00:00 Welcome to The Source where we combine the headlines with in-depth conversations with
00:06 the newsmakers themselves.
00:07 Sitting in for Pinky Webb, I'm Rhea Tanwak Cotrillo.
00:10 Today on the program, millions of Filipinos head to polling precincts to elect their new
00:15 sets of barangay and sangguniang kabataan leaders.
00:18 What is the significance of choosing new village and youth leaders?
00:22 Political analyst Edmund Tayao joins us in the show.
00:26 And later, we get an update on the volume of passengers passing through the country's
00:30 main international airport this long holiday.
00:33 Immigration spokesperson, Dana Sandoval, tells us more later in the program.
00:37 It's election day here in the Philippines with Filipinos finally getting to choose their
01:03 new sets of barangay and sangguniang kabataan officials after several delays.
01:08 Over 672,000 positions are up for grabs with more than 42,000 for barangay captain and
01:14 the same number for SK chairperson.
01:17 More than 92 million voters are expected to participate in today's polls.
01:22 President Bongbong Marcos was among those who cast his vote early in his hometown in
01:26 Batac City, Ilocos Norte.
01:28 The president arrived at the Mariano Marcos Memorial Elementary School just minutes after
01:32 the polls opened at 7 in the morning.
01:37 All eyes on the 10 villages that were administratively transferred from Makati to Taguig City for
01:43 the barangay and SK elections.
01:45 Our correspondent EJ Gomez is at the polling precinct in East Rembo Elementary School in
01:50 Taguig.
01:51 EJ, what is the situation there like this morning?
01:57 The barangay and sangguniang kabataan elections 2023 has just begun.
02:03 Here at the East Rembo Elementary School in Taguig City, it's generally peaceful.
02:08 It only takes a few minutes for voters to cast their votes.
02:11 According to school officials, there are 42 precincts here for over 19,000 registered voters.
02:17 But only about 20% of the total number of registered voters here have officially cast
02:22 their votes in the first two hours.
02:24 The commission on election has increased the allowance of teachers serving for this year's
02:30 BSKE up to P10,000 from the previous P5,000.
02:35 Kamalek Chairman George Garcia said an additional P2,000 will also be given to teachers from
02:41 a school in Muntinlupa City and Naga City, which were chosen as areas for the pilot testing
02:48 of early voting for the vulnerable sector including PWDs, senior citizens and pregnant
02:55 women which started at 5am to 7am.
02:59 Back to you.
03:00 Thanks a lot for that EJ Gomez.
03:02 They're reporting live from East Rembo Elementary School.
03:07 Now five years after the 2018 barangay and sangguniang kabataan elections, Filipinos
03:11 are once again choosing new sets of village and youth officials.
03:16 The outcome of the BSKE polls is expected to impact the future of the barangay, the
03:21 country's basic political unit, in the next two years.
03:27 Now let's go straight to the source of this story, political analyst Ed Dayao.
03:31 Sir, good morning.
03:32 Thank you so much for being here with us this morning.
03:37 Good morning Rhea, good morning everyone.
03:39 I hope everyone is really going to vote this morning.
03:45 Right.
03:46 We've waited five years for these elections of course and after a series of postponements,
03:52 these elections, barangay and sangguniang kabataan elections are finally happening.
03:56 So maybe you could start us off by talking about if the barangay and sangguniang kabataan
04:02 elections are still relevant and significant and if so, how so?
04:10 You know Rhea, this has been discussed a number of times among policy makers and even advocates
04:16 like me.
04:17 For example, there's really a need to review our political structure and of course review
04:25 the RA7160 or the local government code.
04:30 Of course, village governments like barangay, like the barangay, this is still very much
04:39 relevant, particularly in rural areas.
04:42 But if you look at the highly urbanized centers for example, I'm not really convinced whether
04:50 they are still very much needed.
04:54 Why is that?
04:55 Because it's kind of unusual that for example in a barangay where you have huge establishments,
05:06 even malls for that matter, and expect them to perform functions still which are quite
05:15 pretty basic.
05:17 In the rural areas however, you can see significantly the difference.
05:23 In the rural areas where, especially in our coastal provinces where you have coastal barangays
05:31 and coastal municipalities, the distance between the local communities and their municipalities
05:42 really is significant in that you really need the barangays to deliver the basic services
05:48 to them.
05:49 So perhaps we can review in some way that we can calibrate the work of the barangay,
05:57 not to mention of course perhaps we can review the size of the barangays as well.
06:06 There are barangays which are as huge as the small municipalities all over the country,
06:14 but there are barangays which are as small as a single small block, again particularly
06:22 in highly urbanized centers.
06:25 And so really we have to make sense further of how we can reconfigure our governance setup.
06:41 Having said that Professor, what might the alternative be in the more highly urbanized
06:46 areas where you say the barangay in SK may not be so relevant anymore?
06:53 I didn't mention the SK area.
06:58 You know, SK has had initiatives before to actually abolish them or again also reconfigure.
07:09 Why is that?
07:10 Because many of those running for SK elections actually are not able to perform their duties,
07:17 particularly if they are in school.
07:20 Most of the people running for SK, most likely they are the qualified, the ones who are really
07:30 studying.
07:31 The problem is if they are studying particularly in Manila for example, but their residence
07:36 is in the provinces, they are not able to really perform their work as a Sanggunian Kabataan.
07:45 Not to mention of course that when you speak of representation or representation from the
07:50 youth, you can approach that differently.
07:55 Not only through the barangays but also through the Sanggunian bayan where perhaps you can
08:02 already identify local youth groups that can adequately represent them.
08:10 What were you asking again earlier?
08:12 I'm sorry.
08:13 How to reconfigure them in the highly urbanized centers.
08:18 In the highly urbanized centers, Rhea, you already have, I suppose, the priority in the
08:28 deployment of law enforcement groups like the police are already there.
08:40 Of course, the cities can also identify people that can actually perform functions very close
08:50 to the people.
08:52 In other words, you need not conduct elections at the barangay level in the highly urbanized
08:58 centers.
08:59 In fact, if you are going to ask me, there's even this, I don't know whether it's simply
09:11 by policy or legislation, that our assumption is barangay is non-partisan.
09:17 We know that it's not non-partisan.
09:20 What's happening is, of course, whoever is the incumbent local city executive mayor,
09:30 for that matter, will always have to support his own lieutenants in the barangay because
09:38 that will impact significantly on his performance as a mayor.
09:44 Why not just allow the mayor to deputize or identify people who he really can rely to?
09:53 In the first place, if they're going to say, "No, the barangay should have its own mandate,"
10:04 of course, I'm sure everyone would understand that when it comes to the barangay, accountability
10:11 is a lot more difficult really to determine.
10:16 Right.
10:17 Now, on the side of the voters, how crucial is it for them to choose their leaders in
10:23 the barangay and SK level?
10:25 How much would it impact their daily lives?
10:31 That's why I was emphasizing that at the end of the day, barangay elections is a prelude
10:37 to the coming elections again for mayor, the midterm elections.
10:43 If we're going to synchronize from the barangay level up to the presidential level when we
10:51 do elections, barangay elections are always separated.
10:55 In fact, the reason why we're only electing barangay officials now after five years is
11:00 because it has always been postponed.
11:04 So, magkakaroon lang ng magandang election talaga, na kumbaga talagang, what do you call
11:11 this, we can really focus on particular positions because there will be less capacity on the
11:18 part of the mayor to really exert effort to influence the outcome of the elections.
11:24 Gawin na nating synchronize.
11:26 Now, having said that, if you're a voter and you really want your barangay to reflect the
11:33 true will of the people, make sure that you are going to vote not only for those people
11:39 you know personally, but you know them personally to be capable.
11:46 That regardless whether he or she is allied with the mayor or not, that he will be able
11:52 to perform his job.
11:54 Because at the end of the day, the role of the barangay is to be always there so that
12:01 when there's a need for the keeping of peace and law and order, there's always the barangay
12:11 to count on.
12:13 All right.
12:14 Now, going back to the isang guniang kabataan as an entity, it's often touted as a training
12:22 ground for future leaders.
12:25 Is that the case or is it just a breeding ground for future traditional politicians?
12:29 Riyadh, regardless whether you're talking of SK or barangay or municipality, until such
12:39 time that we change the system of government, I would not really think of it as a training
12:47 ground for leadership.
12:50 When I was still young, I also ran for isang guniang kabataan and I saw firsthand how it
12:57 is there.
12:59 You know, when it comes to politics, horse trading will always be part of the whole process,
13:06 part of the whole, what they call this, involvement in politics.
13:12 But what makes it worse really is that here in our country, everything depends on the
13:18 personality.
13:19 It doesn't really matter whether you belong to a particular political party or not because
13:25 our political parties are even run by personalities themselves.
13:29 And again, you know, we attempted to reform that with the introduction of the party list.
13:36 But again, we see also what's happening as far as the party list setup is concerned because
13:42 it's supposedly based from the proportional system of representation in other countries.
13:50 But precisely because we do not understand, kasi nga yung konteksto natin, wala namang
13:55 political parties, even if you review your election code, there is mention of political
14:01 parties there only for purposes of what?
14:06 Being part of one's running.
14:09 It doesn't provide specific rules for political parties that will make them really function
14:16 as political parties, unlike in other countries.
14:19 So pag hindi mo binago yung sistema at personal palagi yan, it will still be the same.
14:25 Malaking bagay yun.
14:29 When you say personality-based politics, when you run for office, you spend for your own.
14:34 You don't have political parties that will prepare you and also support you for the campaign.
14:40 And so when you're already in power, your tendency is to recover whatever you spent
14:47 running for office.
14:49 So it becomes a vicious circle.
14:52 So until such time, we change the system of government.
14:54 Ganito pa din.
14:56 All right, sir.
14:58 Thank you for joining us here on The Source.
14:59 We appreciate your insights.
15:01 That was political analyst Ted or Ed Tayao.
15:05 We will be taking a short break now.
15:06 This is The Source on CNN Philippines.
15:08 Please stay tuned.
15:09 [MUSIC]
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