Duties of the Sangguniang Barangay Members to Maintain Peace and Order

The Local Government Code grants the Sangguniang Barangay members the power to act as peace officers in the maintenance of public order in the barangay.

Role of the Punong Barangay as Peace Officer:

1. Lead Emergency Group - The Punong Barangay is empowered to organize and lead an emergency group whenever the same may be necessary for the maintenance of peace and order within the barangay.
2. Assist Municipal Officials - The Punong Barangay is duty bound to maintain public order in the barangay and to assist the Municipal or City Mayor and the Sangguniang Bayan or Sangguniang Panlungsod members, who are assigned to take charge of their district, in the performance of their duties in such barangay.
3. Possess and Carry firearms - In the performance of his peace and order functions, the Punong Barangay is entitled to possess and carry the necessary firearms within his territorial jurisdiction, subject to existing rules and regulations on the possession and carrying of firearms.

Under the Department of National Defense, Department of Local government and Integrated National Police Joint Memorandum Circular dated September 15, 1975, barangay officials in collaboration with the Integrated National Police (now PNP) and relative to the maintenance of peace and order and public safety in the barangay, the barangay officials shall have the following duties as peace officers:

1. Report immediately to the law enforcement or police authorities concerned the occurrence of any crime, accident, public disturbance or public nuisance of which he has personal knowledge or which may have been brought to his attention;
2. Report immediately to the law enforcement or police authorities the presence of any known criminal or suspicious character in his jurisdiction;
3. Conduct surveillance on suspicious activities or group movements in his district or Barangay to report immediately to the police authorities any positive finding or information he might gather;
4. Conduct surveillance of crime-breeding areas in the barangay and report his observation to the law enforcement or police authorities;
5. Assist law enforcement or police authorities in tracing the whereabouts of missing persons, arresting escaped prisoners and other fugitives from justice, and recovering stolen properties or confiscating contrabands;
6. Assist law enforcement or police authorities in the service or execution of warrants and other judicial processes; and
7. Coordinate closely with and actively assist law enforcement or police authorities in the drive against all forms of vice, smuggling, carnapping, drug traffic and addiction, juvenile delinquency, violations of special laws, and all other forms of lawlessness.

Persons In Authority

      For purposes of the Revised Penal Code, the Punong Barangay, sangguniang barangay members, and members of the lupong tagapamayapa in each barangay shall be deemed as persons in authority in their jurisdictions, while other barangay officials and members who may be designated by law or ordinance and charged with the maintenance of public order, protection and security of life and property, or the maintenance of a desirable and balanced environment, and any barangay member who comes to the aid of persons in authority, shall be deemed agents of persons in authority.

The Katarungang Pambarangay Law

The concept of "neighborhood paralegal committee" was first advocated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme court Fred Ruiz Castro in one of his speeches in 1976. Official recognition of the value of this innovative concept of settling disputes came with the promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 1293 on January 27, 1978 which created a commission charged "with the duty of studying the feasibility of instituting a system of resolving disputes among family and barangay members at the barangay level without recourse to the courts".

The work of the Commission was assigned to a technical committee organized by virtue of Administrative Order No. 12 issued by the Chief Justice. This committee formulated the rules and procedural guidelines that was to be incorporated in the draft of the proposed law on resolving disputes among barangay members. The draft of the Katarungang Pambarangay Law was submitted ot the President and this was signed into law on June 11, 1978 as Presidential Decree No. 1508. This law formally organized and institutionalized a system of amicably settling disputes at the barangay level. For the last thirteen years it was successfully implemented as envisioned by its authors.

With the enactment of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991, the Katarungang Barangay Law is given added force by including within its scope all offenses punishable by imprisonment of not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding five thousand pesos. This law also takes into cognizance the role of elders and the council of datus in settling disputes among members of indigenous cultural communities adopting local systems. To give more responsibility to Lupon members, Republic Act No. 7160 extends their term of office to three years and it also mandates the Department of Interior and Local Government to provide for a system of granting economic or other incentives to the Lupon or Pangkat members who adequately demonstrate the ability to judiciously and expeditiously resolve cases referred to them.

(Based from Barangay Administration Handbook)

The Ordinances and Resolutions

Legislative actions of a general and permanent character are enacted in the form of ordinances, while those which are of temporary character are passed in the form of resolutions. Matters relating to proprietary functions and to private concerns are also acted upon by resolution.

One essential difference between a resolution and an ordinance is that a resolution is merely for the translation of the current business of the government unit and has no permanent value, for it deals only with matters of special and temporary character, whereas an ordinance prescribes some permanent rules of conduct of government which have the force and effect of law, to continue in force until repealed or superseded by subsequent enactment.

These are the effects of resolutions and ordinances. A resolution adopted for a particular and temporary purpose, continues, as a rule, for a reasonable period only, and in such case, a formal repeal is not required to terminate its operation. But if the resolution is in effect an ordinance, and has the force of a local law, it continues to operate until legally rescinded. The fact that the ordinance is not enforced, and is repeatedly violated, has no effect whatever on its force as law. The corporate authorities have no power to suspend an ordinance nor to authorize a violation of it.

Local ordinances of a general nature are binding upon all persons within the corporate limits, whether residents or not. The principle is that whoever comes to reside in any place for however short a duration of time, is an inhabitant prohoc vice, and consequently bound by the same regulations as the other members of the corporation or community.