ILOILO — What was supposed to be a dramatic mass resignation of an entire barangay government has been put on hold.
But the controversy that pushed nine elected officials of Barangay Linobayan in Tigbauan to the brink of walking away from office is nowhere near finished.
Barangay Captain Rene Taño and the rest of Linobayan’s elected leadership have agreed to remain at their posts for now after Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin personally appealed to them to stay, warning that a simultaneous departure could disrupt basic barangay services, certifications and peace-and-order functions.
Their planned resignations were originally set to take effect on September 10.
Taño, however, stressed that the officials have not withdrawn their resignation letters. Instead, they are maintaining what Garin described as a temporary “status quo” while waiting to see whether the long-running dispute involving GT Poultry Farm in neighboring Barangay Sipitan can finally be resolved.
That distinction matters.
The barangay officials are staying — but they are not declaring the controversy over.
A Resignation Crisis Triggered by a Poultry Farm
The confrontation dates back to June 2025, when residents of Linobayan began formally complaining about foul odor and large numbers of flies that they alleged were coming from the nearby poultry operation.
Nineteen households located roughly 300 meters from the facility were among those who initially signed a complaint, according to earlier Panay News reporting. Municipal authorities subsequently inspected the area, but an initial assessment described the odor and fly problem observed at the time as “minimal.”
Residents and barangay officials maintained that the problem persisted.
Mayor Virgilio Teruel, meanwhile, has strongly rejected accusations that his administration ignored the complaints. He said municipal officials visited the area several times and created a special inspection team composed of agriculture, environmental and health personnel to monitor conditions around the facility.
The dispute eventually escalated beyond environmental complaints.
A civil case for injunction and damages was filed against some barangay officials and residents connected with the complaints, according to Daily Guardian and other local reporting. That litigation added legal and financial pressure to a dispute that had already dragged on for more than a year.
The poultry operator’s allegations and defenses in that pending case should be distinguished from the residents’ claims; neither the residents’ environmental allegations nor the legal claims against them should be treated as judicially established facts while the dispute remains unresolved.
Nine Officials Decided They Had Had Enough
On August 26, Taño, all seven barangay councilors and Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson Ejelyn Claire Casio submitted resignation letters to Teruel.
That meant the entire elected leadership of Linobayan was preparing to leave simultaneously.
The move was extraordinary enough to create another problem: Who would run the barangay if everybody left at once?
DILG-Iloilo provincial director Dino Ponsaron said ordinary succession rules could become difficult to apply because there would be no remaining elected barangay official available to succeed the punong barangay. He said such a situation could require guidance from the DILG Central Office and potentially a temporary caretaker.
That prospect appears to have been one reason Garin urged the officials to stay.
According to the September 12 Panay News report, Garin personally went to Linobayan and asked Taño and his colleagues to continue serving while efforts were made to address the underlying dispute.
For residents, however, preventing a leadership vacuum solves only one part of the problem.
The poultry controversy itself remains.
GT Poultry Farm Is Still Shut Down
Teruel ordered GT Poultry Farm to suspend operations on August 28 following continuing complaints and findings by the Environmental Management Bureau Region 6 that some recommended mitigation measures had not yet been fully implemented.
The suspension remains in force.
Under the municipal order, the farm cannot simply restart operations on its own.
It must first obtain certification from the Environmental Management Bureau showing compliance with environmental and sanitation requirements. Tigbauan’s Special Composite Team must also inspect and validate compliance with municipal sanitation rules, including determining whether foul odor and fly infestation remain present.
The farm is also required to permit municipal inspectors access to the facility.
Other conditions cited by the local government include addressing existing legal disputes involving Linobayan residents and complying with any additional measures deemed necessary for public health and safety. Public consultations involving residents of both Sipitan and Linobayan may also be required.
The controversy is especially notable because EMB Region 6’s own public records show that GT Poultry Farm had been pursuing an expansion project in Barangay Sipitan, with a public scoping scheduled for June 3, 2026.
Residents Want More Than a Temporary Suspension
Linobayan officials have previously made clear that they do not consider another suspension a final solution.
After Teruel issued the August 28 order, barangay officials publicly called for the permanent closure of the poultry facility, arguing that residents needed lasting relief rather than another temporary halt.
Their skepticism has a history.
The municipality had already ordered the farm suspended on June 19, but according to Garin’s account, the operator was subsequently permitted to continue for one growing cycle after appealing that chicks had already been purchased. That arrangement was expected to end in July. The controversy intensified again when another batch of chicks was reportedly brought into the facility in August.
Garin has also previously said information obtained from municipal authorities and EMB indicated that the farm still had regulatory matters to complete, including permit-related requirements.
Those claims should ultimately be measured against final determinations from the relevant government agencies rather than political statements alone.
But There Is Another Question: Are the Resignations Still Legally Alive?
This is where the situation becomes more complicated.
The Local Government Code states that resignations of barangay officials are acted upon by the city or municipal mayor.
But Section 82(c) adds another rule: if the proper authority does not act on a resignation within 15 days after receiving it, the resignation is deemed accepted.
DILG Region 6’s legal officer had already highlighted that rule before the September 10 deadline, telling Bombo Radyo Iloilo that failure by the mayor’s office to act within the prescribed period could make the resignations final.
Panay News now reports that Teruel “had not accepted” the resignations and that the officials have agreed to remain.
What remains publicly unclear is whether the mayor formally acted on the resignation letters within the statutory 15-day period, or whether the officials completed another formal step that legally preserved their positions.
That distinction may sound technical, but it could become important if the dispute deteriorates again.
For now, the officials themselves are acting as though they remain in office — and Garin’s intervention has prevented an immediate disruption of barangay government.
The Real Test Comes Next
The temporary reprieve gives Tigbauan officials something they did not have two weeks ago: more time.
But time alone will not settle the controversy.
Residents still want relief from the odor and flies they attribute to the poultry facility. The farm remains suspended. Regulatory compliance must still be determined. Court cases remain part of the conflict. And Linobayan’s officials have not publicly abandoned the resignation threat that brought the dispute national and regional attention.
Garin may have stopped nine officials from leaving their posts this week.
The bigger question is whether authorities can solve the dispute before those resignation letters become the center of the story again.
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