where are the other barangay treasurers' associations/ leagues?

in my several years of being a barangay treasurer, i have only known of one such league existing (angeles city). searching the net, i found a barangay secretaries' league. i think it's in batangas.

we all are governed by the same laws, rules, regulations, memoranda, circulars, resolutions and yet, from what i have seen, heard, and experienced, different towns have different ways of doing the same things.

in my town, i pity the newly appointed barangay treasurers because they have no established support system. i know because i went through it. i was appointed last term, a year after that particular term assumed position. i felt like i was drowning.

the position i assumed was vacant for two months and there was no proper turn-over. and since am not familiar with checkbooks, i didn't even know to whom the checks i was making be named to.

seminars...yes we are given those. but majority of the things we have been taught are usually not really practicable in our barangays. in my six years in this capacity, i never encountered any treasurer from our town who is aware that the IRA amount that they put in their budget for the fiscal year is the actual IRA that they will be receiving for the year. goodness it was so basic and yet nobody ever remembered to to give us that fact. it was so basic and yet, the treasurers themselves, even if they have been so for longer than i was, wasn't aware of that fact. i asked several treasurers if they did not even wonder how their budgets stretched until the end of the year despite of the fact that they almost always spend more than the amount they indicated in their approved budgets.

even more surprising is even punong barangays who have held the position for so many years are also not aware of that fact, and a lot of them are not even aware that the IRA is deposited twice in a month.

lest i may be misunderstood, i would like to clarify that am only speaking about my town. this is not the bashing kind of a blog. i am really, really saddened by these observations because i cannot see here the realization of what the local government code aim to do for the empowerment of the barangays.

i survived the past six years with a lot of help and understanding from our municipal accountant and the internet. but sadly, materials for these topics are very scarce on the net.

coming across the other website of the dept of budget and management region 6 led me to a blogger here. i salute dbm region 6. and i absolutely bow to mr. poncet for having sites for fiscal administration and procurement shoutbox. also for his tweets on twitter.

this is my sixth and a half year in this position and yet i have not been issued by our dilg office for a certification of my years served. i have been requesting for this a month before i finished my fifth year in service. there is a joint memorandum or circular that grants sub-professional eligibility for elected and appointed barangay officials who completed a whole term or an aggregate of five years such as that the gaps between positions must not be more tha a month. our barangay secretary and i assumed office on the same day. we both were re-appointed this term. personally, i prefer taking the civil service exam but it's the principle am after. i really can't understand why we haven't been issued any certificate.

this is another thing that a lot of our town's elected and appointed barangay officials are not aware of.

in trying to raise the consciousness and awareness of my fellow treasurers, i get some flak from people who have been in position for eons and dislike the fact that am making the officials in our town be aware of their rights and responsibilities as barangay officials.

one may wonder and ask, and indeed some have asked me pointblank, "what are you still doing here?" i also have asked myself that question so many times for the past six and a half years and the only answer i always come up with is, if i can help bring about changes for the better, that's my reward. if i can be an instrument in raising their awareness of their rights and responsibilities and start changing bad ways, that's my reward. even if the changes are miniscule, at least change has been brought about.

or maybe, am just a glutton for hardship and heartaches. :)