The Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (League of Barangays of the Philippines in English) is a formal organization of all the barangay

Barangay

A barangay is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward...

s in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. Presently, almost 42,000 barangays are part of this organization, making it the largest organization of local government units in that country.

Statutory Basis

Its creation and purpose is mandated by Section 491 of the Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991, as amended, which states:

There shall be an organization of all barangays to be known as the liga ng mga barangay for the primary purpose of determining the representation of the Liga in the sanggunians, and for ventilating, articulating and crystallizing issues affecting barangay government administration and securing, through proper and legal means, solutions thereto.

Representation

Each barangay is represented in the League by their Punong Barangay (Barangay Chairman/Head/Captain). In case of his absence or incapacity, a sanggunian member of the barangay shall be its representative after being elected for this purpose by its members.

Chapters

The League is structured into chapters and each chapter has the following sets of elected officers:

• President
• Vice President
• Five (5) members of the board of directors

The board of directors shall appoint a secretary and a treasurer and any other position needed to properly manage the chapter.

The chapters are formed at various levels corresponding to each hierarchy of the Philippine local government units, namely:

• Municipal - members are composed of the Punong Barangay or their representative sanggunian members from the various barangay under the municipality.
• City - members are composed of the Punong Barangay or their representative sanggunian members from the various barangay under the city.
• Provincial - members are composed of the duly elected presidents of all the constituent municipal and city chapters under the province.
• Metropolitan Political Subdivision - members are composed of the duly elected presidents of all the constituent municipal and city chapters under the metropolitan political subdivision.

All duly elected president of any chapter regardless of the level shall automatically become an ex-officio member of the sanggunian at their level.

National Liga

The biggest chapter at the national level is called the National Liga. Its members are composed of the duly elected presidents of all the highly-urbanized cities, provincial chapters, the Metropolitan Manila chapter and metropolitan political subdivision chapters of the country. A Secretary-General is elected from the members of the National Liga and is charged with the overall operation of the liga at the national level.

Powers, Functions, and Duties

Section 495 of the Local Government Code of 1991 outlines the following powers, functions and duties of the League::

• Give priority to programs designed for the total development of the barangays and in consonance with the policies, programs and projects of the national government;
• Assist in the education of barangay residents for people's participation in local government administration in order to promote united and concerted action to achieve country-wide development goals;
• Supplement the efforts of government in creating gainful employment within the barangay;
• Adopt measures to promote the welfare of barangay officials;
• Serve as a forum of the barangays in order to forge linkages with government and non-governmental organizations and thereby promote the social, economic and political well-being of the barangays; and
• Exercise such other powers and perform such other duties and functions which will bring about stronger ties between barangays and promote the welfare of the barangay inhabitants.