On February 7, a community outreach was held at Brgy. Dungon A, Jaro, Iloilo City.
One of the issues observed among barangay leaders was the problem with affiliations. According to one barangay leader, the problem with the other leaders is that most of them are related by affinity or consanguinity. Therefore, most of the times there is prejudice or discrimination between related officials and those who are not.
I believe this is prejudice by ethnocentrism where there is a tendency to view one's own group as the norm. Other groups are not only viewed as different, but they are seen as strange and sometimes inferior.
According to one leader, when the barangay chairman would call for a meeting, some of her officials would come late or not at all. She would have a hard time gathering them or soliciting their participation.
In a way, being related and working together in an organization has its social negativity. Ethnocentrism may exist in some ways. The group may perceive the other group as inferior as they perceive their affiliation and affinity as a cause that would unite them and influence them in their own decisions, thus over-powering the other members of the group who are not their relatives.
For inter-group behaviors, prejudice among groups creates or preserves relatively high in-group status, providing a positive social identity for in-group members and satisfying their need for positive self-esteem.
Furthermore, ethnocentrism leads the group to make premature judgments. This group of officials may think that the other group may not be very good at what they (group of relatives) are best at. Therefore, in a way, the Barangay chairman voiced out her difficulty in following up assigned tasks to this group of people because they do not do their job as promptly and efficiently. It seemed like they want to follow their own schedule and own way of dealing with their task.
I can not conclude that nepotism exists within the Barangay...