DAPITAN 'S  50 BARANGAYS

“Barangay”

We Filipinos had been influenced with different cultures and traditions from the different groups of colonizers who had lived here in our country long time ago. One of the things we learned from them was words and expressions which were derived from their language and are still presently used by us, though we mostly never tend to care about their history or their original definitions.

Most of the time, when we hear some of the adapted words from the Chinese, Spanish or Americans, we can merely just picture a simple scenario related to such word at the back of our minds; and sometimes, we are not even sure if what we are thinking is almost the same as how that certain word is defined.

When I first heard the word “barangay”, way back elementary days, what came into my mind was the place where I am residing; and yes, barangay is indeed a residential area. It is said to be the smallest and the most basic unit of a government. But where does the word “barangay” itself came from?

As how we know from our elementary lessons, and based on a research I did recently, the word “barangay” is a Hispanicized form of the Malayan word “balangay” which means sailboat. These early Filipinos applied the word barangay to their settlement in honor to the sailboat which took them here in the Philippines. It is known that long before the Spanish era, the early Filipinos already had their own form of government. There was a person called Datu; who was called Cabeza de Barangay during the Spanish colonization and is now popularly called Barangay Captain, who was designated to be the leader of the barangay.   

Further studies led me to Presidential Decree No. 557, dated September 2, 1974, which states that all existing barrios are to be created as barangays. Barangays, referring to barrios should not be anymore confused with barangays that refers to assemblies of citizens created under Presidential Decrees No. 86 and 86-A, because the latter means mere “aggrupations” of residents of a certain locality.

Moreover, Local Government Code of 1991 (R.A. No. 7160) also stated that the barangay, being the basic political unit “serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects; and activities in the community, and as a forum wherein the collective views of the people my be crystallized, expressed, and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled.”

And finally, after finding out the etymology of the word “barangay”, my research led me to conclude that this kind of organizational system in the Philippines certainly helps in maintaining a strong government connection with its people and despite its unscrupulous scandals and anomalies, the republic has stood its course in battling every storm that passed its way.

Urban Barangays

Rural Barangays

Gregorio T. Banua.

  

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