities.

“We should not tolerate a situation where they are exposed to or susceptible to wrongdoing especially since they are still in their formative years,” he said.

But he maintained his stand against the deferment of the barangay and SK elections from Oct. 29 to the second Monday of 2009 as contained in a bill already approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives.

He said this is probably the last elections to be conducted for SK in view of the snowballing move for its abolition in both chambers of Congress.

Since the proposed postponement will automatically result in an additional two-year extension of the term of incumbent SK officials, Pimentel said this is a “ridiculous move” because practically all of them are past the age bracket -- 15 to 17 years old -- for youth and therefore legally speaking, no longer qualified for the posts.

Student groups seek abolition of SKs

By Vincent Cabreza - Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY—The country’s student governments want the abolition of the “non-performing” Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), now that Congress has started deliberations on the fate of barangay and SK elections scheduled next month.

They announced in a Sept. 5 manifesto that they would launch a letter-writing campaign to draw attention to their appeal, which was issued on Tuesday at the close of the National Leadership Training for Student Government Officers at Teachers Camp here.

Where youth belong

Joey Pelaez, executive director of the Department of Education’s Center for Students and Co-Curricular Affairs, said government must ensure that all youths go to school, a mandatory state service that SK officers discard in exchange for salaries and perks offered by weekly city, municipal and provincial council sessions.

Benralph Yu, president of the Region XI Federation of Student Governments, said they do not want the October elections to push through at all to enable government to reallocate the money meant for the polls to augment the budget for public education.

This was not the first appeal for SK abolition, the students said. But their teachers said this was the first position on the SK coming from DepEd.

Better councils

Yu said student councils are better equipped to represent the country’s youth than the SK, a carry-over from the Kabataang Barangay (KB) of the martial law period.

Student leaders said the student councils could begin community work to make up for the vacuum opened if the SK is abolished.

The manifesto, signed by 6,000 high school students and teachers, said the SK elections have “initiated our young early into the ways of traditional politics because of the dirty tricks, vote-buying, kidnap-for-votes or kidnap-not-vote tactics and mudslinging employed by their relatives and parents, who are themselves politicians, and their political patrons.”

Basis for existence

But Yu said the student governments have not compiled evidence to prove that the SK has become corrupt.

“The SK has lost the bases of its existence with its miserable performance or non-performance to pursue its mandate for 15 years to develop the youth for service, patriotism and leadership, increase their social consciousness and enhance their participation in nation-building,” the manifesto said.

“The programs and projects being implemented by the SK are too insignificant if not utterly irrelevant, consisting mostly of construction of waiting sheds and signposts that conspicuously bear and perpetuate the SK officials’ names, and wasting precious resources that could have funded more important and urgent concerns such as public education.”