Barangay trivia

The upcoming barangay election is turning out to be a super hotly contested electoral exercise. The number of candidates being gunned down and ambushed is growing at an alarming rate; practically every day there is news about another candidate, especially for barangay captain, falling victim to violence.

Someone I know who is a barangay kagawad or councilor (she’s running for re-election) explained – off the record, she insisted – that aside from the large budget that a barangay is entitled to, since the COVID pandemic barangay officials are in charge of social services and other projects, such as listing up beneficiaries and disbursing ayuda (cash and other forms of aid like rice and groceries).

Of course in her barangay, she insisted that they actually go house to house and interview residents to determine whether there is really a need for ayuda and they don’t just list anyone and everyone who signs up. And of course they don’t put their relatives and friends and “ghost” recipients – unlike some other barangays that she knows about but will not name on the record.

I guess I have to take her word for it, as I have no way of verifying what she said, nor do I care to, honestly. What I know from actual experience in my barangay – which I will not name here – is that we were never interviewed or even approached regarding COVID ayuda, but our household did receive one plastic bag of groceries consisting of two cans of karne norte, two cans of sardines, half a kilo of sugar, two kilos of rice, two cans of evap milk and some chichiria.

Out of curiosity I looked up some information on barangays in Metro Manila, and found out that Manila has the most number of barangays at 897, followed by Pasay (210), Caloocan (188) and Quezon City (142). Makati has the richest barangay – Bel Air, surprisingly not Dasmariñas or Forbes – and Caloocan the largest – Bagong Silang. – Josie C. Tan, Pasay City