Barrio ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbarjo] ) is a Spanish word that means " quarter " or " neighborhood ". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, architectural or morphological features. In Spain , several Latin American countries and the Philippines , the term may also be used to officially denote a division of a municipality . Barrio is an arabism ( Classical Arabic بري barrī : "wild" via Andalusian Arabic bárri : "exterior").
38-413: Montes Llanos (also spelled Monte Llano), is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico . Along with Magueyes , Tibes , Portugués , Maragüez , Machuelo Arriba , and Cerrillos , Montes Llanos is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios. It was created in 1898. Montes Llanos is a mountainous rural barrio located in the central portion of the municipality, north of
76-481: A resettlement policy called reductions , smaller, scattered barangays were consolidated (and thus "reduced") to form compact towns. Each barangay was headed by the cabeza de barangay (barangay chief), who formed part of the principalía , the elite ruling class of the municipalities of the Spanish Philippines. This position was inherited from the first datus and came to be known as such during
114-717: A combination of these, but such further subdivisions, though popular and common, are unofficial In the mainland United States , the term barrio is used to refer to inner-city areas overwhelmingly inhabited by first-generation Spanish-speaking immigrant families who have not been assimilated into the mainstream American culture. Some examples of this include Spanish Harlem in New York City, East L.A. in Los Angeles; and Segundo Barrio in Houston. Some of these neighborhoods are simply referred to as just "El Barrio" by
152-530: A density of 243.3 persons per square mile. The highest point in barrio Montes Llanos stands at 2,394 feet and is located in the extreme northwest tip of the barrio. The main road serving Barrio Montes Llanos is PR-505 . Barrio Montes Llanos is home to the origin of the Río Chiquito . Rio Chiquito feeds into Rio Portugues just as they both enter the Ponce city limits to eventually empty as Rio Bucana into
190-488: A mosaic of the various barrios , surrounding the central administrative areas. As they matured, the barrios functionally and symbolically reproduced the city and in some way tended to replicate it. The barrio reproduced the city through providing occupational, social, physical and spiritual space. With the emergence of an enlarged merchant class, some barrios were able to support a wide range of economic levels. This led to new patterns of social class distribution throughout
228-427: A rural or urban area anywhere in the country. A 1974 decree replaced the word barrio with barangay , the basic administrative unit of government, possessing an average population of 2,500 people. Barrio , however, is still widely used interchangeably with barangay . Both may refer to rural settlements or urban municipal districts (the latter formerly known as visitas ). It is alternatively spelled as baryo , though
266-405: A single source, Juan de Plascencia's 1589 report Las costumbres de los indios Tagalos de Filipinas . However, historian Damon Woods challenges the concept of a barangay as an indigenous political organization primarily due to a lack of linguistic evidence. Based on indigenous language documents, Tagalogs did not use the word barangay to describe themselves or their communities. Instead, barangay
304-597: Is argued to be a Spanish invention resulting from an attempt by the Spaniards to reconstruct pre-conquest Tagalog society. The first barangays started as relatively small communities of around 50 to 100 families. By the time of contact with the Spaniards, many barangays had developed into large communities. The encomienda of 1604 shows that many affluent and powerful coastal barangays in Sulu , Butuan , Panay , Leyte , Cebu , Pampanga , Pangasinan , Pasig , Laguna , and
342-793: Is because most of the people were relying on fishing for their supply of protein and their livelihood. They also traveled mostly by water, up and down rivers and along the coasts. Trails always followed river systems, which were also a major source of water for bathing, washing, and drinking. The coastal barangays were more accessible to trade with foreigners. These were ideal places for economic activity to develop. Business with traders from other countries also meant contact with other cultures and civilizations, such as those of Japan , Han Chinese , Indians , and Arabs . These coastal communities acquired more cosmopolitan cultures with developed social structures (sovereign principalities), ruled by established royalties and nobilities. During Spanish rule , through
380-491: Is more often used to refer to shanty towns, but the term "barrio" has a more general use. [1] In Cuba , El Salvador and Spain , the term barrio is used officially to denote a subdivision of a municipio (or municipality); each barrio is subdivided into sectors ( sectores ). In the Philippines , the term barrio may refer to a rural village, but it may also denote a self-governing community subdivision within
418-609: Is sometimes stopped and continued, In the absence of an SK, the council votes for a nominated Barangay Council president, and this president is not like the League of the Barangay Councilors, which is composed of barangay captains of a municipality. The Barangay Justice System, or Katarungang Pambarangay , is composed of members commonly known as the Lupon Tagapamayapa ( justice of the peace ). Their function
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#1732779501346456-469: Is to conciliate and mediate disputes at the barangay level to avoid legal action and relieve the courts of docket congestion. Barangay elections are non-partisan and are typically hotly contested. Barangay captains are elected by first-past-the-post plurality (no runoff voting ). Councilors are elected by plurality-at-large voting , with the entire barangay as a single at-large district. Each voter can vote for up to seven candidates for councilor, with
494-532: Is used in contrast to the centro (city center or downtown). The expression barrio cerrado (translated "closed neighborhood") is used to describe small upper-class residential settlements planned with an exclusive criterion and often physically enclosed in walls, that is, a kind of gated community . In Colombia , the term is used to describe any urban area neighborhood whose geographical limits are determined locally. The term can be used to refer to all classes within society. The term barrio de invasión or comuna
532-828: The Cagayan River were flourishing trading centers. Some of these barangays had large populations. In Panay, some barangays had 20,000 inhabitants; in Leyte (Baybay), 15,000 inhabitants; in Cebu, 3,500 residents; in Vitis (Pampanga), 7,000 inhabitants; and in Pangasinan, 4,000 residents. There were smaller barangays with fewer people, but these were generally inland communities, or if they were coastal, they were not located in areas that were good for business pursuits. These smaller barangays had around thirty to one hundred houses only, and
570-504: The Caribbean Sea opposite Caja de Muertos . Barrio In Argentina and Uruguay , a barrio is a division of a municipality officially delineated by the local authority at a later time, and it sometimes keeps a distinct character from other areas (as in the barrios of Buenos Aires , even if they have been superseded by larger administrative divisions). The word does not have a special socioeconomic connotation unless it
608-617: The People Power Revolution , though older people would still use the term barrio . The Municipal Council was abolished upon the transfer of powers to the barangay system. Marcos used to call the barangay part of Philippine participatory democracy, and most of his writings involving the New Society praised the role of baranganic democracy in nation-building. After the People Power Revolution and
646-482: The Philippines . Named after the precolonial polities of the same name , modern barangays are political subdivisions of cities and municipalities which are analogous to villages , districts, neighborhoods, suburbs , or boroughs . The word barangay originated from balangay , a type of boat used by a group of Austronesian peoples when they migrated to the Philippines. All municipalities and cities in
684-566: The Philippines are politically subdivided into barangays, with the exception of the municipalities of Adams in Ilocos Norte and Kalayaan in Palawan , each containing a single barangay. Barangays are sometimes informally subdivided into smaller areas called purok (English: " zone " ), or barangay zones consisting of a cluster of houses for organizational purposes, and sitios , which are territorial enclaves —usually rural —far from
722-724: The South by the hills north of Pastillo Road and El Cedro I Road, on the West by the hills west of Río Chiquito , and on the East by the hills west of Río Bayagan and PR-505 (roughly). In terms of barrio-to-barrio boundaries, Montes Llanos is bounded in the North by Barrios San Patricio and Maragüez , in the South by Portugués and Machuelo Arriba , in the West by Tibes , and in the East by Barrio Maragüez . Montes Llanos has 2.15 square miles (5.6 km) of land area and no water area. In 2000,
760-675: The Spanish regime. The Spanish monarch, who also collected taxes (called tribute) from the residents for the Spanish Crown, ruled each barangay through the cabeza . When the Americans arrived , "slight changes in the structure of local government was effected". Later, Rural Councils with four councilors were created to assist, now renamed Barrio Lieutenant; they were later renamed Barrio Council and then Barangay Council ( Sangguniang Barangay ). The Spanish term barrio (abbr. Bo.)
798-440: The barangay center. As of July 2024 , there are 42,004 barangays throughout the country. When the first Spaniards arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, they found well-organized, independent villages called barangays . The name barangay originated from balangay , a certain type of traditional boat in many languages in the Philippines. Early Spanish dictionaries of Philippine languages make it clear that balangay
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#1732779501346836-419: The city of Ponce, at latitude 18.118717 N, and longitude -66.139594 W. The toponymy , or origin of the name, is related to the old "Hato Llano" barrio. The name Montes Llanos relates to the term monte , which in Spanish describes a natural but significant elevation of the surface of the land that is covered with trees, shrubs or other vegetation. Montes Llanos is bounded on the North by PR-505 (roughly), on
874-512: The city, e.g., one might make shoes, while another made cheese. Integration of daily life could also be seen in the religious sector, where a parish and a convento might serve one or more neighborhoods. The mosaic formed by the barrios and the colonial center continued until the period of independence in Mexico and Latin America . The general urban pattern was one where the old central plaza
912-637: The city. Those who could afford to locate in and around the central plazas relocated. The poor and marginal groups still occupied the spaces at the city's edge. The desire on the part of the sector popular to replicate a barrio was expressed through the diversity of the populace and functions and the tendency to form social hierarchies and to maintain social control. The limits to replication were mainly social. Any particular barrio could not easily expand its borders into other barrios , nor could it easily export its particular social identity to others. Different barrios provided different products and services to
950-519: The council are the barangay captain, seven barangay councilors, and the chairman of the Youth Council, or Sangguniang Kabataan (SK). Thus, there are eight members of the legislative council in a barangay. The council is in session for a new solution or a resolution of bill votes, and if the counsels and the SK are at a tie, the barangay captain uses their vote. This only happens when the SK, which
988-606: The drafting of the 1987 Constitution , the Municipal Council was restored, making the barangay the smallest unit of Philippine government. The first barangay elections held under the new constitution were held on March 28, 1989, under Republic Act No. 6679. The last barangay elections were held in October 2023 . The next elections will be held in December 2025. The modern barangay is headed by elected officials,
1026-540: The locals, as opposed to using their actual names (Spanish Harlem, East L.A., Segundo Barrio, etc.). In Venezuela and the Dominican Republic , the term is commonly used to describe slums in the outer rims of big cities such as Caracas and Santo Domingo as well as lower- and middle-class neighborhoods in other cities and towns. Over the centuries, selectness in the Spanish Empire evolved as
1064-478: The population of Montes Llanos was 462 persons, and it had a density of 215 persons per square mile, making it the least populated barrio in the municipality. Montes Llanos is the least populated, though not the least densely populated , barrio in the municipality of Ponce. The community of Villas del Monte Verde is located in Montes Llanos. In 2010, the population of Monte Llano was 523 persons, and it had
1102-478: The population varied from 100 to 500 persons. According to Miguel López de Legazpi , he founded communities with only 20 to 30 people. Traditionally, the original "barangays" were coastal settlements formed by the migration of these Malayo-Polynesian people (who came to the archipelago) from other places in Southeast Asia ( see chiefdom ). Most of the ancient barangays were coastal or riverine. This
1140-534: The preferred spelling is the Spanish one (barrio). In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico , the term barrio is an official government designation used to denote a subdivision of a municipio and denotes the government's lowest level and geographically smallest officially recognized administrative unit. A barrio in Puerto Rico is not vested with political authority. It may or may not be further subdivided into sectors, communities, urbanizaciones , or
1178-409: The social, cultural and functional attributes of the past. The few surviving barrios do so with a loss of traditional meaning. For most of them the word has become a descriptive category or a generic definition. Barangay The barangay ( / b ɑːr ɑː ŋ ˈ ɡ aɪ / ; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy. ), historically referred to as barrio , is the smallest administrative division in
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1216-470: The space needs of local craftsman and the shelter needs of the working class. At times they were designed to meet municipal norms, but they usually responded to functional requirements of the users. Barrios were built over centuries of sociocultural interaction within urban space. In Mexico and in other Latin American countries with strong heritages of colonial centers, the concept of barrio no longer contains
1254-497: The topmost being the barangay captain . The barangay captain is aided by the Sangguniang Barangay (Barangay Council), whose members, called barangay kagawad ("councilors"), are also elected. The barangay is often governed from its seat of local government , the barangay hall . The council is considered a local government unit (LGU), similar to the provincial and municipal governments. The officials that make up
1292-405: The winners being the seven candidates with the most votes. Typically, a ticket consists of one candidate for barangay captain and seven candidates for councilors. Elections for the post of punong barangay and the barangay kagawads are usually held every three years, starting in 2007. A barangay tanod , or barangay police officer, is an unarmed watchman who fulfills policing functions within
1330-399: Was designated for collective uses, such as farming or grazing. This practice of peripheral land expansion laid the groundwork for later suburbanization by immigrants from outside the region and by real estate agents. At the edge of Hispanic American colonial cities there were places where work, trade, social interaction and symbolic spiritual life occurred. These barrios were created to meet
1368-474: Was pronounced "ba-la-ngay", while today the modern barangay is pronounced "ba-rang-gay". The term referred to the people serving under a particular chief rather than to the modern meaning of an area of land, for which other words were used. While barangay is a Tagalog word, it spread throughout the Philippines as Spanish rule concentrated power in Manila. All citations regarding pre-colonial barangays lead to
1406-459: Was surrounded by an intermediate ring of barrios and emerging suburban areas linking the city to the hinterland. The general governance of the city was in the hands of a mayor and city councilors. Public posts were purchased and funds given to the local government and the royal bureaucracy. Fairness and equity were not high on the list of public interests. Lands located on the periphery were given to individuals by local authorities, even if this land
1444-406: Was used for much of the 20th century. Manila mayor Ramon Bagatsing established the first Barangay Bureau in the Philippines, creating the blueprint for the barangay system as the basic socio-political unit for the city in the early 1970s. This was quickly replicated by the national government, and in 1974, President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the renaming of barrios to barangays. The name survived
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