Barangay elections are
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
s in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
in the
barangay
The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...
s, the smallest of the
administrative divisions in the Philippines. Barangays make up
cities
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
and
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
and in turn are made up of
sitio
A ''sitio'' ( Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its popu ...
s and
purok
A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...
s, whose leaders are not elected. Voters of each barangay over 18 years old are eligible to vote for one
barangay captain and seven
barangay councilor
A barangay councilor ( or ) is an elected government official who is a member of the Sangguniang Barangay (Barangay Council) of a particular barangay, the smallest political unit in the Philippines. Each barangay council has seven regular coun ...
s. Together, the barangay captain and barangay councilors make up the ''
Sangguniang Barangay
The Sangguniang Barangay, known in English as the Barangay Council is the local government of a barangay, the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Each of the 42,004 barangays in the country has its respective Sangguniang Baran ...
'' (barangay council). Voters aged 15 to 30 years old vote in elections for the ''
Sangguniang Kabataan
A Sangguniang Kabataan (abbreviated as SK; ) is a community council that represents the youth in a barangay in the Philippines. Established to provide young people with a platform for civic engagement and participation in Local government in ...
'' (SK): one SK chairperson and seven SK councilors during the same election. The winning SK chairperson serves as a member of the barangay council.
Barangay captains and SK chairmen are elected via
first-past-the-post voting
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
system, while barangay and SK councilors are elected via the
plurality-at-large voting
Plurality block voting is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates div ...
system with one barangay as an
at-large
At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...
"district".
While candidates are nominally
nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to:
__NOTOC__ General political concepts
* Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties
* Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...
and do not represent political parties,
slates consisting of a candidate for a barangay captain and seven barangay councilor candidates are not uncommon; SK slates are also sometimes connected to a slate of a barangay captain. Winning candidates serve for a term of three years, with reelection of up to two more times. Terms of office for barangay officials are usually extended when elections are postponed as a cost-saving measure.
Winning barangay captains in a certain municipality or city elect amongst themselves an Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) president that will serve as their representative in the ''
Sangguniang Bayan
The Sangguniang Bayan () is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Go ...
'' (municipal council) or ''
Sangguniang Panlungsod
The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is the local legislature, legislative body of a Philippine city, city government in the Philippines. The name of the legislative body comes from the Filipino language, Filipino words "''sanggunian''" ("council") � ...
'' (city council). ABC presidents in a certain province will elect amongst their representative in the ''
Sangguniang Panlalawigan
Sangguniang Panlalawigan (abbreviated as SP; ), commonly known as the Provincial Board, are the legislatures in Provinces of the Philippines, Philippine provinces. They are the legislative branches of the provinces, and their powers and responsibi ...
'' (provincial board). ABC presidents in provincial boards and city councils not under a jurisdiction of a province elect amongst themselves a national president and other officials of the
League of Barangays of the Philippines
The Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (League of Barangays in the Philippines) and the Asosasyon ng mga Kapitan ng Barangay (Association of Barangay Captains, ABC) are formal organizations of all the barangays in the Philippines. Presently, alm ...
.
SK chairmen undergo a similar series of
indirect election
An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...
s at every level, although there is no national leadership at the beginning of 2018.
History
In a
1981 referendum, the electorate was asked if barangay elections should be done after the
concurrently-held presidential election; the electorate carried the proposal. The Barangay Election Act of 1982 prescribed that the election shall be on May 17, 1982, terms start on June 7, and that terms shall be for six years.
Postponing barangay elections was done several times despite the 1987 Constitution and special laws like the Local Government Code of 1991 but in 2023, the Supreme Court held that the succeeding synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) shall be held on the first Monday of December 2025, and every three (3) years thereafter, pursuant t
Republic Act No. 11462 The SC Public Information Office added: "More significantly, the said Decision laid down the criteria to serve as guidelines and principles for the bench, the bar, and the public as regards any government action that seeks to postpone any elections."
According to law expert
Michael Henry Yusingco, political dynasties continue to victimize barangay elections, the latest results of which made genuine political competition impossible.
Elections since 1982
Indirect elections
Barangay captain
SK chairperson
See also
*
Local government in the Philippines
In the Philippines, local government is divided into three levels: provinces and independent cities, component cities and municipalities, and barangays, all of which are collectively known as local government units (LGUs). In some areas, abo ...
*
List of cities and municipalities in the Philippines
This is a complete list of cities and municipalities in the Philippines. The Philippines is administratively divided into 82 provinces (). These, together with the National Capital Region, are further subdivided into cities () and municipalitie ...
References
External links
Comelec.gov.ph: official Commission on Elections websiteSenate.gov.ph: Republic Act No. 9340
{{Philippines political divisions
Barangays of the Philippines