Barangay Directory

Ad Content Policy

Standards every advertisement on Barangay Directory must meet. Updated .

Our commitment

Barangay Directory is an independent civic directory. Every advertisement shown on this site is paid, clearly labelled as “Sponsored”, and reviewed by a human before it goes live. We never run auto-populated ad networks that display content we have not reviewed. This policy describes what we will and will not accept.

Labelling and disclosure

Every paid placement on the site carries:

  • A visible “Sponsored” badge
  • An outbound link with rel="noopener noreferrer sponsored" (per Google's Webmaster Guidelines for paid links)
  • A disclosure footer linking back to this policy

Prohibited content

We will not accept, publish, or knowingly display advertisements for:

  • Illegal products or services — anything that violates Philippine law, including illegal drugs, unlicensed firearms, counterfeit documents, or stolen goods
  • Scam, phishing, or fraud sites— including fake government services, fake investment schemes, multi-level marketing without proper SEC registration, and “earn money at home” scams
  • Unlicensed medical claims — products or services claiming to treat, prevent, or cure disease without FDA registration; unlicensed clinics; unproven supplements with medical claims
  • Gambling without proper permits — only PAGCOR- licensed operators may advertise gambling services, and only within their authorized channels
  • Adult content — sexual services, adult entertainment venues, escort services, or dating services targeting minors
  • Content misleading about government affiliation — ads that imply the advertiser is endorsed by, affiliated with, or operating on behalf of any Philippine government agency, official, political party, or candidate when they are not
  • Disrespectful or defamatory content — personal attacks on named individuals, hate speech, discriminatory language targeting religion, ethnicity, gender, or disability
  • Competitor scraping — tools, services, or products that exist primarily to copy or redistribute our directory content
  • Broken or redirecting links — destination URLs must be live, reachable, and not redirect through ad networks or URL shorteners
  • Cryptocurrency and token sales — unless the operator is SEC-registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider
  • Lending services without certificate of authority — all lending advertisers must have a valid SEC Certificate of Authority (“CA”) and display the CA number

Political content

Political advertising in the Philippines is heavily regulated under the Fair Election Act (Republic Act No. 9006) and COMELEC resolutions. During the current operating period, Barangay Directory does not accept paid political advertisements of any kind — including campaign messages, candidate promotion, party endorsements, or election-related content. Civic and voter information content remains editorial and is published free of charge.

Review process

Every advertisement is reviewed manually before publication:

  1. Advertiser submits the listing details through our contact form or email
  2. Payment is arranged and confirmed out-of-band
  3. The listing is created in our admin panel with “draft” status. Nothing is visible on the live site yet.
  4. An administrator verifies the content against this policy, confirms the destination URL is safe, and checks spelling / targeting / dates
  5. If everything is in order, the administrator explicitly activates the listing after confirming a compliance checklist
  6. The listing becomes visible on targeted pages within 5 minutes
  7. The administrator monitors the listing for issues and pauses or removes it if a problem is found after publication

Takedown and removal

We remove any advertisement that violates this policy, was published by mistake, receives credible user complaints, or has a broken or unsafe destination URL. Removal is at the sole discretion of Barangay Directory and no refund is owed for listings removed due to policy violations. Listings removed for administrative error (e.g. our mistake) receive a pro-rated refund for the unused portion.

Reporting a problem

If you see an advertisement on Barangay Directory that you believe violates this policy, please report it via our contact page with the barangay page URL and the business name of the ad. We review every report within 1-2 business days.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our advertising program evolves. The “Updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Existing paid listings remain bound by the policy in effect at the time they were submitted.

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