Barangay merging to benefit Baguio, Liga president says

BAGUIO CITY — The reduction of the number of Baguio barangays will be much beneficial both for the constituents and Barangay workers according to the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB) of Baguio.

Liga president Rocky Aliping said the proposed ordinance of the Baguio City Council seeks to significantly the number of the city’s barangays through a consolidation effort. According to him, the ordinance aiming to merge the current 128 barangays and is already underway. He added that the proposal will undergo  comprehensive series of public consultations will be scheduled soon to gather community input before the final draft is formulated.

The councilor explained that the merger is to bring Baguio's barangays into compliance with the Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC). The LGC mandates a minimum of 5,500 inhabitants for a barangay—a provision that, according to the proponent, many of the city's smaller barangays have violated for decades.

He revealed that the original proposal aimed for a reduction to 34 barangays but ther are discussions suggesting the final number could be adjusted to between 60 and 70, depending on census data and subsequent proposals. The move is viewed as the "only way" to regularize the status of non-compliant villages. According to him, they are looking at the successful consolidation in Ormoc City, which reduced its barangays from 27 to four, as a precedent for the administrative reform. 

Aliping said that once the merging of barangays pushes through, it will give dramatic improvement in the financial standing and service delivery of the consolidated barangays. Among these, he said, are higher pay as merged barangays will have the fiscal capacity to provide officials with standardized, significantly higher salaries along with full benefits like social insurance among others; with larger National Tax Allocation (NTA) shares, the new barangays will have substantially bigger annual budgets and professionalization where a higher budget will allow for the hiring of professional staff such as a Barangay Engineer, Barangay Accountant, and Barangay Administrator, enhancing governance and service efficiency.

If the ordinance is approved, he said it will undergo ratification by a plebiscite. If it passes, the merger is expected to take effect immediately.