CHAIRMEN OF barangays, the smallest government unit in the Philippines, have been directed by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to start preparing their financial records and property inventory with elections scheduled to push through in May. “This is also part of our efforts to sustain transparent and accountable local governance at the barangay level and to further ensure that all concerned barangay officials exercise due diligence in using barangay funds and properties,” DILG officer-in-charge Secretary Eduardo M. Año said in a statement issued yesterday, Feb. 8. Under the DILG directive, a Barangay Inventory Team (BIT) shall be created in each barangay, to be chaired by the punong barangay. The BIT members would include at least two kagawads, a barangay secretary, a barangay treasurer, a bookkeeper or city or municipal representative, and at least two civil society organization representatives, preferably from a faith-based organization or members of the Barangay Development Council. Mr. Año also asked all city and municipal mayors to create, through an executive order, a city or municipal audit and transition team that will oversee the BIT. The new set of barangay officials who will be elected in May will take office on June 30.

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