Powers of the barangay

By Atty. Eduardo T. Reyes III

A brewing issue on the validity of RA 12232 which postponed the December 2025 Barangay and SK elections to November 2026 has ripened into a legal controversy with petitions filed and are now pending in the Supreme Court.

The barangay which precursor is the “barrio” is the smallest local government unit in our political framework.

Yet although the smallest, it does not mean it lacks autonomy.

In a recent decision of the Supreme Court, it resolved the legal issue of whether barangays may conduct fund-raising activities through bingo games without securing permits from the national government or any local government office or agency?

The answer is, yes.

It was concluded that “To reiterate, barangays, as the basic political unit, are vested with powers to initiate and manage activities that foster community engagement and generate local revenues, provided these activities comply with existing laws. Barangays must be empowered. To allow barangays to conduct “Bingo sa Barangay” as a fund-raising activity for barangay projects without the need to secure permits from PAGCOR or any national or local office or agency is to breathe life to the constitutional mandate of the State to ensure the local autonomy of barangays.” (Republic v. The Association of Barangay Councils, G.R. No. 207118, April 22, 2025).

This is in consonance with the “General Welfare Clause,” under the Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160) which, however, was previously held as one that is a legislative and not an executive function. The barangay chairperson alone, therefore, cannot invoke the General Welfare Clause without the sangguniang barangay’s consent. (Natividad C. Cruz and Benjamin Dela Cruz v. Pandacan Hiker’s Club, Inc., Rep. by its President, Priscila Ilao, G.R. No. 188213, January 11, 2016).

Curiously, the case of Natividad C. Cruz involved a mundane basketball court where basketball games were played with bets. Being subject to betting, the games were intense and physical which would usually end up in a brawl. The barangay chairperson was fed up with the frequent melee he took matters into his own hands by removing the basketball ring. He invoked the General Welfare Clause. Regrettably, it was held in Natividad C. Cruz that a basketball ring is not a nuisance per se which can be summarily abated. Besides, the General Welfare Clause is a power that devolves on the sangguniang barangay and not the barangay chairperson.

Another case prominently figuring the power of a barangay through its barangay chairperson is Franklin Alejandro v. Office of the Ombudsman Fact-Finding and Intelligence Bureau, represented by Atty. Maria Olivia Elena A. Roxas, G.R. No. 173121, April 3, 2013.Therein, it was held that “The petitioner, as Barangay Chairman, is tasked to enforce all laws and ordinances which are applicable within the barangay, in the same manner that the police is bound to maintain peace and order within the community.”

However, such power of the barangay chairperson to maintain peace and order yields to the power of the police in terms of “crime prevention and arrest of criminal offenders.” Thus, “While the petitioner has general charge of the affairs in the barangay, the maintenance of peace and order is largely a police matter, with police authority being predominant especially when the police have begun to act on an enforcement matter. The maintenance of peace and order in the community is a general function undertaken by the punong barangay. It is a task expressly conferred to the punong barangay under Section 389(b)(3) of RA 7160. On the other hand, the maintenance of peace and order carries both general and specific functions on the part of the police. Section 24 of RA 6975 (otherwise known as the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990), as amended, enumerates the powers and functions of the police. In addition to the maintenance of peace and order, the police have the authority to “investigate and prevent crimes, effect the arrest of criminal offenders, bring offenders to justice and assist in their prosecution, and are charged with the enforcement of laws and ordinances relative to the protection of lives and properties. Examined side by side, police authority is superior to the punong barangay’s authority in a situation where the maintenance of peace and order has metamorphosed into crime prevention and the arrest of criminal offenders.”

These are some of the notable cases in jurisprudence involving the barangay as a political unit or subdivision. All our residences and even our places of business are under the jurisdiction of the barangay. Key barangay officials can certify not only our place of residence but even our moral character.

Recognizing this role of the barangay therefore is important even as we need to ask rhetorically, like President John F. Kennedy once did in his inaugural address in 1961, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

(The author is the senior partner of ET Reyes III & Associates (ETRIIILaw)– a law firm based in Iloilo City. He is a litigation attorney, a law professor, MCLE lecturer, bar reviewer and a book author. Among the books he authored is Law on Property and Essentials of Land Registration [2024 Edition] which was on the bestseller’s list in online shops for several months. His website is etriiilaw.com).