Barangay
  • Also known as:
  • Barrio
Number of barangays per Philippine province
CategoryVillage
LocationPhilippines
Found inMunicipalities, cities, and barangay districts
Created
Number42,001[2] (as of 2023)
Populations1 (Buenavista and Fugu)[lower-alpha 2] – 261,729 (Bagong Silang)[3][4]
Areas0.14 ha (0.0014 km2) (Malusak) – 41,247 ha (412.47 km2) (Ned)[5]
Government
Subdivisions

A barangay (/bɑːrɑːŋˈɡaɪ/; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as a barrio (abbr. Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan areas, the term often refers to an inner city neighborhood, a suburb, a suburban neighborhood, or even a borough.[6] The word barangay originated from balangay, a type of boat used by a group of Austronesian peoples when they migrated to the Philippines.[7]

Municipalities and cities in the Philippines are politically subdivided into barangays, with the exception of the municipalities of Adams in Ilocos Norte and Kalayaan in Palawan, each containing a single barangay. Barangays are sometimes informally subdivided into smaller areas called purok (English: "zone"), or barangay zones consisting of a cluster of houses for organizational purposes, and sitios, which are territorial enclaves—usually rural—far from the barangay center. As of October 2023, there are 42,001 barangays throughout the country.[2]

History

When the first Spaniards arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, they found well-organized, independent villages called barangays. The name barangay originated from balangay, a certain type of traditional boat in many languages in the Philippines.[7] Early Spanish dictionaries of Philippine languages make it clear that balangay was pronounced "ba-la-ngay", while today the modern barangay is pronounced "ba-rang-gay".[8] The term referred to the people serving under a particular chief rather than to the modern meaning of an area of land, for which other words were used. While barangay is a Tagalog word, it spread throughout the Philippines as Spanish rule concentrated power in Manila.[9]

All citations regarding pre-colonial barangays lead to a single source, Juan de Plascencia's 1589 report Las costumbres de los indios Tagalos de Filipinas. However, historian Damon Woods challenges the concept of a barangay as an indigenous political organization primarily due to a lack of linguistic evidence. Based on indigenous language documents, Tagalogs did not use the word barangay to describe themselves or their communities. Instead, barangay is argued to be a Spanish invention resulting from an attempt by the Spaniards to reconstruct pre-conquest Tagalog society.[10]

The first barangays started as relatively small communities of around 50 to 100 families. By the time of contact with the Spaniards, many barangays had developed into large communities. The encomienda of 1604 shows that many affluent and powerful coastal barangays in Sulu, Butuan, Panay,[11] Leyte, Cebu, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Pasig, Laguna, and the Cagayan River were flourishing trading centers. Some of these barangays had large populations. In Panay, some barangays had 20,000 inhabitants; in Leyte (Baybay), 15,000 inhabitants; in Cebu, 3,500 residents; in Vitis (Pampanga), 7,000 inhabitants; and in Pangasinan, 4,000 residents. There were smaller barangays with fewer people, but these were generally inland communities, or if they were coastal, they were not located in areas that were good for business pursuits.[12] These smaller barangays had around thirty to one hundred houses only, and the population varied from 100 to 500 persons. According to Miguel López de Legazpi, he founded communities with only 20 to 30 people.

Traditionally,[13] the original "barangays" were coastal settlements formed by the migration of these Malayo-Polynesian people (who came to the archipelago) from other places in Southeast Asia (see chiefdom). Most of the ancient barangays were coastal or riverine. This is because most of the people were relying on fishing for their supply of protein and their livelihood. They also traveled mostly by water, up and down rivers and along the coasts. Trails always followed river systems, which were also a major source of water for bathing, washing, and drinking.

The coastal barangays were more accessible to trade with foreigners. These were ideal places for economic activity to develop. Business with traders from other countries also meant contact with other cultures and civilizations, such as those of Japan, Han Chinese, Indians, and Arabs.[14] These coastal communities acquired more cosmopolitan cultures with developed social structures (sovereign principalities), ruled by established royalties and nobilities.

During Spanish rule, through a resettlement policy called reductions, smaller, scattered barangays were consolidated (and thus "reduced") to form compact towns.[15][16] Each barangay was headed by the cabeza de barangay (barangay chief), who formed part of the principalía, the elite ruling class of the municipalities of the Spanish Philippines. This position was inherited from the first datus and came to be known as such during the Spanish regime. The Spanish monarch, who also collected taxes (called tribute) from the residents for the Spanish Crown, ruled each barangay through the cabeza.

When the Americans arrived, "slight changes in the structure of local government was effected".[17] Later, Rural Councils with four councilors were created to assist, now renamed Barrio Lieutenant; they were later renamed Barrio Council and then Barangay Council (Sangguniang Barangay).[17]

The Spanish term barrio (abbr. Bo.) was used for much of the 20th century. Manila mayor Ramon Bagatsing of established the first Barangay Bureau in the Philippines, creating the blueprint for the barangay system as the basic socio-political unit for the city in the early 1970s. This was quickly replicated by the national government, and in 1974, President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the renaming of barrios to barangays.[18] The name survived the People Power Revolution, though older people would still use the term barrio. The Municipal Council was abolished upon the transfer of powers to the barangay system. Marcos used to call the barangay part of Philippine participatory democracy, and most of his writings involving the New Society praised the role of baranganic democracy in nation-building.[19]

After the People Power Revolution and the drafting of the 1987 Constitution, the Municipal Council was restored, making the barangay the smallest unit of Philippine government. The first barangay elections held under the new constitution were held on March 28, 1989, under Republic Act No. 6679.[20][21]

The last barangay elections were held in October 2023.[22] The next elections will be held in December 2025.[23]

Organization

Information sign at the boundary of Barangay Socorro in Quezon City listing the barangay's officials
Maybo's barangay hall in Boac, Marinduque
A barangay hall in Sulop, Davao del Sur
Mariki's barangay hall in Zamboanga City

The modern barangay is headed by elected officials, the topmost being the barangay captain. The barangay captain is aided by the Sangguniang Barangay (Barangay Council), whose members, called barangay kagawad ("councilors"), are also elected. The barangay is often governed from its seat of local government, the barangay hall.

The council is considered a local government unit (LGU), similar to the provincial and municipal governments. The officials that make up the council are the barangay captain, seven barangay councilors, and the chairman of the Youth Council, or Sangguniang Kabataan (SK). Thus, there are eight members of the legislative council in a barangay.[24]

The council is in session for a new solution or a resolution of bill votes, and if the counsels and the SK are at a tie, the barangay captain uses their vote. This only happens when the SK, which is sometimes stopped and continued, In the absence of an SK, the council votes for a nominated Barangay Council president, and this president is not like the League of the Barangay Councilors, which is composed of barangay captains of a municipality.

The Barangay Justice System, or Katarungang Pambarangay, is composed of members commonly known as the Lupon Tagapamayapa (justice of the peace). Their function is to conciliate and mediate disputes at the barangay level to avoid legal action and relieve the courts of docket congestion.[25]

Barangay elections are non-partisan and are typically hotly contested. Barangay captains are elected by first-past-the-post plurality (no runoff voting). Councilors are elected by plurality-at-large voting, with the entire barangay as a single at-large district. Each voter can vote for up to seven candidates for councilor, with the winners being the seven candidates with the most votes. Typically, a ticket consists of one candidate for barangay captain and seven candidates for councilors. Elections for the post of punong barangay and the barangay kagawads are usually held every three years, starting in 2007.

A barangay tanod, or barangay police officer, is an unarmed watchman who fulfills policing functions within the barangay. The number of barangay tanods differs from one barangay to another; they help maintain law and order in the neighborhoods throughout the Philippines.

Funding for the barangay comes from their share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), with a portion of the allotment set aside for the Sangguniang Kabataan. The exact amount of money is determined by a formula combining the barangay's population and land area.

Local government hierarchy
President of the Philippines
Autonomous regions
ProvincesIndependent citiesProvincesIndependent cities
Component citiesMunicipalitiesComponent citiesMunicipalities
BarangaysBarangaysBarangaysBarangaysBarangaysBarangays
The dashed lines emanating from the president means that the President only exercises general supervision on local government.
()
Number of local government units in the Philippines
Type
(English)		 Filipino
equivalent		 Head of
administration		 Filipino
equivalent		 Number[2]
Province Lalawigan/Probinsya Governor Gobernador 82
City Lungsod/Siyudad Mayor Punong lungsod/Alkalde 148
Municipality Bayan/Munisipalidad Mayor Punongbayan/Alkalde 1,486
Barangay Barangay Barangay chairman/Barangay captain Punong-barangay/Kapitan ng barangay 42,027

See also

Bibliography

  • Constantino, Renato. (1975) The Philippines: A Past Revisited (volume 1). ISBN 971-8958-00-2
  • Mamuel Merino, O.S.A., ed., Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas (1565–1615), Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1975.

Notes

  1. ↑ By virtue of Presidential Decree No. 557, s. 1974.[1]
  2. ↑ Excluding barangays whose populations declined to zero due to various reasons. As of 2020, there are seven barangays with a population of zero: Alas-as (San Nicolas, Batangas), Barangay V (Roxas, Palawan), Calawit (Balete, Batangas), Fuentes (Banate, Iloilo), Pulang-Bato (San Nicolas, Batangas), Uauang-Galicia (Santo Tomas, Isabela), and Union (Santa Rita, Samar).

References

  1. ↑ "Presidential Decree No. 557, s. 1974". Official Gazette. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Mapa, Dennis (October 24, 2023). "Third Quarter 2023 PSGC Updates: Conversion to a New City, Merging of 44 Barangays, Renaming of Five Barangays, Transferring of 10 Barangays, and Correction of the Names of 12 Barangays". Philippine Statistics Authority. National Statistician and Civil Registrar General. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  3. ↑ Melican, Nathaniel (September 17, 2013). "Largest barangay in PH can't live up to 'new hope' image; split pushed". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC)". Philippine Statistics Authority. September 30, 2022. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  5. ↑ Axalan, J.T.; Isreael, F.T.; Concepcion, S.B.; Blatt, P.J.; Murray-Prior, R.; Loma, L. (2011). "Socio-Economic Impact of Cluster Marketing: The Case of Ned Landcare Association Sweet Pepper Cluster". ISHS Acta Horticulturae. 895 (895): 37–44. doi:10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.895.4. hdl:20.500.11937/17699. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  6. ↑ "barangay". Oxford Dictionaries. June 25, 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Zaide, Sonia M.f (1999), The Philippines: A Unique Nation, All-Nations Publishing, pp. 62, 420, ISBN 971-642-071-4, citing Plasencia, Fray Juan de (1589), Customs of the Tagalogs, Nagcarlan, Laguna, archived from the original on January 23, 2009, retrieved January 14, 2009
    ^ Junker, Laura Lee (2000), Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms, Ateneo de Manila University Press, pp. 74, 130, ISBN 978-971-550-347-1 ISBN 971-550-347-0, ISBN 978-971-550-347-1.
  8. ↑ William Henry Scott (1994). Barangay: sixteenth-century Philippine culture and society. Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 9789715501354.
  9. ↑ William Henry Scott (1994). Barangay: sixteenth-century Philippine culture and society. Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 135–136. ISBN 9789715501354.
  10. ↑ Woods, Damon (2017). The Myth of the Barangay and Other Silenced Histories. E. de los Santos St., UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. pp. 117–153. ISBN 978-971-542-821-7.
  11. ↑ During the early part of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines the Spanish Augustinian Friar, Gaspar de San Agustín, O.S.A., describes Iloilo and Panay as one of the most populated islands in the archipelago and the most fertile of all the islands of the Philippines. He also talks about Iloilo, particularly the ancient settlement of Halaur, as a site of a progressive trading post and a court of illustrious nobilities. The friar says: Es la isla de Panay muy parecida a la de Sicilia, así por su forma triangular come por su fertilidad y abundancia de bastimentos... Es la isla más poblada, después de Manila y Mindanao, y una de las mayores, por bojear más de cien leguas. En fertilidad y abundancia es en todas la primera... El otro corre al oeste con el nombre de Alaguer [Halaur], desembocando en el mar a dos leguas de distancia de Dumangas...Es el pueblo muy hermoso, ameno y muy lleno de palmares de cocos. Antiguamente era el emporio y corte de la más lucida nobleza de toda aquella isla...Mamuel Merino, O.S.A., ed., Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas (1565–1615), Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1975, pp. 374–376.
  12. ↑ Cf. F. Landa Jocano, Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage (1998), pp. 157–158, 164
  13. ↑ Cf. Maragtas (book)
  14. ↑ Hisona, Harold (July 14, 2010). "The Cultural Influences of India, China, Arabia, and Japan". Philippinealmanac.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  15. ↑ Constantino, Renato; Constantino, Letizia R. (1975). "Chapter V - The Colonial Landscape". The Philippines: A Past Revisited (Vol. I) (Sixteenth Printing (January 1998) ed.). Manila, Philippines: Renato Constantino. pp. 60–61. ISBN 971-895-800-2. OL 9180911M.
  16. ↑ Abinales, Patricio N.; Amoroso, Donna J. (2005). "New States and Reorientations 1368-1764". State and Society in the Philippines. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 53, 55. ISBN 0742510247. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  17. 1 2 Zamora, Mario D. (1966). "Political Change and Tradition: The Case of Village Asia". In Karigoudar Ishwaran (ed.). International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology: Politics and Social Change. Leiden, the Netherlands: E.J. Brill. pp. 247–253. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Presidential Decree No. 557; Declaring All Barrios in the Philippines as Barangays, and for Other Purposes". The LawPhil Project. Malacañang, Manila, Philippines. September 21, 1974. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  19. ↑ Marcos, Ferdinand. 1973. "Notes on the New Society of the Philippines."
  20. ↑ "Looking back: The first barangay polls in PH". Rappler. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  21. ↑ Team, COMELEC Web Development. "Official COMELEC Website :: Commission on Elections". COMELEC. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  22. ↑ Cabico, Gaea Katreena (October 30, 2023). "Comelec: Long-delayed barangay, SK polls 'generally peaceful' despite localized violence". Philstar.com. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  23. ↑ Javier, Paige (October 25, 2023). "Comelec: BSKE to push through in 2025 to abide by SC decision". CNN Philippines. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  24. ↑ "The Barangay". Local Government Code of the Philippines. Chan Robles Law Library.
  25. ↑ "Barangay Justice System (BJS), Philippines". ACCESS Facility. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
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