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The Legality of the Appointment of Barangay Officials

Rafael Kieran M. Monday


LLB 1-B

The Philippine government is composed of different agencies, offices, and departments.


It is only through the seamless and harmonious relationships between these entities that essential
public services are rendered and the very function of the nation as a state may be ensured.
However, all of these bureaucratic agencies in order to function properly, the help of the local
government is needed to make the individual Filipino feel the presence of its government.

The local government as defined by the Local Government Code of the Philippines 1 is
composed of provinces, cities, municipalities, Barangays, and other political subdivisions as may
be created by law, and to the extent herein provided, to officials, offices, or agencies of the
national government.2 The smallest of all these subdivisions is the Barangay. It is the basic
political unit, the barangay serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government
policies, plans, programs, projects and activities in the community and as the forum wherein the
collective and the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and given due
course and when contending claims may be amicably settled. The head of this Barangay is the
Punong Barangay or the Barangay Captain.

The Barangay Captain shall be elected at large in his/her respective unit by qualified
voters therein. The Barangay elections as prescribed by law shall be held every three years on the
fourth Monday in October.3 The last Barangay election was held last October 2013 and the next
was supposed to be on the same month of 2016 this was however postponed due to President
Duterte signing a law4 postponing it to the fourth Monday of October 2017 and that the
incumbent officials will retain their positions in a holdover capacity. This postponement was due
to the desire of the president to appoint the barangay officials instead of filling up the vacancies
through an election. This was because president Duterte believes that 40% of barangay captains
are allegedly into drugs or involved in the illegal drug trade.

Recently, the October 2017 barangay election was also postponed by the president by
signing a law5 setting the local elections to May 2018. The reason for this new postponement is
still the same with the local elections last 2016, the alleged involvement of barangay officials in
the illegal drug trade. This planned appointment of barangay officials is highly criticized by law
experts saying that it violates the local government code and even the Constitution itself. The
administration is steadfast in their belief that the appointment of local officials is lawful and may
be done in a legal manner.

1
Rep. Act. No. 7160 (1991) This is the Local Government Code of 1991
2
Sec. 4
3
Rep. Act. No. 9340, Sec. 1 (2005).
4
Rep. Act No. 10923 (2016).
5
Rep. Act No. 10952 (2017).
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella stated that in the postponement of barangay
elections the barangay positions will be deemed vacant even with the holdover capacity of the
incumbent officials. Therefore, according to the Administrative Code of the Philippines, it is
within the powers of the President to fill up declared vacant positions. 6 Also, the said Code
provided the circumstances when appointments could be made by the president: 7 the officer
regularly appointed to the office is unable to perform his duties by reason of illness, absence or
any other cause or when there exists a vacancy. Provided that the appointments should not
exceed a year. Critics argued that this was a violation of the people’s right to vote in which
Abella replied:

“The people's right to vote must be carefully weighed against the possibility that a
number of barangay officials with links to the illegal drug trade may unwittingly be elected into
office given the sad state of patronage in local politics,”

In addition to this Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the chamber's
committee on dangerous drugs, filed House Bill 5359 seeking the postponement of the barangay
elections anew this time to 2020. This postponement also seeks to remove the incumbent
officials “to give way to a set of 'untainted' officers-in-charge that the President himself will
appoint."

These measures and pronouncements by the President and his allies were not taken
lightly by critics and law experts. Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal has been vocal in
his opposition to postponements and the planned order declaring as vacant all existing elective
barangay positions and that the appointment of their replacements runs contrary to the
Constitution. He said that as stated in the Constitution, it recognizes barangay officials as
“elective local officials” like regional, provincial, city and municipal elected officials. 8
Furthermore, he states that the President’s plan is against the constitutional right to security of
tenure of these barangay officials. 9 Lastly, he concluded that if the President wants to appoint
these officials, the remedy is not to amend the law but to amend the Constitution itself to provide
for appointive Barangay officials.

Even from the president’s camp there were apprehensions. Former senator Aquilino
“Nene” Pimentel Jr., the father of the Local Government Code and of the current senate
president Koko Pimentel a staunch ally of the President, and the founder of the president’s
political party, PDP-Laban, said that appointing barangay officials instead of pushing through
with the local elections will reduce the country’s democracy. The elder Pimentel added that
Duterte's plan would not stand if it's just based on the claim that 40% of village chiefs had drug
links. Removing all the officials due to the 40% will be unfair and impractical. Pimentel urged
6
Exec. Order No. 292, Book 3, Title 1, Chap. 5, Sec. 16 (1987). This is the Administrative Code of 1987
7
Sec 17
8
Const. Art. VIII, Sec. 8
9
Art. XIII, Sec. 3
Duterte to think his plan through, noting that it would require a law amending the Local
Government Code of 1991, which the former Senate president authored. Reiterating that
elections is in keeping with the country's democratic process, Pimentel noted that the law
provides punishment for erring village executives.1011

In the question of the legality and constitutionality of the planned removal and
appointment of the barangay officials each side of the spectrum have their own views and
defense of measures. With the given facts from both sides and together with the light of the law
and the provisions of the Constitution it seems that there is sufficient basis in questioning this
planned action by the administration. If, however, the said measure is implemented it is only the
Supreme Court who may question its Constitutionality. 12Until then we citizens of this country
must trust the government of their good faith without, however, losing our much needed
vigilance in these troubled times.

10
Const. Art. XI
11
Rep. Act No. 6713 (1989).
12
Const. Art. XIII, Sec. 4

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