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A Walk in Baclaran

Baclaran is known to be a very crowded place. It is the border of Pasay and Cavite where it also considered as a central hub for trade and exchange. Baclaran is a place for great finds with low prices, therefore it’s also a great place to work in due to the accessibility of livelihood.

As a requirement for our subject in Contemporary World, we were tasked to interview a representative of a community regarding their problems. I took the oppurtunity to also do another requirement for our NSTP subject, where we were tasked to interview someone from a barangay regarding their disaster and risk management program. Barangay Baclaran unfortunately didn’t have a person tasked specifically to manage their disaster and risk program but we were able to interview the chairman of the barangay instead. 

On our way to Baclaran, we were able to witness the situation of Baclaran. My classmate, Geeziel, talked about how the road that we were walking in wasn’t walkable before. She further explained that vendors were occupying the road before and it wasn’t passable for any jeepneys. And I think in that sense, the barangay of Baclaran, even though I wasn’t able to experience it firsthand, changed a lot -- for the better. 

Along the interview, Chairman Jun Zaide was very accommodating in answering our questions. Ever since his election in office, he were able to mandate different ordinances that promotes discipline within his community. I asked him regarding the moves of the barangay in making the community more safe for any disaster such as floods or even earthquakes. He was proud to say that there were already different efforts by the barangay in securing Barangay Baclaran. 

One of those efforts is the closure of the manholes along Barangay Baclaran. Manholes, according to Chairman Zaide, were the primary cause of the floods that would surface when there would be a strong rainfall. The closure of these manholes is a step-forward in managing the flood that would bring disastrous effects to the residents of Baclaran. 

According to him, Baclaran is a transient barangay -- meaning that people would come and go because rentals were something popular in the barangay. Due to this fact, it’s difficult for them (barangay government) to instill the different values and discipline that a person needs if in case there’s an emergency. That’s why Chairman Zaide said that it was more practical to fix and implement actions that would lessen the effects of different disasters rather than organizing different seminars for people who would eventually leave the barangay. 

We interviewed Chairman Zaide in their barangay hall and their barangay hall was something that I haven’t seen before. It very much looked like a City Hall because it was really big for it to be a barangay hall. It was 3-storey building and it was really spacious. There was even a help desk -- it had different things that I wouldn’t expect from a barangay hall. When asked about the most safest place in the barangay that can cater people if there’s a need due to an emergency, he said that the barangay hall was built to cater the different needs of the residents -- whether it maybe for a evacuation area or a place to seek help. 

As we walked throughout the barangay, Chairman Zaide was telling us that before, the management of garbage was the prime problem that he faced upon entering his position. But now we witnessed how clean and organized the streets were. We even witnessed a canal cleaning that aimed to free the canals from garbage that was stuck in there. 

I think the principle of subsidiarity is really practiced by this community. The principle of subsidiarity states that the smallest unit of government should address their problems before bringing it up to a unit of government that is higher. Even though there were communication between the local government unit and the barangay, the barangay was still able to initiate actions to combat their problems. Although there are still problems that needs to be accommodated such as their lack of earthquake response system, I think Barangay Baclaran is a prime example on how a barangay should act and respond to their problems. 

Every barangay should practice the principle of subsidiarity. I think through this principle that we can able to address every single problem that Filipinos face. It is recommendable that the barangay may use and utilize their resources in trying to combat their problems. However, the resident’s participation in the different programs and initiatives that the barangay offers is also pivotal in the success of the latter. Residents participation is as important as the programs implemented by the barangay unit. 

In order for a community to be progressive, it’s really a give and take relationship between the government and its people. The task of the barangay is to offer different programs that aims to give solutions to their community’s problems and it is the job of its residents to adhere and participate in those programs. Until both parties can do their job, change and progress is still yet to come.