Classroom Tools Series: Araling Panlipunan
Know Your Local Leaders (Part 1)
Do you know your local leaders and their duties? How can you work together with your local government and help develop your community?
To help your students learn more about the local government (Pamahalaang Lokal) and its policies, powers, and functions, let’s give them a brief background first.
Here are some interesting facts!
What is the Philippine Local Government Code of 1991?
Since early 1950s, mandate for the Local Autonomy Bill has been proposed by the organization of the appointed presidential representatives to cities and provinces. Under the Marcos regime, the League of Governors was formed and eventually diverged into separate leagues -- the League of Provinces, League of Municipalities and League of Cities – through the issuance of EO No. 262 by President Aquino. After the authorization of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the leagues pushed for the drafting of a new local government code. On October 10, 1991, the Local Government Code of the Philippines was signed into law.1
The Code declares that “the territorial and political subdivisions of the State shall enjoy genuine and meaningful local autonomy to enable them to attain their fullest development as self-reliant communities and make them more effective partners in the attainment of national goals. Toward this end, the State shall provide for a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of decentralization whereby local government units shall be given more powers, authority, responsibilities, and resources. The process of decentralization shall proceed from the national government to the local government units.”2
How are the barangays, municipalities, cities, and provinces created, and what are their roles?
According to the Code, “the creation of a local government unit or its conversion from one level to another level shall be based on verifiable indicators of viability and projected capacity to provide services, to wit: income, population, and land area.”3
Fast facts!
- The province with the most number of barangays is Iloilo, with 1,901 barangays, 42 municipalities, and 2 cities.7
- Batanes has the least number of barangays --- 29 districts only!8
- Region with the most number of cities: Region VI (Western Visayas) with 16 cities. Negros Occidental has 13 cities while Capiz and Iloilo have 1 and 2 cities respectively.9
- Oldest province: Aklan, established as early as 1213 by settlers of Borneo. Oldest city: Cebu City, site of the earliest European settlement established by Spanish conqueror Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565. Oldest town: now 481 years old, having been established in 1521, the same year that Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines.10
- Youngest province: Dinagat Islands province split from Surigao del Norte on December 2, 2006.11
- The Liga ng mga Barangay, an organization of all the barangays all over the country, serves for the ventilation, articulation, and resolution of issues affecting barangay government administration.
- In the 2004 National and Local Elections, COMELEC declared a total number of 17,717 elective government positions. Local government seats include positions for governor, vice-governor, board members, mayor, vice-mayor, councilors, and Sangguniang Kabataan members.12
Next week, in the second installment of this Araling Panlipunan Classroom Tools Series, let’s discuss the powers and roles of our local government officials!
Sources:
1League of the Provinces of the Philippines. “History”. Retrieved on September 12, 2007 from http://www.lpp.gov.ph/facts/history.html
2-5Department of Interior and Local Government. “The Local Government Code”. Retrieved on September 12, 2007 from
http://www.dilg.gov.ph/LocalGovernmentCode.aspx
6-9The Philippine National Statistics Coordination Board. “Provincial Summary as of December 31, 2006”. Retrieved on September 12, 2007 from
http://www.nscb.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/NSCB_PSGC_SUMMARY_Dec06.pdf
10n.a. “Oldest in the Philippines”. txtmania.com. Retrieved on September 12, 2007 from
http://www.txtmania.com/trivia/oldest.php
11Wikipedia. “Dinagat Islands”. Retrieved on September 12, 2007 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinagat_Islands
12The Philippine National Statistics Coordination Board. “Comparative Statistics per Elective Position”. Retrieved on September 12, 2007 from http://www.nscb.gov.ph/secstat/d_elections.asp
