The World as a Barangay 2020

Do you consider yourself part of the intellectual elite of this nation? A knowledgeable Filipino? Let us test that. What is the name of your barangay and what zone or political district is it officially a part of? Who is the head of your Barangay — your Barangay Chairperson? By law, how many annual assemblies should a barangay hold and have you attended at least one? By law, how much of your barangay’s funds should go to Gender and Development projects? How much is the regular compensation of the head of your Barangay and the other officials?

See, you may be formally educated or literate (in English, obviously) but you may not be any smarter than the your friendly istambay diyan sa kanto.

Barangay, what? The Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC) sets the barangay as the basic unit of the national polity, the primary planning and implementing agency of government, and as a forum where “the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled.” It is thus three in one—a unit of government, an instrument of self-governance, and a community.

First established formally under the Marcos regime to replace the barrios and municipal councils of old, barangays were given more responsibilities and powers under the LGC. There are now 41,995 barangays around the country. Each barangay is headed by a chairperson—not a Kapitan or Tenyente del Baryo, Juan, we are not under a Spanish colonial military government anymore. With the Barangay Chairperson, seven Councilors and one Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) Chairperson comprise the Barangay Council. A Barangay secretary and a treasurer are appointed by the Council.

In the 1970’s, barangay officials used to be volunteers. Now they are “paid” personnel assigned to work on any of these legally set standing committees of the barangay government: Education, Peace and Order, Finance and Ways and Means, Health, Agriculture, Tourism, Infrastructure, Youth and Sports. According to a 2001 UNDP study, Barangays are documented to be concerned about a wide set of issues including, among many others, health care and well-being; food security and nutrition; water and environment protection; income and employment promotion; shelter and infrastructure; peace and public safety; education and literacy; and even representation in national governance units.

What needs to be done, what can we do? The same UNDP study also noted that by virtue of numerous laws and policies, a total of forty committees or organizational structures are to be created and coordinated at the level of and by the barangay. Truly bad sadly, our people have much in law what they lack in reality. What overwhelming responsibilities our barangay officials have by law! And what have we — the supposedly better educated, more literate — done in, for, and with our barangays?

I have been asked a number of times to talk to students and barangay officials on local governance. Let me mention here three key points which I often raise as “tips” in those talks. First, there is need to tap local “elites” or “influencers.” In fact, many of our people, not just the learned and the professionals, have skills and resources which are not being maximized in and for their own communities. Second, studies have shown that there is such willingness on the part of local chief executives to try new tools in governance. We can build on such an interest, enthusiasm, and openness for change.  

Third, and very important, case studies show that communities must be made to decide on how resources are used and projects are really implemented. People at the barangay must be made to feel and taught how to “own” their activities to make these development interventions effective and sustainable. In other words, democracy must be planted in the actual practice of governing and managing our barangays.

How about the world? Now, if it is quite difficult to handle even one barangay, much more all forty-one thousand plus of them in our country, can we even start to imagine what it would take to deal with a world that is now seven billion people-strong?  

One way to start thinking about the concerns of the whole world is suggested by the Miniature Earth Project (www.miniature-earth.com). In May 29, 1990, a concise description of the “state of the village” was written by the late biophysicist and environmental scientist Donella Meadows. In this report, the village—or the barangay for us Filipinos—is really the whole world. This narrative was entitled "Who lives in the Global Village?" This description has led to the Miniature Earth Project (MEP).  

The MEP reduces the world population—today at 7.5 billion—to a statistically representative 100 people. By doing so, the MEP is able to present the stark reality in which many people live today. It is an effective method to help people put certain issues into perspective and context. In other words, the MEP shows us more clearly the many problems of development in the world today.

The world as a barangay in 2020: a concern for development. The latest data on the state of the global barangay tells us that if we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this: 60 Asians, 10 Europeans, 05 North Americans, 09 South America and the Caribbean, 16 Africans. 33 are Christian (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans and other Christians), 21 are Muslims, 13 are Hindus, 06 are Buddhists, 1 Sikhs, 1 Jewish, 11 are non-religious, 11 practice other religions, 3 Atheists. We would find that only 6 people in the U.S. own 69% of the entire world’s income, 70 are hungry or malnourished, 21 live on $1.25 a day, 14 can't read, and that there are 75 adults aged 15 and above. 

Notably, the village spends US$1.24 trillion on military expenditures but only US$ 100 billion on development aid or humanitarian assistance. Every year the village spends $12 trillion on non-essential stuff like jewelry, gambling and junk food, while the UN estimates it can end world hunger for only $30 billion a year.”

From this perspective, you might be surprised to realize that you are part of the world’s elite. For instance, the MEP perspective tells us that only 7 persons in the world as a “Barangay of 100” would be a college graduate. If that is not being elite, I don’t know what is. The MEP thus reminds us to appreciate what we have, and do our best for a better world.

You and your barangay: a lesson in democracy. Originating in the discipline of town planning, there is an adage that says that we should “Think Global, Act Local.” This phrase has been attributed to Scots town planner and social activist Patrick Geddes.  

In our experiences as Filipinos, how do we Think Global, Act Local? To complicate this concern some more, how does one Think Global, Act Local, democratically?

After three decades of being in education and development work, allow me to share a most important lesson which I have come to learn with all humility: I say we start working in, more closely with, and for our barangays. Those of us in urban areas most especially, as I have observed, have to know better our own communities in order to help them.  

And help them we can. By learning how to “bike.” As I tell my students — and this I have shared with over a thousand others who have come before them — democracy is much like biking. You can get hurt a lot in biking in the World as a Barangay. You even risk your life engaging in it. But that is really no reason to give up. There is no other choice but to dare to learn how to bike. And you will eventually learn! People will eventually learn the skills for and imbibe the virtues of democracy.

Just like biking, democracy is something you will never learn through lectures inside the classroom. You learn it by doing it—in our barangays, out there in a world that can be made better—under a pandemic or not.  

Oh, by the way, doesn’t this global health issue magnify and underscore the point that the world is but one barangay writ large? It is time to more seriously consider this matter and its implications for building a post-pandemic global barangay.