Effective Barangay Leadership Transforms Communities

We must start with the barangay, the smallest political unit, to build a nation. Our national leaders, often educated if not movie stars, concerned themselves with issues ordinary Filipinos need help understanding.

While our national leaders debate about the impact of inflation and launch investigations about corruption everywhere, ordinary Filipinos are looking for jobs to feed their hungry stomachs. We follow the political drama of our political leaders like the popular teleseryes.

But we often fail to realize that we can solve most of our problems where we live, at the local level, at the smallest political unit called the barangay. If only we choose our barangay leaders more seriously than how we choose our national leaders.

We need effective barangay leadership.

What is barangay leadership?

Barangay leadership may refer to the elected and appointed barangay officials responsible for championing their constituents’ welfare, promoting peace and order, supporting the implementation of laws, and promoting the national agenda.

It may also refer to the leadership of the barangay chairpersons, the front-line leaders of the government. The barangay chairpersons are the closest government leader to the people. Their leadership has a direct impact on the citizenry.

Only the barangay chairpersons, among all elected and appointed government officials, have executive, judicial, and legislative powers.

Excellent barangay chairpersons can uplift the lives of the people. But, on the other hand, ill-equipped, uninspired, and unimaginative chairpersons are burdens to their communities.

So, instead of spotlighting national leaders, we need to start giving more importance to barangay leadership. Impactful and sustainable transformation begins in the barangay.