SENATE APPROVES 30 HOUSE
BILLS CREATING NEW BARANGAYS
The Senate Committee on Local
Government, chaired by Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr., approved 30
bills from the House of Representatives seeking the creation of new barangays
in different areas of the country.
The approval of the House bills,
done last Tuesday, September 15, 2015, will pave the way for the new barangays
to receive their share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) from the
national government.
Majority of the House bills actually
seeks to re-create existing barangays that have been created earlier by local
government councils.
“We all know that this has to do
with the IRA because the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) does not
recognize barangays created by local sanggunians and does not provide an IRA
share for them,” Marcos pointed out.
Under existing laws, the
financial needs of the barangays created by a local government unit (LGU) shall
be the responsibility of the LGU concerned. With no IRA share or meager financial
support from their mother LGU’s, Marcos said it would be very difficult for
these barangays to deliver basic services to their residents.
The House bills sought the
creation of 10 barangays in Taguig City, three in Cavite, three in Davao Del
Norte, two in Zamboanga Sibugay, two in Kalinga, and one each in the provinces
of Bulacan, Mountain Province, South Cotabato, Surigao Del Sur, Tarlac, Misamis
Oriental, and in the city of Makati. One of the bills proposes the division of
one barangay in Davao City into three new barangays, while another calls for
the division of one barangay in Tagum City into five new barangays.
Marcos said that essentially, all
government offices, including the Department of Interior and Local Government
and the Commission on Elections, recognize the LGU-created barangays, except
for the DBM. The DBM representative told the committee that the department has
previously taken the position that barangays created by Congress are entitled
to an IRA share.
Marcos noted that all of the barangays
concerned complied with the minimum requirements for their creation as provided
under the Local Government Code of 1991. Under the code, a barangay may be
created out of a contiguous territory which has a population of at least two
thousand (2,000) inhabitants except in cities and municipalities within Metro
Manila or in highly urbanized cities with certified population of at least five
thousand (5,000) inhabitants.
"With this act of Congress,
there will be no more obstacle that will keep these barangays from receiving
their share of the IRA," he said.
Recognizing the role of LGUs in
delivering basic services to people, Marcos has long been pushing for an increased IRA share of
LGUs from the current 40-60 sharing scheme in favor of the national government
to an even 50-50 split./MP
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