EDITORIAL – Paging Cebu solons: Kaloy-i intawon ang mga barangay

An article last Saturday by a columnist of this paper, retired judge Lorenzo A. Paradiang Jr., hit right on the head what is perhaps the biggest problem affecting all barangays in this country.

In that article, Paradiang said that while the barangay is saddled with some of the most awesome and dauntings tasks of basic governance, its officials are the most neglected, abused and exploited bunch of civil servants in the entire governmental structure.

While other officials of government enjoy regular salaries, allowances, security of tenure and retirement benefits, barangay officials and workers do not enjoy the same benefits and privileges.

The saddest cut of all is that, while barangay officials and workers do all the dirty work at the bottom of the bureaucratic heap, it is the higher officials who do almost nothing but sit on their fat asses who get to gorge themselves on the perks of governance.

Take a look at the hundreds of millions of pesos in pork barrel that are allocated to congressmen and senators, many of whom do nothing except engage in endless politicking, that scourge of economic growth and national development.

If this country has gone too far down the road for any meaningful reforms to take place, the least these congressmen and senators can do is at least share the tremendous bountry of working in government with those who are truly doing some real work.

It is high time that this very top-heavy government, which can very possibly collapse under its own weight if not for the solid and working foundation provided by the barangays, to finally recognize and properly compensate the true workhorses of government.

And since it took a Cebuano writer to first air this issue in public, perhaps it should only be fitting than any legislative measure meant to correct this absurd anomaly must emanate from the initiative of Cebuano legislators.

At least some of our Cebuano legislators, we are very proud to say, can be counted as among those very select few in Congress who have not shamed themselves in public service, having performed creditably well. They should be in the forefront of this long overdue change.