So how can our barangay officials cope with limited funds?
During the Liga ng mga Barangay (LNB) National Convention held last April 4, I had the opportunity to advocate about the internal revenue allotment or IRA upon the invitation of the LNB National President, Atty. Edmund Abesamis.
Barangays’ 20% total IRA share this year is Php 96.081Billion (i.e. 3% of the total national budget).
How IRA dependent are our barangays? There is still no consolidated national data on the Statement of Receipts and Expenditures (SREs) of all barangays to compare their IRA dependency. Barangays also generate local revenues (tax and non-tax).
So how are barangay funds allocated and spent? Let’s say for a 1 Million PhP annual budget, there is a 55% cap for personnel services, a mandatory 10% for SK funds, 5% required to be set aside as calamity fund, then there’s the 20% local development fund, thereby leaving a balance of only 10% (100T PhP) for basic services.
And although barangays have no income classification set by DOF, 65% or 27,411 barangays receive a measly P1M to P2M IRA share this year. However, some barangays situated in the top 5 Metro Cities that benefit the most from the Situs of Tax can generate more local revenues even bigger than the annual budgets of some higher level LGUs.
So how can our barangay officials cope with limited funds? Gauging on their demographics1, our kapitans face varying challenges given their local situations to push for barangay reforms. 25% are 3rd-termers; 61% are above 50 years of age, and 55% graduated from college and post graduate courses. So, if ever there will be a new law to be passed legalizing barangay appointees, it should at least set a minimum criteria and standards for the selection of those who will manage our 42,036 barangay posts.
Kapit mga Kapitans! Hold on to the One true power who lives – God!
1NATIONAL DEMOGRAPHICS OF BARANGAY OFFICIALS (2015) (Source: Liga ng mga Barangay, Laguna Chapter data for all barangay officials)
- EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT: 53% are college graduates, 2% with Post Graduate courses, 1% vocational, while 44% undergraduates
(34%-high school and 10%-elementary levels). - TERM OF OFFICE: 47% are 1st termers, 27.3% are 2nd termers, and 25.4% are 3rd termers, while only 0.2% assumed office through succession while 0.1% were appointed.
- CIVIL STATUS: 88% are married while 7.7% are single
- SEX: 82% are males, 18% are females
- AGE: 36% are from 51-60; 30% are 41-50, 19% are 61-69, 6% are 70-90, 8% are 31-40 and 1% are from 18-30 years of age.
