If your front street gets flooded, who is responsible?
It is the responsibility of the barangay officials – and they have the money for solutions to the problem.
These funds run to millions of pesos, of which 20 percent must be allocated for development funds, 10 percent for Sangguniang Kabataan projects and activities, and 5 percent for calamity funds, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Here's an example: for calendar year (CY) 2026, Barangay Pacita 1 was given a total annual budget of P38 million by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of San Pedro City, Laguna.
And yet flooding remains a perennial problem among residents of that barangay, particularly during the monsoon season.
Some residents have complained that a few barangay councilors - who live right near areas prone to flooding - reportedly feigned ignorance of the problem, while other officials have allegedly blamed the City Engineering Office for the fiasco.
Wait, other residents are asking, why should the city government carry the responsibility for fixing Barangay Pacita 1's drainage systems when the barangay receives millions of pesos for development programs?
More personal
It's just one of the issues that is sure to loom in the minds of voters should the Barangay and Sangguniang Panglungsod (BSKE) elections push through this coming November 2.
In fact, political analysts believe that the flood-control issue that has hounded the country since last year will be a very big factor in choosing their next leaders in the upcoming BSKE.
After all, barangay elections tend to be more heated and more personal than local and national elections.
People are more concerned on whether the local barangay official is neglecting the village’s garbage collection or drainage system than in the political drama that is playing in the Senate right now.
Delayed, again?
Perhaps, that may explain why certain members of Congress are once again pushing for delaying this year’s BSKE.
The Senate Committee on Local Government recently approved several measures seeking to once again postpone the scheduled BSKE elections, which were supposed to be held last December 2025.
And Senator Francis Escudero has come up with a novel excuse for seeking to postpone the upcoming November barangay polls: his own bill allegedly aims to “fix” the current electoral cycle.
“My bill does not extend. My bill fixes,” Escudero was quoted as saying during a recent public hearing of the Committee on Local Government.
“The natural effect will be, of course, to postpone the upcoming elections, but the subject matter of this bill is fixing the term.”
Escudero has filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 2387, which would amend Republic Act (RA) No. 12232 by setting the term of barangay and SK officials at five years, instead of the current four.
Under RA 12232, signed into law in August 2025, barangay and SK officials currently have four-year terms, with the next regular elections scheduled on the first Monday of November 2026 and every four years thereafter.
Escudero’s bill, however, meant that incumbent local officials will continue to serve their posts, although the additional period served by incumbent officials would be counted as part of their term for purposes of term limits.
If enacted into law, this meant that the next regular BSKE would be held in November 2028 – right after the scheduled national and local elections in May of that year.
‘Palitan na?’
Escudero’s reasoning, however, will not sit well with locals who have been repeatedly denied the chance to elect their own barangay leaders.
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