DOJ Opinion No. 131, s. 1982

DOJ OPINION NO. 131 , s. 1982 6th Indorsement July 7, 1982 Respectfully forwarded to Deputy Minister Victor C. Macalincag, Ministry of Finance, Manila, the herein request for "an opinion and/or clarification on the herein queries posed by the City Development Offices of Davao and the Barangay Captain of Poblacion II, Calatagan, Batangas, on whether or not barangays within the poblacion and barangays created under Presidential Decree No. 86 are entitled to the 10% share in real property tax collections pursuant to Section 86 of Presidential Decree No. 464." Subject to an extended discussion set forth hereunder, the aforestated query is answered in the affirmative. Under Section 86(b), Chapter VII of P.D. No. 464, The Real Property Tax Code, ten per cent (10%) of the total collection of the real property in the case of a city shall accrue to the barangay where the property is located. The nomenclature "barangay" was officially adopted to denote the smallest local government unit by P.D. No. 557, "Declaring All Barrios in the Philippines as Barangay, And For Other Purposes". The pertinent provision of the said decree are quoted hereunder. "Section 1. Any provision of existing laws to the contrary notwithstanding, all existing barrio or barrios that may hereafter be created are hereby declared as "barangays" and all references to the barrio in any existing laws shall henceforth be understood as references to the Barangays: Provided, However , That in the case of the City of Manila and other chartered cities where there are no barrios, all existing Barangays therein created under Presidential Decree No. 86, as amended, shall continue as such Barangays. "Section 2. Republic Act No. 3590, as amended, otherwise known as the Revised Barrio Charter, is hereby adopted as the Barangay Charter . . ." The barangays mentioned in the proviso of aforesaid Section 1 of P.D. No. 557 are none other than the Citizen Assemblies created under P.D. No. 86 in the City of Manila and other cities where there are no barrios. The intent to confer the same legal status upon citizen assemblies and the existing barrios is manifest from the provision of said Section 1 which explicitly states that the "barangays" created under P.D. No. 86 "shall continue as such barangays" and the provision of the aforequoted Section 2 adopting the Revised Barrio Charter (RA No. 3590) as "Barangay Charter", no distinction having been made in the latter provisions nor in any other provisions of P.D. No. 557 as between the barangays originally known as citizen assemblies. The official adoption of the Revised Barrio Charter as the "Barangay Charter" constitutes, not merely a formal change or a change of nomenclature but a substantial amendment of the former law which initially applied only to the barrios defined therein as the units of municipalities and municipal districts in which they are situated (Section 2). Its adoption as "Barangay Charter" would necessarily imply in the absence of any express provision to the contrary, its application to all barangays referred to in P.D. No. 557 and that includes citizen assemblies. The said conclusion finds support in the provision (Sec. 1[6]) of P.D. No. 1508, otherwise known as the "Katarungang Pambarangay Law" which accords equal status to barrios which were declared barangays by virtue of P.D. No. 557 and to barangays otherwise known as citizen assemblies pursuant to P.D. No. 86. In any case, great weight should be accorded to the opinion of the Minister of Local Government [letter dated January 29, 1982 of Deputy Minister Salvador P. Socrates] concerning the status of barangays, particularly, that the said Ministry "does not distinguish between barangays organized under Presidential Decree No. 86 from those organized under Republic Act No. 3590". The Ministry of Local Government is the government body which assists the President in the exercise of his power of supervision over all local governments. (P.D. No. 1; Executive Order No. 77 dated February, 1982) llcd In view of the foregoing, we reiterate our affirmative reply to the herein query. (SGD.) RICARDO C. PUNO Minister of Justice