The barangays in the good old days

IT has been one month and four days since September 8, 2026, when the House of Representatives approved, on third and final reading, House Bill No. 10971, with 211 lawmakers voting in favor, 13 against, and one abstaining. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed it into law (RA 12326) on September 25, 2026.

The law, which seeks to grant barangay officials a five-year term instead of the current four-year term, postpones the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections from November 2 this year to the second Monday of November 2028.

It also says that barangay officials may serve no more than two consecutive terms in the same position, while SK officials remain limited to one term in the same position.

Renowned election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, however, petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and to order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to continue with its preparations for the Nov. 2, 2026 schedule.

What could be the motive behind this new law which would allow incumbent barangay and SK officials to “hold over” their positions?

The postponement, according to Comelec Regional Director Dennis Ausan, prompted his office to stop prospective candidates from filing their certificates of candidacy as originally scheduled on Sept. 28 to Oct. 5.

That ought to appease us who are bothered by reports indicating violent altercations among aspiring candidates and their supporters. It is almost impossible to go over a police blotter without discovering verbal or physical tussles among adversaries.

Before the postponement, we had been hearing reports alluding to incumbent and aspiring barangay leaders preparing to buy votes foreseeing “return on investment.”

As a senior citizen, I lament the loss of the self-denying altruism of village officials of yesteryears – the era before the declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972 by President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr.

Way back then, we did not use the word barangay; it was barrio. And we chose our teniente del barrio and the kagawads by viva voce consensus rather than secret balloting. It was therefore most likely for the best men to win.

To this day, I remember that midnight when Zoilo Catague, the unforgettable teniente of San Pedro (a barangay in San Jose, Antique), woke us on behalf of a sick resident. He begged my father to drive the man to the hospital on our jeepney at his expense.

The teniente and the barrio council received no salary or allowance in those days.

In the 1950s and the early 60s, our teniente also led bayanihan undertakings – as in ligaw-balay or uprooting of a bamboo house to be transferred to another location. He would personally ask the able-bodied men to carry the house and later reward them with a round of tuba.

Whenever there was a communal problem to solve or a project to undertake, the teniente del barrio and some companions would move around to announce a meeting at a specified location.  Most families would send a representative or two. Whenever money had to be raised, the well-off ones would pick their own pockets while the less fortunate would help solicit donations.

The annual religious fiesta in our barangay was not limited to religious ceremonies and gastronomic delights. One would not be complete without boxing and wrestling matches, for which the more fortunate would willingly throw cash prizes to the winners.

While the barangay leaders got no financial incentive to impose peace and order, they organized “rondas” of young people who nightly patrolled the streets with makeshift rattan or wooden clubs at night.  Whenever there was trouble, it rarely involved gunfire. Knife stabbings were even few and far between.

I could not remember one moment when barangay officials openly campaigned for town and provincial candidates.  Why should they when the candidates were more concerned with moral rather than material ascendancy?

The barrio came to be known as barangay when Marcos declared martial law in 1972. Obviously for the purpose of enforcing presidential decrees, he officially declared the barangay as the smallest political unit.

He also initiated the organization of the youth arm Kabataang Barangay (now known as Sangguniang Kabataan) with his daughter Imee as national chairman.

The fall of Marcos and the rise of President Cory Aquino in 1986 did not crumble the barangay and youth organizations. On the contrary, it thrived with the holding of the first nationwide barangay/SK elections under the new 1987 Constitution on March 28, 1989 under Republic Act 6679.

Unfortunately, these organizations have become tools of moneyed politicians to perpetuate themselves in power.