SPECIAL MEETING. Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III (2nd from left), chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council in Central Visayas (RPOC-7), with Brig. Gen. Allan Arrojado, deputy commander of the Armed Forces’ Central Command (Centcom), during the PROC special meeting held on June 1, 2017 at he Montebello Hotel in Barangay Apas, Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
THE fate of this year’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, whether or not it will be postponed to 2018, is still pending at Congress, but Cebu governor Hilario Davide III expressed his disapproval on the possibility of selecting barangay chiefs through appointment.
“No, I am not in favor of appointing the positions of barangay captain and councilors… (Electing these officials) is provided in the Constitution, through the local government code. If we’re going to appoint barangay officials instead of electing them, this means amending the local government code is needed,” he told reporters in the Capitol yesterday morning.
Section 41 of Republic Act No. 7160, also known as An Act Providing for a Local Government Code of 1991, mandates that leaders of local government units, which encompasses the barangay, municipal or city, and provincial levels, are elected through popular votes by the qualified voters within their respective units.
Davide also said that government presence, through barangay leaders, in the community level is crucial, which means that their constituents must have a say on who will be leading them as their barangay chief.
“To earn this position, you must be elected by the people. The people should be given the choice. It is their right to choose the leaders of their barangay,” added Davide.
“The barangay is the basic local government unit, the smallest LGU. Residents rely on barangay officials from time to time especially on basic services because it is the barangay who will elevate complaints from their constituents to the municipal or city level, who in turn will forward to the provincial level if the circumstances ask for their assistance,” he said.