Journal of Social and Political Sciences Orcena, Gil Astrophel B. (2019), A ‘Paradox’ of Governance Performance: the Case of Barangay 872, Manila, Philippines. In: Journal of Social and Political Sciences, Vol.2, No.1, 132-141. ISSN 2615-3718 DOI: 10.31014/aior.1991.02.01.55 The online version of this article can be found at: https://www.asianinstituteofresearch.org/ Published by: The Asian Institute of Research The Journal of Social and Political Sciences is an Open Access publication. It may be read, copied and distributed free of charge according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. The Asian Institute of Research Social and Political Sciences is a peer-reviewed International Journal. The journal covers scholarly articles in the fields of Social and Political Sciences, which includes, but not limited to, Anthropology, Government Studies, Political Sciences, Sociology, International Relations, Public Administration, History, Philosophy, Arts, Education, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies. As the journal is Open Access, it ensures high visibility and the increase of citations for all research articles published. The Journal of Social and Political Sciences aims to facilitate scholarly work on recent theoretical and practical aspects of Social and Political Sciences. The Asian Institute of Research Journal of Social and Political Sciences Vol.2, No.1, 2019: 132-141 ISSN 2615-3718 Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved DOI: 10.31014/aior.1991.02.01.55 A ‘Paradox’ of Governance Performance: the Case of Barangay 872, Manila, Philippines Gil Astrophel B. Orcena1 1 Ph.D. Candidate in Development Studies, University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, Manila, Philippines / Social Sciences Professor, Mapua University, Manila, Philippines Abstract This descriptive single-case study is a glimpse of barangay governance performance vis-à-vis the recurrent governance challenges confronting a local community mired in chronic poverty, in Manila, Philippines. The case of Barangay 872 shows an incongruous claim of ‘good' governance performance juxtaposed alongside the constituents ‘limited access to services, resources, and opportunities. With the implementation of the Barangay Governance Performance Management System (BGPMS) and the Enhanced Barangay Governance Performance Management System (E-BGPMS) as a management approach, the narratives and self-conducted performance assessments of the Barangay Council from the Year 2013-2017, extract a ‘paradox' of governance performance. Over time, the apparent ‘strength' of the Barangay Council in the governance and administrative performance sector co-exists with a stagnant economic development and lags behind the relatively slight improvements in the social services and environmental management sectors. In this light, this paper poses the question: "What accounts for the Council's inconsistent governance performance?" Employing Blumer's symbolic interactionism as a theoretical lens, in the eyes of the Council, the ‘paradox' emanates from the prevalence of the ‘weak- performing' sectors over the ‘strong-performing' sectors, which they attribute to three persistent factors: 1]. the barangay's limited economic resources and stagnant agriculture; 2]. implementation of poverty targeting policy as a ‘structural strain'; and 3]. limited institutional support from the local government units. Keywords: Barangay Governance Performance; Chronic Poverty; Economic Development 1.0. INTRODUCTION The barangay, as the basic political unit in the Philippines, serves as “the primary planning and implementing body of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities for local constituents” (The Local Government Code of 1991, Sec. 384). Central in the realization of this noble agenda behind the crucial role of the barangay in strengthening governance is how the barangay, through the functions of the Barangay Council, performs in the different sectors of governance vis-à-vis the delivery of basic services to the local constituents. Going through pertinent local literatures, I have not, unfortunately, encountered any grounded, community- context studies in the Philippines that highlights the importance of looking into the relevance of governance performance at the barangay level. Studies on local governance are inclined to elevate research efforts and 132 Asian Institute of Research Journal of Social and Political Sciences Vol.2, No.1, 2019 agenda on the ‘higher’ local government units (LGUs) of the Philippine bureaucracy. Interestingly, the study of Adriano & Estimada (2014) corroborated the effectiveness of the Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS), as a management tool in improving governance on the municipal level. However, my paper takes on a different research focus on the study of governance performance. It ‘keeps an eye' on how the officials of the Barangay Council ‘interpret on their own' governance performance in the context of the ‘reality of the barangay,' vis-a-vis the performance assessment results and outcomes of the Barangay Governance Performance Management System (BGPMS) and the Enhanced Barangay Governance Performance Management (E-BGPMS), from Year 2013-2017 (Department of the Interior and Local Government [DILG], 2017). With these contexts as my ‘take-off point,' this study is a ‘glimpse' of the case of an urban community in a state of chronic poverty - - Barangay 872 of Pandacan, Manila, Philippines. Proceeding from my group discussions, interviews, and documentary data research, it appears that with the relative strength of the Council in governance lies a ‘paradox of performance.’ What goes with the apparent administrative competency of the Council are a state of stagnant economic development; constraints in the delivery of social services; and challenges in environmental management confronting the barangay. It sparks curiosity on the question: “Over time, what explains the prevalence of these relatively ‘weak-performing’ areas in governance performance over the ‘stronger’ ones?” The succeeding portions of this paper uncover the contributing factors behind the ‘paradox’ as articulated by the Council in their narratives, with symbolic interactionism of Blumer (1969) as my theoretical lens. This paper, however, is not an exhaustive discourse on the performance of each governance sector in a five-year timeline. It is not an attempt to critically appraise the effectiveness of the BGPMS/E-BGPMS and does not impose any normative evaluation of the competency of the Council, nor question the reliability of the ‘self- conducted' performance assessments. Subsequent or future studies, however, may take on these research angles to explore any interests on the ‘paradox' of governance performance. My goal, as I proceed with my sociological inquiry, is to describe and theorize as it emerges from the grounds succinctly; draw a few implications of the ‘paradox'; and generate some insights on barangay governance performance in the Philippines. 2.0. RESEARCH METHODS 2.1. The Research Site and Contexts Barangay 872 of Pandacan, Manila Philippines, was designated as a small area during the initial year of the Martial Law Era in 1973 by the virtue of Proclamation No. 1081. The official designation of the community as “Barangay 872, Zone 95, District VI” came into existence in 1978, with a ‘depressed’ economic status. The barangay is a residential urban community without any major commercial establishments with a total land area of about two hectares with seven sub-areas. Only small-scale businesses flourish which include sari-sari stores, street food stalls, and a few computer shops. Common types of dwellings are made of low-cost, non-resilient semi-concrete materials. Its population is an even mix of children, males and females, youth and adults, and a few senior citizens. Marginalized groups of the community include the urban poor, either unemployed or self-employed; the elderly or senior citizens; the women and the children; and the out-of-school youth. The majority have resided in the barangay for several years now, with household size ranging from 4-7 members. To date, it has a population of 2,386 residents with 244 households (The 2017 State of Barangay Governance Report). 2.2. The Barangay Council The Council of Barangay 872 is composed of elective positions which include the Chair, who has served the barangay for three consecutive terms since the Year 2010, and seven Councilors, the Council Secretary and the Council Treasurer in appointive positions, sixteen volunteers as security enforcers, a volunteer health worker, a day care teacher, and two street sweepers. The Council basically disposes of resources and direct efforts to 133 Asian Institute of Research Journal of Social and Political Sciences Vol.2, No.1, 2019 implement programs and/or projects on garbage disposal, waste segregation, and collection, peace, and security, education and health services, etc. In cooperation with the City Government of Manila and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Council implements family planning, responsible parenthood, maternal care and breastfeeding program for women, and health and nutrition program for children. The barangay also houses a daycare center and offers a sports development program for the youth. With the intervention of the DILG, seminars, and training on disaster preparedness are also held in the barangay at least twice a year. Under the dynamic leadership of the Chair, the Council and the Barangay