WE have just spent P12 billion to conduct a national barangay election. It was supposed to showcase the democratization of our people's access to political power at the grassroots, yet it also revealed the democratization of access to political corruption as the prevailing system. It's a mixture of good and bad, and we have to work hard as a nation to make sure the good portion ultimately prevails.

It was in the early 1970s when President Marcos Sr. created the barangay as the nation's smallest political subdivision. It is one of the genuine achievements of the Marcos presidency and has endured as a constitutional reform. But its overall performance has been uneven.