THE SANGGUNIANG BAYAN

The Sangguniang Bayan (lit. 'municipal council') is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Government Code, passed by Congress in 1991.

The Sangguniang Bayan is a form of the mayor–council government, via the "strong mayor" variant.

Presiding officer

The municipal vice mayor is the ex officio presiding officer of the Sangguniang Bayan, although he has no voting privilege except in cases to break a deadlock. In the absence of the vice mayor, a temporary presiding officer is elected by the Sangguniang Bayan members present at the session.

Members

We, have eight regular members or councilors elected at-large. There are also two ex officio councilors – the municipal chapter presidents of the Liga ng mga Barangay and the Pederasyon ng Sangguniang Kabataan and some municipalities have a reserved seat for the IP Representative which is pursuant to the Republic Act 8371, or the Indigenous Peoples (IP) Rights Act of 1997, that calls for a Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative and it is formally certified by the concerned NCIP regional director, upon recommendation of the provincial or community service center head and shall serve for a period of three years from the date of assumption to office and can be re-endorsed for another term. Members may not serve for more than three consecutive terms.

The Local Government Code provides for an additional three sectoral representatives representing: women, laborers, and any of the urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, disabled persons or another sector that may be identified by the Sangguniang Bayan; however, this provision still has to be implemented.