by Alex Roldan
The barangay elections are over. The winners continue to celebrate as if they have made it to Seventh Heaven while losers mostly are sour-graping about their fate.
Barangay elective posts in the past two decades or so, we observed, were once nominal titles for village officials that have turned into prized status symbols that are fiercely fought for. The contest has become more personal and, worse, divisive. The extreme dislike candidates have for each other ;inger even after the last vote has been counted, and will heighten when the next election approach. Sadly, many of the names of village residents already have subtitles attached to them identifying them as either for or against the village administration to the point where these sub-titles are a reminder as to which dominant political groups they belong.
I feel sad not only that barangay elections have failed to bring substantial political changes in the country that are supposed to strengthen our political system and institute reforms in the economic system instead of perpetuating the polarization of the people, making it more difficult to unite them and bring effective and real reforms to their respective communities.
I was still very young then when my mother used to grumble every time some of my neighbors came to our house to see my father. It must have been during the early ‘70s. I can clearly recall the cause of my mother’s constant grumbling – they were prodding father to run for kagawad in the coming barangay election.
My mother was against it. She regarded politics as “sakit sa iro” (dog’s skin disease—mange) that once one has it, it will be difficult to get rid of. Another thing, village officials in those times served on their own volition and served without pay. No wonder they had to persuade people to join. Naturally, with very few challengers, my father garnered the highest number of votes among those who vowed to serve. I am sure, my mother had her own notion about about the nature of politics after having observed politicians and their antics early on.
President Marcos’ Presidential Decree 557 that made the barangay a venue where the people took part in shaping policies enabled him to use it to prolong his martial law regime in 1976. He used the barangay officials’ affirmation of his authority as an affirmation from the people in the barangays.
Barangay elections immediately after Marcos’s regime wereh casually dismissed by many as superfluous, but the passage of the local government code changed it completely. The increasing role of barangay officials in accepting or rejecting locally or nationally initiated projects and services for their communities, the competition for salaries and perks, and especially the authority to generate local revenues and decide their own internal revenue allocations are no doubt the incentives and the real culprit behind the surge in political rivalry in barangay elections—and even violence.
Being the holder and dispenser of the gold gives a sense of power to village officials. It can help ensure his hold on power by acting as the good provider for many of his favored constituents-turned-followers that everybody knows translates to patronage that is for sale to the highest bidder seeking higher political position.
Yes, a very dirty business indeed. I am sure this statement will raise a lot of eyebrows of some, but, how would you describe the whole process. Looking at it from all angles, the business side of it is there for all to see. Barangay elections to me are to elect people who will in time become the trader of people’s votes in local and national elections.
This should not, however, hinder people from participating and instead should struggle towards change. Many are clearly discouraged to participate during Election Day – as shown by low turnout. Our policy makers if they are sincere about strengthening our political and economic system through the barangays, need only to do one thing: Insulate the election of barangay officials from other politics. Not easy, but it can be done, if they have the will.
For comments, e-mail to: roldanalex@yahoo.com
