Drilon warns barangay officials against politicking

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon (Screen grab/ Senate PRIB)

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday warned barangay officials against engaging in partisan politics, amid their heightened activities in supposed preparation for the upcoming 2022 national elections.

“Let us maintain the nonpartisan nature of the barangays. Barangays must shun politics at all costs,” Drilon said.

Drilon issued the call amid the political noise created by a letter of a barangay chair, which went viral on social media.

In the letter, the official was supposedly soliciting the support of residents of Barangay Pagala in Baliwag, Bulacan, for a possible candidacy of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, President Duterte’s daughter.

The senator cited a prohibition under the Omnibus Election Code and Section 93 of the Local Government Code against engaging in partisan political activities.

‘They cannot campaign’

Drilon cited a joint circular from Commission on Elections and Civil Service Commission, that the President, Vice President, members of the Cabinet, and other elective officials are excluded from the coverage of the prohibition against engaging in electioneering or partisan political activities.

But such prohibition covered barangay officials and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines including its reserve corps, Drilon said.

“They cannot campaign or endorse the candidacy of any person. More so, they cannot use the resources of the barangays for political activities. That is a violation of the law,” he said, adding that barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials are nonpartisan “by nature and practice.”

Drilon also appealed to politicians to stop using the barangays to score “pogi points” (political mileage) with the administration, or to further their political agenda.

‘Spare the barangays’

“Let us spare the barangays in political activities and not give them their political color. Let them remain apolitical,” he said.

“The DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) has publicly said that barangay officials engaging in partisan political activities are violating the Omnibus Election Code,” Drilon said.

This time, it is Drilon who is urging the DILG to look into the incident in Barangay Pagala in Baliwag town and ensure that barangays and their resources are not used for political activities.

During Senate deliberations for the 2021 budget, Drilon had warned of the existence of items in the spending law that could be used “in aid of 2022 elections,” such as the P19 billion supposed anti-insurgency fund.