The high cost of barangay elections

It’s the eve of the campaign period for the Barangay and SK elections. At the stroke of midnight, the streets and alleys of the metro will once again take the shape of a 3-dimensional collage, plastered from end to end with faces and promises of the nation’s smallest political unit.

In Brgy. Tatalon, Quezon City, incumbent barangay chairman Benedick Banega preoccupies himself with barangay affairs, while in a room nearby, barangay workers and volunteers are busy mounting some 600 tarpaulins on bamboo frames.

“Barangay elections are more expensive now,” Banega says. “During my father’s time, candidates used to just write their names on old sacks. And hardly anyone wanted to run. But now, with more funds and more autonomy given to barangays, it’s become more a more lucrative profession.”

By Capt. Banega’s estimation, his team has spent more than 50,000 pesos on campaign materials alone. Each kagawad gets 75 tarpaulin posters, while Banega gets 150 pieces. Each of these are priced at 24 pesos. This doesn’t include the P45,000 they’ve allotted for their poll watchers on election day.

“Nowadays, you really have to spend to get ahead in the race,” says Banega.

But it’s a slightly different picture in Brgy. Baseco, Tondo, Manila. There are no tarpaulin posters at the headquarters of candidate Domingo “A-1” Ramirez, only used posters made of sack that some party-list group left lying around on the streets.

A-1’s team was seen turning these old posters over so they could paint their names on the clean back side. In one corner of the room, volunteers are cutting up some old donated cardboard, and using a rubber stamp to mark them with “Vote A-1 for Brgy. Captain.”

And plastered on the wall are different-sized, home-made printouts of the running kagawads, with the only thing in common being the face of their candidate for chairman.

“I don’t have any money, so the kagawads have adopted my face on their own campaign posters,” A-1 Ramirez declares proudly. “Poverty is not a hindrance for me.”

By the team’s computation, they have spent just a little more than 10,000 pesos, including P1,400 for 2 gallons of paint, P80 for the single rubber stamp, and about P300 for refills of the stamp pad.

Ramirez initially tried to collect 1,000 pesos from each kagawad, but not everyone could come up with the money. Now, they’re powered by donations after swallowing their pride.

“All the 3 other candidates for chairman here are millionaires. I’m the only one who’s poor. I guess all I can offer is heart,” Ramirez chuckles.

But Ramirez concedes that money does matter in any election, big or small. He says he would spend more if he had more.

But with the campaign period starting in just a few hours, and with only 10 days of campaigning allowed, he can only pin his hopes on those in Baseco who can look past the re-used sacks and dirty cardboard giveaways…and see promise behind his persistence. –Chiara Zambrano, ABS-CBN News