A BARANGAY official has called on the City Government of Cagayan de Oro to merge the small barangays rather than divide the big barangays.
Enrico Salcedo, chairman of Barangay Gusa, said most of the city's downtown barangays have lesser population.
"Most of the barangays in the city, especially Barangays 1 to 40, are small and don't often have high number of voters. These areas must be consolidated first before creating additional barangays," Salcedo said.
He said newly created barangays will suffer because they can't get yet its internal revenue allotment (IRA) from the National Government unless the City Government would subsidize it.
Under the Local Government Code 7160, local government units (LGUs) that created new barangays will be the one responsible to give the IRA of the new barangays.
Salcedo said he believed Mayor Vicente Emano will not allocate funding to the new barangays whose barangay chairmen are not his "allies."
Earlier, Emano is planning to create additional barangays in the city and another legislative district, which was opposed by some councilors.
Opposition councilors said the barangays that would be subdivided are those whose barangay chairmen are not allied with the administration.
However, Emano refuted this as he claimed even those barangays with chairmen identified with him would also be subdivided.
But Salcedo said even those allied with the administration don't agree with the plan but are just afraid to oppose.
"Because they are afraid to oppose but deep inside, they don't agree with the plan," he said. (Annabelle L. Ricalde)