Chapter 3

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Awareness of Barangay Officials on Parliamentary Procedure in the First Class

Municipalities of La Union.

Table 1 presents the level of awareness of Barangay Officials on Parliamentary Procedure

in the First Class Municipalities of La Union.

Table 1. The level of awareness of Barangay Officials on Parliamentary

It can obtained from the table that most of the barangay officials are highly aware on

Parliamentary Procedure in the First Class Municipalities in La Union with a general average of

3.34. The findings implies that the barangay officials are using parliamentary procedure as their

guide when they have meetings or sessions. This also depicts that the barangay officials are have

enough knowledge on how to conduct proper meeting due to the trainings given by the

Department of Interior and Local Government Unit. Also, the trainings that was given to every

barangay officials are effective in terms of applying parliamentary procedure, making ordinances

and resolutions. Being highly aware means that the barangay officials are knowledgeable of their

rights, duties and functions that they have to perform.

 Parallel to this is the concept of political awareness, this concept is about the sensitivity

to public policy and government. In its broadest sense, political awareness is about

understanding the currents or hidden agendas in an organization. This denote to understand

people and situations-the ability to recognize both open and essential agendas is the core of

political awareness. This concept is a force for good, and for getting things done in organization

and it is an essential skill in life (Dudman, 2017). Hence, this concept expounded that barangay

officials must be politically aware especially on the proper conduct of meetings, in terms of

discussing agendas, policy making and decision-making because being politically aware is the

ability of a leader to get things done in an effective and efficient manner.

To support the result, based on the interview, the barangay officials are following

parliamentary procedure and internal rules of procedures or IRP whenever they are conducting

sessions. Aside from that before the start of their session they always start from praying, next is

singing the national anthem, then roll call and after determining the quorum the presiding officer

will now call to order and they now proceed to the agenda. After the meeting, someone should

raise a motion to formally close the meeting then the body second it and if no one opposes the

motion that is the time that the presiding officer will adjourn the session. These are the routines

of barangay officials in the First Class Municipalities of La Union in every sessions they

perform.

Similar to this, is the book of Orendain, wherein he discussed that, there are ten (10)

patterns of order of business. First is the call to order of the presiding officer, after rapping the

gavel he or she announces that the meeting will now come to order, second is the invocation,

conducting of prayer before starting the business but this is optional, third is the roll call of the

secretary to determine who is absent and if there is a quorum, another is the reading and
consideration of the minutes of the previous meeting, the secretary read the previous minutes and

followed by the presiding officer by asking if there are any corrections and if there are no

corrections the minutes stand approved. Next is the reports of the standing committees and the

reports of the special committees, then, the unfinished business matters that have been left

pending in the adjournment of last meeting. When unfinished business have been disposed of,

new business are taken up upon announcement of the presiding officer. Also, the announcements

of the presiding officer or a member it is either important or the body may wish to make. Last is

the adjournment of the meeting, declared by the presiding officer. These patterns of order of

business is an outline that serves as guides for proceedings to insure the orderly and efficient

transaction of business. That is why the barangay officials are highly aware on the procedures of

parliamentary procedure because they want to ensure that the transaction of their meetings are

well ordered and effective.

The first indicator that resulted with the highest mean is conducting special meeting. The

indicator garnered 3.60 mean and depicted as highly aware. This draws that the barangay

officials are highly informed on the special meetings of the barangay that the presiding officer

may request. More so, the barangay officials are prioritizing important agendas or issues that are

in needs immediate attention and special action. They are resolving urgent issues and agendas

immediately. The Chairman of the barangay is mandating the special meeting when there is an

important agenda that the barangay officials may discussed, they want to make sure that

necessary issues and topics will tackled and respond on time.

As mandated to Section 389 of the Local Government Code of 1991, the Punong

Barangay is the Chief Executive of the barangay government and shall exercise such power,
perform such duties and functions like calling and presiding over the sessions of the

Sangguniang Barangay and the Barangay Assembly.

Moreover, each barangay officials need to be familiarized with the relevant provisions of

the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 7160 wherein during special sessions of

the Sanggunian barangay, a written notice to the members shall be served personally at the

member’s usual place of residence at least twenty-four (24) hours before the special session is

held. Hence, this being said that regular session, meeting, special meeting and barangay

assembly mandated in the Local Government Code of 1991, is necessary to perform by the

barangay officials.

Before the motion can be deliberate upon, it should be seconded by saying, “I second the

motion.” This indicator attained the second highest rate which is 3.56 transpired as highly

aware. It signifies that the barangay officials are familiar on seconding a motion by saying, “I

second the motion”. Saying this term in a meeting means that the idea of the motion or topic that

was recommend by the member should be discussed. This also signifies that they are actively

participating during deliberations and they make sure that every motion raised during session is

voted upon by the majority, they make sure that the motion given is interesting, substantial and

connected to the agenda.

This holds true with the idea of Jim Hastings (2018), wherein he stated that when an idea

is mention in an official setting, it must be voted on. However, before the motion is voted upon

by the members, a second person has to say they agree by “seconding” it. Therefore, this means

you agree with what other person said. In addition to that, to make sure that meeting does not

waste a time considering a suggestion that only one individual cares about. A motion is a formal
proposal made in a meeting. When someone says, “I second the motion,” he or she is showing

that at least one other person is interested in deliberating it (Stanley, 2017).

As opined by Macfarlane (2019), wherein she mentioned that, a person seconds a motion

in order to indicate that they would like to discourse about it. Meaning, seconding a motion is an

affirmation of interest in the suggestion. The idea is that there ought to be at least two people

who are interested in an idea before the group spends its time in deliberating the topic.

Meeting is on a regular basis achieved the similar rate of 3.56 perceived as highly aware.

This finding implies that most of the barangay officials have their regular meeting scheduled.

Aside from that, we can say that these barangay officials are following and they are compliant on

the internal rules of procedures that there is at list twice in a month of regular session of the

barangay officials. This also means, they assure that every agendas, especially the given agendas

from municipal level is discuss well regularly. Meeting and session are one of the most important

task and duty that a barangay must have to perform because all concerns and plans of the

members regarding the goals and the welfare of the constituents will properly discuss in an

effective manner.

According to Local Government Academy and the Department of Interior and Local

Government, the Punong Barangay Guide (2018), as required in the Section 50 of the Local

Government Code of 1991, barangay officials especially the barangay chairman and sangguniang

barangay shall adopt and follow the internal rules and procedure. For the reason that, this aimed

is to ensure orderly conduct of sessions, the internal rules of procedure is provided. First, there

must be a schedule of regular sessions, which should not be less than twice a month, and fixing

the place, day and time. Second, there must be an order and calendar of business for each

session. Third, Parliamentary rules and procedures is to be followed during sessions. Therefore,
there is a need for the barangay officials to perform regular session and it is a must to follow the

Parliamentary procedure to achieve an effective and efficient meeting.

On the other hand, three (3) indicators secured the same rate of 3.27 described as highly

aware. These indicators are “Group interest prevails at all times”, next, “motion is a formal

proposal that the assembly either adopt a certain view or take a certain action on a question

pending before it”, also, “all motions are debatable except those that are procedural in character

and are generally decided by the Chair”. In general, these three indicators which resulted the

same rate and depicted as highly aware is one of the fundamental principles of parliamentary

procedure. The reason behind high awareness is that, first, most of the barangay officials prefers

the decision of the groups than one individual and work as a team rather than being independent

to one another. Because group decisions has a common interest. Also, they prefer the decision of

the group because this only means that there is unity and there is unusual opposition during their

session, second, during the session of the barangay officials all motions that they adopt and

tackled are handled well. They are aware on how to manage every motions or topics that was

given during sessions. Third, when one of the member raised a motion, the bodies are asked by

the presiding officer if who is in favor on the given topic. Then if the majority are agree on the

idea that was recommended, the body start to deliberate on it by giving their own opinions and

perceptions. Another implication is that, the barangay chairman who is the presiding officer is

always impartial in exercising their duties and dealings with partisan groups during session, they

are not taking sides during deliberation. Lastly, this means that, the barangay officials maintain

and facilitate the orderly and harmonious transactions of their business during session.

Parallel to this is the Pluralism theory wherein these proved that having multiple

viewpoints and groups strengthens the overall system, enriching its culture with a wider
spectrum of ideas and building a deeper and more principled consensus in the political system.

Pluralism theory is a fundamental principle of democracy, in which members of different groups

with different viewpoints can voice their opinions and ideas (Rohman, 2014).

As to Pioch (2013), a good first step to ensure effective meetings is to know how to

properly handle a motion. She said that, a simple way to help meetings run more smoothly is to

know how to properly introduce and manage official business. Moreover, most people on official

board are familiar with the process of making a motion but oftentimes are less clear on how to

manage a motion properly. Therefore, parliamentary procedure should be follow by the barangay

officials, should have control over their meetings and members should all be clear on the

decisions that need to be made in order to have a more effective meetings.

In relation to that, there are two categories of motion, the main motion which propose

substantive action, these are proposals that is related to the objectives of the group qualifies as a

main motion and another is the secondary motion propose procedural action, these are related to

the operation of a group’s meetings. For examples, proposals to limit debate table a main motion

and refer a main motion to a committee. All of these are secondary motions under the rules of

parliamentary procedure. A motion is a proposal that an organization take a specific action and

these two motions work together to maintain order and boost meeting from start to finish

(Merkle, 2017).

Based on the interview, it clarifies that, barangay officials maintain equal rights by giving

every members the equal opportunity to voice their opinions and ideas, each member is given the

right to speech and express and majority of the council shall prevail. Also, the barangay

Chairman must be neutral, he or she must always in the center of the discussions, respect

everyone’s opinion and promote the equal rights of barangay officials. Hence, we can see that
equality still prevail during the discussion of barangay officials in the First Class Municipalities

of La Union.

According to Merkle (2017), there are 5 basic principles of parliamentary procedure and

these are equality of rights, equal right to discussion, the right to information, majority decision

and minority rights. Equal right is the right of each person in the group in an organization.

Parliamentary procedure is designed for assemblies where equal rights are the governing

thought. Next is everyone has an equal right to discuss each topic because discussion is a basic

right of every member. The right to information is a right to know the details that will enable

them to make decisions. Then majority rules at all time. In parliamentary procedure, if the

majority wants to do it or decide on it, then you have to go along to change things. Last, even

though majority rules, the minority has rights, we should also respect and acknowledge them.

Furthermore, the table shows that there are 3 indicators that resulted the lowest rate

which is rendered as moderately aware. First, when minority group abandoned the meeting,

meeting or session may continue, it being a tacit continuation-a simple prolongation-of the

session which had been formerly declared open with a quorum. This indicator got the rate of 3.05

translated as moderately aware. This infers that, during their session, it seldom happens that the

minority groups abandoned their meeting but if this circumstances happen, the meeting will still

continue because the quorum have been declared from the very beginning of the session. Another

implication is that, during the session of barangay officials, every members are present and it

never happened that minority leaved or walkout during session because when they abandoned

the meeting this shows to disrespect everyone specially their presiding officer.

As stated in the book of Orendain, when a quorum is declared open in the beginning of

meeting and minority group abandoned the meeting, as long as the majority of the members are
there the meeting still continue. Majority can still transact business even if the minority walkouts

in a meeting if the number of members stay in a meeting is majority.

Second, in case of tie, the voting should continue until it results in an election or a choice.

But if the voting is on a motion and a tie occurs, the motion is declared lost. This indicator

achieved the rate of 3.03 classified as moderately aware. This indicates that the barangay

officials seldom engage on the case of tie voting and this scenario is not frequently happening

during their session. Moderately aware is the overall rate because they want to assure that the

result of every votes are always in favor with the majority. However, this also indicates that,

when a tie vote to a motion occurs during the session of the barangay officials, this means that

some of the presiding officers are not regularly exercising their power to break the tie.

Similar to this, is the study of Slaughter (2015), he indicated that if a tie votes occurs

during session, the chair can vote in favor regarding the motion. Without that vote, the motion

will lost, so the chair’s vote will change the outcome and that the motion is adopted. Since a

majority vote is more than half the votes cast, a tie vote basically means that the motion is

rejected. In addition, a tie vote will be in respect of the presiding officer’s efficiency and

knowledge on parliamentary procedure.

Third, only members in good standing should be counted. This indicator garnered 2.97

rate described as moderately aware which is the lowest of all indicators. This signifies that

some barangay officials are not familiar on what is a member in good standing means. Because

members who are in good standing are the one who actively engaged, participate and compliance

on the rules during sessions. Also, the finding precludes that some barangay officials are not

informed because this depends on their internal rules during their meeting because some

barangays have their own internal rules an example is the rules of their internal rules of
procedure and by laws. Some barangays are not updated on their internal rules that is why some

of them are moderately aware on this indicator.

According to Rankin (2019), recommended that, in order for the members to be in good

standing, there must be rules specifically rules to become a good standing member in every

internal rules in an organizations. For this reason if there are rules to be followed about being a

good standing member it make sure that every barangay officials will be complying on it,

become more aware on what is good standing means and most importantly they become more

participative during sessions.