Barangay in the context of "Caraga"

A barangay hall is the seat of government for a barangay, the lowest elected administrative division of the Philippines, below that of a city or municipality. It serves as the office of the barangay captain and meeting place for the Sangguniang Barangay. These officers' names, pictures and responsibilities are usually displayed in the hall. The hall can be considered the counterpart to its municipality's municipal hall.

The barangay hall also serves as a local community center, often providing space for both permanent and temporary services and events. The barangay's day care center and office space for the tanods and the barangay health workers are often located there. Medical missions, religious services, fiestas, and sports contests are often held near or next to the barangay hall.

Balangkas is one of the barangays of Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Philippines. Balangkas, translated to English means framework.

Balangkas is also known as the barangay with two fiestas. Residents celebrate the feast day of San Jose every May 1. The fiesta of San Isidro is celebrated every May 15 for residents living in Sitio Bilog.

The Philippines is divided into four levels of administrative divisions, with the lower three being defined in the Local Government Code of 1991 as local government units (LGUs). They are, from the highest to the lowest:

1. Regions (Filipino: rehiyon) are mostly used to organize national services. Of the 18 regions, only one—the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao—has an elected government to which the central government has devolved competencies.
2. Provinces (Filipino: lalawigan or probinsya), independent cities (Filipino: malayang lungsod or siyudad), and one independent municipality (Pateros)
3. Component cities (Filipino: nakapaloob na lungsod or siyudad) and municipalities (Filipino: bayan or munisipalidad) within a province
4. Barangays (formerly known and sometimes still referred to as barrios) within a city or municipality

Other divisions also exist for specific purposes, such as:

A municipality is a local government unit (LGU) in the Philippines. It is distinct from a city, which is a separate category of LGU. Provinces are subdivided into cities and municipalities, which in turn are divided into barangays (formerly barrios). As of June 30, 2024, there are 1,493 municipalities across the country.

A municipality is the official term for, and the local equivalent of, a town, the latter being its archaic designation, including in literal translations into Filipino and other Philippine languages. Both terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

A barangay captain (Filipino: kapitan ng barangay), or a barangay chairman (Filipino: punong barangay), is the highest elected official in a barangay, the smallest level of administrative divisions of the Philippines. Sitios and puroks are sub-divisions of barangays, but their leadership is not elected. As of March 2022, there are 42,046 barangays and therefore 42,046 barangay captains.

The current position was created in 1991 and is a successor to historical positions known variously as cabeza de barangay, barrio lieutenant, and barrio captain.

The Sangguniang Barangay, known in English as the Barangay Council is the local government of a barangay, the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Each of the 42,004 barangays in the country has its respective Sangguniang Barangay. The term is coined from the Tagalog words sanggunian (lit. 'advisory') and barangay.

Each Sangguniang Barangay is headed by a barangay chairperson as the chief executive, who is elected at-large by first-past-the-post voting. Meanwhile, the legislative body is composed of seven regular members all titled barangay kagawad (barangay councilor) who are elected at-large by multi-member plurality voting, in which voters may vote for as many candidates as the number of council seats. The chairperson of the Sangguniang Kabataan (barangay’s youth council) who is elected by voters aged 15 to 30 years old, is the ex officio eighth member. Some barangays with a population of indigenous people have an Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) as the ex officio ninth member albeit elected separately.

A barangay tanod, also known as a barangay police officer – and sometimes as BPSO (which can stand for barangay public safety officer, barangay peacekeeping and security officer, or barangay police safety officer) – is the lowest level of law enforcement officer in the Philippines. They primarily serve as watchmen for a barangay but also perform a variety of functions, supervised by the barangay captain. Tanods are:

They may be unarmed or armed with a baton or bolo knife (a type of machete).

Barangay health volunteers, also known as barangay health workers (BHWs), are health care providers in the Philippines. They undergo a basic training program under an accredited government or non-government organization, and render primary care services in the community. Also the Barangay health volunteers provide services such as first aid, maternal, neonatal, and child health, and community-based interventions including immunization clinics for barangays.

A sitio (Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a sitio's location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its population were high enough. Sitios are similar to puroks, but the latter are more urban and closer to the center of the barangay, especially the barangay hall. The term is derived from the Spanish word sitio meaning "place".

During the Spanish colonial period the colonial government employed the reducción policy, allowing the remapping of various settlements. Several far-flung hamlets were identified, named, and organized into "sitios" so that municipalities and cities could more easily be governed through the barangay system, then known as the barrio system. A sitio does not have an independent administration; it is established purely for organizational purposes only.