Local Legislators' Toolkit - The Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng ...

C. ADOPTING THE INTERNAL RULES OF PROCEDUREOrder is essential to the successful conduct of business of deliberative bodies. For thesanggunian, order can be achieved by implementing a set of rules agreed upon by allmembers, known as the Internal Rules of Procedure. <strong>The</strong>se rules allow for the orderlyconduct of deliberations as well as formulation and approval of decisions. <strong>The</strong>se rulesenable sanggunian members to articulate their thoughts, reconcile conflicts and differences,determine the will of the majority, and take action.Internal Rules of Procedures (IRP)• A “document containing a set of procedural rules that governs the orderly transactionof business and defining the duties and responsibilities of the officers during theconduct of meetings.” 10• Must be adopted by the sanggunian in the first regular session following the electionof the members of the sanggunian and within 90 days thereafter.<strong>The</strong>re are five principles to consider in the implementation of the IRP. <strong>The</strong>se are 1) courtesyand justice to all, 2) consider one topic at a time, 3) the majority rules, 4) the minority has aright to be heard, and 5) fairness to all and partiality to no one.An important element of the IRP is parliamentary procedure or the manner of conductingbusiness in a deliberative body. It ensures orderly discussion and decision-making in thesanggunian through the use of motion. A motion refers to a proposal of a member of thesanggunian for consideration of the body. To understand the types of motions and how touse them, the sanggunian may use as reference Reverendo Dihan’s Handbook on <strong>Local</strong>Legislation (1998). <strong>The</strong> following tools can guide the sanggunian in its task of preparing andadopting its IRP.Tool 1 -Tool 2 -Tool 3 -Template: Internal Rules of ProcedureTemplate: Resolution Adopting the IRPChecklist: Minimum Contents of the IRP10 Reverendo Dihan. Handbook on <strong>Local</strong> Legislation, Revised Edition. Manila: MaryJo Publishing Inc.1998.57