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VANTAGE POINTS
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Final call for attendance in barangay assembly
O attend and take part in the session of your Barangay Assembly on Saturday, March 28. It is a synchronized nationwide event decreed by Proclamation No. 260 which President B.S. Aquino issued in 2011. We should all do so and activate this oft-ignored and under-rated local parliament. This periodic in-gathering of the Filipino community is important to induce the proper functioning of direct democracy at the base of our Republic. When Congress transformed the barangay in 1991 from a quasi municipal entity (with no powers or resources) into a full-fledged government—corporate powers, police power, eminent domain, assured revenues, and all—it redesigned our Republic’s structure and improved its symmetry. It was a fundamental change but it seems to have escaped everyone’s notice Before that, the state structure was a squat, top-heavy monolith. It had only two layers: national and local— and local referred to the municipal and provincial governments since the barangay had no legal personality. Un-
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VOL. 7 ISSUE 266 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, MARCH 29 - 30, 2015
ELIGIOUS conversion in Davao gave rise to a number of conflicts that evolved not so much from the introduction of Christianity than from the political enforcements closely associated with conversion. In the Samal revolt, the discord was not about Catholicism but the forced tribute and the resettlement issue the priests and the colonial administrators wanted to impose on local people. The Linao revolt of Agusan, on the other hand, erupted due to forced labor. In 1908, in the first decade of American occupation, a religious movement started in Davao among the Manobos residing along Libuganon River at the boundary of Carmen town and Tagum City. It was known as Tungud, a vernacular term closely associated with katungod (rights). The uprising, dubbed as a movement of deceit by Ireland-born author John M. Garvan who probed the unrest, was led by Mapakla, also known as Meskinan, who used his sickness to create a religious following. Accounts say Meskinan was near-
THE WORM’S EYEVIEW BY MANNY VALDEHUESA der that setup, policies and initiatives originated from the top, never from the people at the base. The enactment of Republic Act No. 7160 (The Local Government Code of 1991) changed that. It reconfigured the structure into three levels: national, intermediate (municipal/provincial), and primary level (barangay). And it made the barangay “the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community.” It also gave the barangay a different system so the people can participate directly: direct democracy with a parliamentary form of government. Theoretically, this enabled the people of the barangay to govern themselves directly, no need for representatives or proxies doing it for them—same as the direct democracy of the Israeli kibbutz or the Swiss canton. Since everyone is a member of this Assembly, it is an all-inclusive parliament. The people themselves address
communal affairs, tackle problems, and work out solutions through its deliberations. Doing so fulfills another role of the barangay: as “a forum wherein the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled” (Sec. 384). Therein lies the importance of the Barangay Assembly. Through it the community addresses issues in orderly manner, guided by parliamentary rules of order. It is direct democracy in action, the people’s sovereignty at work. In the ideal order, out of the Barangay Assembly’s deliberations emerges enlightenment and consensus in the community. And the sum of all consensus in the 42,000 barangays that comprise our Republic translates into political will in the nation. That’s how national purpose is forged, just like in Israel and Switzerland, or in America’s Town Hall meetings where issues are threshed out. Why else would Ferdinand Marcos have created bogus “citizens’ assemblies” except to simulate consensus? He needed to simulate it in order to unify the country and keep it intact for
his convenience. The linchpin of national strength in advanced democracies is their peoples’ participation in government. A republic needs to be anchored upon the will of its people in order to attain and maintain stability, strength, and progress. Filipinos must be motivated to participate in the direct democracy of their barangay and learn parliamentary rules of order in order to resolve issues or disputes as civilized societies do. It’s the effective and lasting way to maintain harmony, unity, and stability in society. And also the way to rebuild the nation from below. Thus, do make it a point to attend your Barangay Assembly (Manny is former UNESCO regional director for Asia-Pacific; secretary-general, Southeast Asia Publishers Association; director, Development Academy of Philippines; member, Philippine Mission to the UN; vice chair, Local Government Academy; member, Cory Government’s Peace Panel; awardee, PPI-UNICEF outstanding columnist. He is chairman/ convenor, Gising Barangay Movement Inc. and author of books on governance. valdehuesa@gmail.com)
formed into a movement that was used as a means of dissent against the Americans and as sign of religious unrest. To add credence to his tale of possession, he fasted. He also sent out messages to people supposedly to save them from global meltdown. Among the orders Meskinan issued was the killing of poultry and hogs so the farm animals would spare their owners from being eaten alive. He also banned the planting of crops and ordered the setting up a house of worship which, it would soon be exposed, was used to deceive the gullible by using bogus priests, punuan (leader) and conniving aides called the taytayan (bridge). To add more religious color to the cult, he mandated the performance of sacred dances in his honor and the offering of gifts to his make-believe god, Magbabaya. Separate investigations were also made about the group. Garvan found out that the religious movement, which later expanded inauspiciously, drew together warring tribal factions. This suggested that the Meskinan affair was not just about counterfeit
religion but also a form of extortion. Underscoring this was the symbolic offering of spears, bows and arrows, and bolos, which were sold to the members. As a commercial activity, kerchiefs and similar articles as a form of talisman were sold, and fees were charged to those who wanted to become a cult leader. Fay Cooper-Cole, in his The Wild Tribes of Davao, said the uprising was an offshoot of Gov. Frederic Lewis’s plan to establish new villages in once-populated communities that were now abandoned. In the Mayo Bay area, he observed that the group was exploited by the Moros as a way of expelling American planters from their area. By cordially inviting the Mandaya chiefs to their houses, they were also able to convince the tribal leaders to rise up in arms and destroy the Christians. Known to harbor anger against any form of colonial resettlement, the Moro plan to include the Mandayas was logical. The idea to harm the Americans was later discovered and exposed.
Tungud Movement
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death due to a serious illness when relatives abandoned him. He, however, showed up days later healed and healthy, claiming he was cured by a good spirit whose presence, it seemed, was affirmed by the trembling of his body each time he told his story. Soon, his claim was magnified, transforming him from a mere mortal to a priest and later as god. His assertion took a life of its own, expanding to as far as the common boundary of Davao and Bukidnon, converted hostile tribesmen into his fold, and trans-