MANILA – To speed up the delivery of services to residents, a lawmaker at the House of Representatives is seeking to limit the population of each barangay in all urban areas of the country to 15,000.
Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers introduced House Bill 6686 that seeks to amend Section 386 of the Local Government Code, which imposes a minimum requirement of 2,000 inhabitants for a barangay to be created and 5,000 population in Metro Manila and other metropolitan areas and highly-urbanized areas.
Barbers wants all existing barangays in urban areas with a population of over 15,000 will be reapportioned to create additional barangays.
“Nakita natin ngayon, sa experience natin ngayon, itong pamimigay natin ng ayuda ay talagang ilang extension na ang nangyari. Bukod diyan, marami pa ring nagrereklamo,” Barbers said in an interview with DZBB.
“Kaya nga pinapanukala ko na siguro mas maganda, liitan natin ‘yung coverage ng ating mga barangays at atasan ang ating mga barangay officials, pinangungunahan ng kapitan, na masiguro na efficient ‘yung pagpapatupad ng mga programa galing sa national,” he added.
According to Barbers, his measure’s objective is to limit the population in a certain barangay but the proposed number of inhabitants will depend on what is agreed upon in Congress.
“Ang objective lamang ay liitan kasi nga walang nasasaad sa ating Local Government Code na maximum number of barangay,” he said.
Barbers’ proposal earned the support of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya.
“Sa tingin po namin mukhang maganda naman po ang proposal ni Rep. Barbers. Napansin nga po natin hindi po pantay-pantay ang mga barangay,” Malaya said, adding services can be delivered easily to barangays with manageable number of residents.
“Panahon na para pag-aralan natin ‘yung size ng barangay as proposed by Cong. Barbers,” furthered Malaya./PN
