How to get a barangay clearance online

A barangay clearance is issued by your barangay, signed by the Punong Barangay, for a purpose you state when you apply. Employers, banks, schools and government offices ask for it, and for a business it is required by law: no city or municipality may issue a business license or permit without a clearance from the barangay where the business operates (RA 7160, Sec. 152(c)).

It is not the same as the other documents a barangay issues. A certificate of residency only confirms where you live, and a certificate of indigency supports a request for assistance. The office asking for the document decides which one it needs, so check before you apply. The full list of barangay documents.

No national law sets the requirements for a resident's clearance, so each barangay decides. Most ask for:

• A valid ID, or another document showing who you are.
• Proof that you live in the barangay. Many barangays check you against their own list of residents, so registering as a resident first can make it faster.
• The purpose, such as employment, a loan, a school requirement or a business permit. It is printed on the clearance.
• The fee, set by the barangay. Some also ask for a community tax certificate (cedula).

Requirements change between barangays. Check your barangay's official page or call the hall first.

In most barangays you can't, yet. You go to the hall during office hours, queue, and often come back another day because the person who signs isn't in. That is the problem we built Bytebento BOS to solve.

In barangays running Bytebento BOS, a clearance request works like this:

1. 01Open your barangay's own website, on any phone, at any hour. No account or app needed.
2. 02Choose barangay clearance, state the purpose, find your name in the barangay's resident list, and leave a contact number.
3. 03The barangay office gets a text the moment your request comes in, and staff review it in one inbox.
4. 04The clearance is filled from the barangay's own template, printed and signed by the Punong Barangay, the same as before.
5. 05You get a text when it is ready, and your name shows on the pickup screen at the hall. One trip, no queue.

The signed, printed clearance doesn't change, because that is what employers and offices accept. What changes is that you aren't standing at the hall while it is prepared. See it in live barangays.

If your barangay isn't online yet, call the hall before you go to check the requirements and whether the person who signs is in. And only ever request through the barangay itself: a clearance is never sold by private sellers online.

A business needs a clearance from the barangay where it operates before the city or municipality issues its business permit (RA 7160, Sec. 152(c)). Two rules make this easier:

• One place to apply (RA 11032, Sec. 11(f)). Barangay clearances and permits related to doing business are applied for, issued and paid for at the city or municipality, usually at its business one-stop shop, and the barangay's share of the fee is remitted to it.
• No asking twice (RA 11032, Sec. 14). The city or municipal business licensing office may not ask again for documents already provided, and the barangay clearance is named among them.

How this works day to day differs by city, so ask your business permits office before renewal season.

Resident clearance

Often the same day. It depends on the barangay and on whether the person who signs is in.

Business clearance

The barangay must act within 7 working days. If it does not, the city or municipality may issue the permit anyway (RA 7160, Sec. 152(c)).

Government services in general

At most 3 working days for simple transactions and 7 for complex ones, as stated in the office's Citizen's Charter (RA 11032, Sec. 9).

The fee

Set by the Sangguniang Barangay, which may impose a reasonable fee. It differs between barangays; ask yours for the current amount.

People use “eBarangay” for any barangay online system, a website or app where residents request documents and staff keep records, and it is also the brand name of one private company's product. It is not a government system. Three names are worth knowing:

BIMS

The DILG's Barangay Information Management System, for records and reports. Every barangay is required to adopt it (DILG MC 2025-104).

eLGU

The DICT's ready-made e-government system for local governments, named in the E-Governance Act (RA 12254).

Bytebento BOS

A barangay's own website with online requests, resident records and Full Disclosure, running alongside BIMS.

What an eBarangay system does, and what to look for.

Under the E-Governance Act's implementing rules, the coming Local Government Digital Service Standard names clearances among the services local governments must offer online. What the E-Governance Act means for barangays.

The clearance is usually the most requested document at the hall, so it is where going online pays off first. Bytebento BOS is our barangay system, and it gives your barangay:

• Your own website on your own domain, so residents know where the real request form is.
• Online requests for barangay and business clearances, indigency, residency and good moral certificates and the barangay ID, with up to 18 more document types you can switch on. Each request starts with a Data Privacy Act notice.
• One inbox and a text alert for staff when a request comes in, so nothing waits unseen.
• Your own templates, filled from the resident's record, so every clearance comes out the same and is ready to sign.
• A text to the resident and a pickup screen in the hall, so people come in once.
• Records stored safely online, not on one office PC, so they survive a broken computer and a change of officials, with Excel exports whenever you need them.

It runs alongside BIMS, and it puts your barangay ahead of the E-Governance Act's push to take clearances online. See Bytebento BOS or talk to us about your barangay.

General information, not legal advice. Requirements and fees are set by each barangay, so confirm them with your barangay or your city or municipal business permits office.