FILLARCA, Floro Jr. T.

BPA 2-1
Parliamentary Practices and Procedures
Weeks 4-6 Learning Assessments

WEEK 4 – Learning Assessment

1. What is the importance of Order of Business to the Assembly?

Each meeting follows an order of business called an agenda. The basic structure of an agenda
comes from the order of business as established either by the parliamentary authority or by the
rules of organization. This agenda provides an outline of items, listed in order of importance, that
are to be accomplished at the meeting. It also provides the members with the opportunity to
participate in forming the plans and actions of the organization by proposing ideas following the
first principle of parliamentary procedure, which states that business is taken up one item at a
time. Thus, in order for the assembly to be in order, effective, and efficient, order of the business
has to there to keep the meeting on track and save time.

2. What is it important to protect the rights of the minority? In what way they should be
protected?

It is in the third basic principle of parliamentary procedure to protect the rights of individual,
absent and minority members. In an often quoted statement in the Robert’s Rule of Order: “The
great lesson for democracies to learn is for the majority to give to the minority a full, free
opportunity to present their side of the case, and then for the minority, having failed to win a
majority to their views, gracefully to submit and to recognize the action as that of the entire
organization, and cheerfully to assist in carrying it out, until they can secure its repeal.”

The application of parliamentary law is the best method yet devised to enable assemblies of any
size, with due regard for every member’s opinion, to arrive at the general will on the maximum
number of questions of varying complexity in a minimum amount of time and under all kinds of
internal climate ranging from total harmony to hardened or impassioned division of opinion. To
conclude, under the rules of parliamentary law, a deliberative body is a free agent—free to do
what it wants to do with the greatest measure of protection to itself and of consideration for the
rights of its members and this includes the minority members.

3. What do you mean by efficient proceedings in an assembly?

Efficient proceedings in an assembly pertains to productive, effective, and efficient flow of the
meeting. Moreover, if the proceeding is efficient, that means the meeting was able to discussed
and voted on business motions successfully without wasting time and should energy. Lastly, in
an efficient proceedings, agendas have been discussed and voted on without any conflict and
confusion among the members of the assembly. Thus, it is worthy to note that the members
should recognize their roles and responsibilities and adhere to the rules and regulations of the
bylaws of the meeting in order to have a prolific and efficient proceedings.

4. The assembly is about to have a business meeting to tackle important agenda. It has 20
members. How many members should be present in the assembly to constitute a
quorum?

In United States Constitution, in both houses of Congress, the quorum is a majority of the
members. In an ordinary society, it depends on the provisions of the bylaws that specify the
number of members that shall constitute a quorum. If the bylaws of the said business meeting
requires majority of the members, then 11 members should be present in the assembly to
constitute a quorum.

5. In question number 4, what will happen if there is no quorum?

Basically, if the assembly has no quorum, it will be declared as null and void. Its introduction will
be invalid and, to be considered at a later meeting, it must again be brought up as new business.

6. What are the two types of committees? Differentiate each.

Ordinary committees are of two types—standing committees (which have a continuing

existence) and special committees (which go out of existence as soon as they have completed a
specified task). Standing committees are listed in the bylaws and are considered a permanent
part of the organization. Members of a standing committee usually change when new officers
are elected, but the purpose of the committee and its functions and duties do not change.
The standing committee has certain functions to perform that are essential to the harmonious
operation of the organization. When the board or the membership receives business that is
connected with the work of a standing committee, it usually refers that business to the
committee. The committee investigates and then reports back to the board or membership.
Examples of standing committees may include finance, program, or membership committees.

The other type of committee is a special committee, also called a select or ad hoc committee.
This committee is created to perform a specific task and is dissolved when the task is completed
and the final report is given. The membership should not create a special committee to do
something that is within the designated function of a standing committee. Special committees
have two functions. One function is to investigate. For example, if an organization wants to buy
a piece of property to build a permanent clubhouse, a member could make a motion to create a
committee to research this possibility. The other function of special committees is to carry out
what the assembly has adopted. For example, if the motion to buy a piece of property is adopted,
then a member could make a motion to create a committee to carry out the purchasing of the
property.

7. What is the minutes of the meeting? Why should members be given of it?
The minutes of the meeting contains the records of what is done in an assembly. In other words,
these are the notes that are recorded during a meeting. It highlight the key issues that are
discussed, motions proposed or voted on, and activities to be undertaken. Moreover, the
secretary’s draft of the minutes is often sent to all members in advance of the meeting at which
those minutes are to be approved, usually with the meeting notice. When this has been done, it
is presumed that the members have had an opportunity to review these draft minutes, and they
are not read at the meeting unless a member requests it. Correction and approval, however, is
handled in the usual way. A draft of the minutes circulated to members must be clearly marked
as such. It should be noted that a member’s absence from the meeting for which minutes are
being approved does not prevent the member from participating in their correction or approval.

8. Why the presiding officer or the members of the assembly should recognize their
colleagues in the third person?

Basically, to maintain professionalism, the presiding officer or the members should recognize
their colleagues in a third person. Addressing them in a third person avoid misinterpretation and
misconception within the assembly. One thing I have learned throughout the discussion of
Professor Allen regarding Rules of Order is that, members of the assembly, including the presiding
officer, represents each other. Thus, no member should feel that the presiding officer or other
members takes sides, but rather allows the assembly, in a democratic process, to arrive at the
will of the majority. Finally, recognizing your colleagues in a third person ensure fairness,
impartiality, and avoid misinterpretation throughout the assembly.

9. What are the rights of the members?

The members in an assembly have the right to:

• to attend meetings.
• to make motions.
• to speak in debate.
• to vote.
• to abstain from voting.
• to be given copies of the assembly’s governing documents, including bylaws, special rules
of order (if any), and standing rules.
• to unilaterally modify or withdraw a motion the member has made before it has been
stated by the chair.
• to speak first in debate on a motion the member has made.
• to insist on the enforcement of the rules of order, through the raising of a Point of Order.
• to require the assembly to adhere to its agenda, program, or order of business, by a Call
for the Orders of the Day.
• to require a Division of the Assembly if the member doubts the result of a voice vote or a
show of hands.
 • to change his or her vote up to the time the results are announced (except when the vote
has been taken by ballot or another method providing secrecy).
• to demand a ballot vote on the question of guilt and on the imposition of a penalty in a
disciplinary proceeding.
• to not have allegations against the member’s good name made except by charges brought
on reasonable ground.
• to have due process in any disciplinary proceedings.
• to require separate consideration of two or more unrelated questions offered in a single
motion.
• to make a Parliamentary Inquiry or a Request for Information (also called Point of
Information).

10. An assembly uses the three-fourths to adopt a motion instead of a majority vote. What
is the implication of the assembly in using a three-fourths vote instead?

There are organizations that instead of 2/3 or majority vote, they require three-fourths of vote
to adopt a motion. The implication behind this is that these organizations wants to know that
most of the members agree with what is proposed. These organizations believe that by getting
2/3 of votes means that more members are in favor of the proposal. The more members are in
favor, the better cooperation they will get in carrying out of what is adopted.

11. What is the difference between the majority of present members and the to majority of
the entire membership? Give an example of each modification.

On the hand, if the bylaws of the meeting requires the majority of the entire membership to
adapt a motion, that means that the number of the entire membership determines the majority
and not the number of members who are present or the number of members who vote. For
example, a meeting has an entire membership of 75, the majority of this is 38. This means that
38 members are required to vote to adopt a motion. However, if there are 40 present members
and there are 37 votes for the affirmative, 2 votes for the negative, and 1 abstain, this means
that the motion is lost because it take 38 votes to adopt a motion. On the other hand, if the
bylaws of the meeting requires the majority of those who are present, then the majority is
determine by the number of members who are present. For example, the meeting has the entire
membership of 75, and the members present are 40. This means that the members required to
vote are 21 members because these are the majority of those present members. If out of 40
members present, only 35 have voted, 20 members vote for affirmative and 15 members vote
for negative, this means that the motion fails because to sustain the majority of those present
and adopt a motion, 21 members must vote in favor of the motion.
 12. Can the member of the assembly question the turnout of the vote? If that’s so, what
should the member do?

The members of the assembly have the right to question or doubt the result of the vote until the
chair states the question on another motion. If a member thinks that the negative have it, but
the chair announces the affirmative, what the member should do is to call out for division by
saying “I doubt the result of the vote”.

13. In case of a tie vote, can the presiding officer abstain? If he/she chooses to abstain,
should his/her vote be counted?

If the vote is tied, the motion is lost. In this case, the presiding officer can abstain a vote if he/she
doesn’t want the motion to be adopted. However, he can then vote
In the affirmative, and the motion passes. If he/she chooses to abstain, then his/her vote will not
be counted. To abstain means “not to vote”. You cannot count a non-vote. Therefore, an
abstention counts as a zero.

14. What is the importance of voting in an organization?

Voting is essential to any decision made by the organization as it represents and express the
opinion of each member. It is essential to preserve democracy in organizations and other elected
bodies. Through voting, members join assuming direct personal responsibility for the decision.
Moreover, through voting, members can ordinarily free to act and vote for a decision according
to their own judgement. This will allows them to decide an issue, in a democratic manner, after
they have assembled and heard their fellow members’ opinions and concerns. Lastly, voting is
there to recognize the role and responsibility of each member to any decision that will be made
by the organization.

15. What the is agenda?

Agenda is an outline of items, listed in order of importance, that are to be accomplished at the
meeting. Having an agenda keeps the meeting on track and saves time.

16. Can the presiding officer debate with the members of the assembly? And why?

I would say that it depends on what motion the member is discussing because there are motions
that are debatable and are not debatable. On the other hand, during the debate, the presiding
officer sits down when a member is assigned the floor to debate. However, there are times that
during the debate, the presiding officer needs to interrupt the speaker for a ruling to or needs to
give information and facts related to the discussion. Until such time, the member should sit down
until the presiding officer finishes. Moreover, as a member, the presiding officer has a right to
debate, but he cannot cut off the debate as long as there’s still a member wishes to rise and
speak. Thus, to answer the question, yes, the presiding officer can debate with members of the
assembly for as long as all the members who wishes to speak have already spoken.
WEEK 5 – Learning Assessment

1. Why subsidiary motion is important to the main motion?

Subsidiary motions assist the assembly in treating or disposing of a main motion (and sometimes
other motions). For instance, if an embarrassing main motion has been brought before the
assembly, a member can propose to dispose of this question without bringing it to a direct vote,
by moving to Postpone Indefinitely. Moreover, if a main motion might be more suitable or
acceptable in an altered form, a proposal to change its wording (either to clarify or, within limits,
to modify the meaning) before the main motion is voted on can be introduced by moving to
amend. To conclude, subsidiary motion is important to the main motion because it can be applied
to any main motion and adopting a subsidiary motion always does something to the main motion.

2. What is pending motion?

A pending motion is a motion that is stated by the chair and placed before the assembly for
discussion and has not yet been disposed of by the assembly. Pending means that the motion
wasn’t voted on but was being discussed when the meeting was adjourned. While a main motion
is pending, a member can propose a secondary motion. Secondary motions are taken up in the
order that they are made.

3. Differentiate Privileged Motion to Subsidiary Motion.

Subsidiary motions are always applied to another motion while it is pending, to aid in treating or
disposing of it. Unlike subsidiary or incidental motions, privileged motions do not relate to the
pending business, but have to do with special matters of immediate and overriding importance
which, without debate, should be allowed to interrupt the consideration of anything else.

4. What is one business at a time? What is the importance of this rule in the deliberative
assembly?

One business at a time means that a meeting must follow an established order of business
wherein it specifies the sequence of general types or classes of business that are to be brought
up or permitted to be introduced. The plan or the established order in which the items of business
are taken up is called an agenda. In a business meeting, every member is provided with
opportunity to propose ideas and participate in forming the plans and actions of the organization.
To do this in an orderly and efficient way, the business of the meeting is conducted according to
the first principle of parliamentary procedure, which states that business is taken up one item at
a time. Its importance to the deliberative assembly is that it makes the meeting productive,
organize, effective, and efficient.
 5. What is Privileged Motion?

A privileged motion is a motion that is granted precedence over ordinary business because it
concerns matters of great importance or urgency. Such motions are not debatable, although in
case of questions of privilege, the chair may feel the need to elicit relevant facts from members.
This motions rank above all other motions. These are also known as “privileged questions” which
should not be confused with “questions of privilege”.

6. Is Main Motion and Incidental Motion the same? And why?

No, main motion and incidental motion is different from each other. A main motion is a motion
whose introduction brings business before the assembly. It can be made only when no other
motion is pending, and it ranks lowest in the order of precedence of motions. While incidental
motions relate, in different ways, to the pending business or to business otherwise at hand—
some of them with varying degrees of resemblance to subsidiary motions. In other words,
incidental motion may be made while the main motion is pending, and in many cases these
motions, if passed, will affect the assembly’s consideration of the main motion.

7. Can the assembly introduce a new business if there is unfinished business in the agenda?

Yes, an assembly can introduce a new business even if there is still unfinished business in agenda.
The motion lay on table allows the members to temporarily set aside a motion in order to take
up more urgent business especially if it is a special order. After this special order comes
unfinished business and general order. The first topic taken up under this category is unfinished
business, which is any motion that was pending at the last meeting when the meeting adjourned.

8. What do you mean by new business in the assembly?

If there is no unfinished business or general orders, the presiding officer goes on to the next
business in order, which is new business. If there is no listed new business on the agenda, the
presiding officer can ask if there is any new business. If there is new business on the agenda, the
presiding officer can state what it is and then proceed on discussing with the members.
WEEK 6 – Learning Assessment

1. Make a table and identify each motion whether it needs a second, debatable,
amendable and how many votes are needed.

Answer is in different file.

2. Rank the motions from lowest to highest.

Answer is in different file.

3. Make a comment on this video based on the basic principle of the Parliamentary
Procedures. https://fb.watch/ehh8MPyBbN/ (10 pts)

The first thing I have noticed in the video is that the presiding officer kept on telling the member
to shut up because he was not recognized to talk which is actually right because in a
parliamentary procedure, the member can only obtain the floor if he is recognized by the
presiding officer. However, the argument of the member is that the presiding officer is a bias
because he only recognize those members he wants to recognize. Furthermore, the productivity
of the meeting was not evident at all because the role of the presiding officer was not recognized
as well as the role of the members were neglected. As a result, the meeting was in a total chaos
that even professionalism cannot be observed. There were cross talking between the presiding
officer and member, and from member to another member. Lastly, another unprofessionalism I
have observed is how the chair tap the gavel many times which is very wrong because he could
supposedly just tap it twice to call for the meeting in order.

4. Why subsidiary motions are important?

Subsidiary motions are important because it assist the assembly in treating or disposing of a main
motion (and sometimes other motions). This means that they are always applied to another
motion while it is pending, to aid in treating or disposing of it; the adoption of one of them always
does something to this other motion—that is, changes its status in some way—without adopting
or expressly rejecting it. Furthermore, they can also be applied to any main motion and they as
will fit into an order of precedence, so that no subsidiary motion can be moved when a motion
of higher rank is already pending. Lastly, they are in order during the entire time that a motion
to which they can be applied is pending, except as may be precluded by a previously adopted
motion to Limit or Extend Limits of Debate or for the Previous Question that is in effect.

5. What is the difference between a motion that postpone indefinitely and postpone in a
certain time?

On the hand, Postpone Indefinitely is a motion that the assembly decline to take a position on
the main question. Its adoption kills the main motion (for the duration of the session) and avoids
a direct vote on the question. It is useful in disposing of a badly chosen main motion that cannot
be either adopted or expressly rejected without possibly undesirable consequences. On the other
hand, Postpone to a Certain Time (or Postpone Definitely) is the motion by which action on a
pending question can be put off, within limits, to a definite session, day, meeting, or hour, or until
after a certain event. This motion can be moved regardless of how much debate there has been
on the motion it proposes to postpone. A question may be postponed either so that it may be
considered at a more convenient time, or because debate has shown reasons for holding off a
decision until later. This motion should not be confused with Postpone Indefinitely, which does
not actually postpone the pending question, but kills it. So, in other words, postpone indefinitely
is used to kill a main motion without taking a direct vote on it. This motion does not actually
“postpone” the motion but to actually kill it. However, postpone definitely is used to delay action
on a pending question until a different day, meeting, hour or until after a certain event. Then,
when that time comes, the consideration of the question is picked up where it was left off when
it was postponed.

6. What is the rationale of the two-thirds vote needed in a specific motion?

A two-thirds vote is required for any motion that deprives a member of rights in any way (e.g.,
cutting off debate). It is also defined as at least two-thirds of those present and voting, unless
otherwise specified by the organization’s rules. Examples of motions that require a two-thirds
vote: to close, limit, or extend debate; to suspend the rules; to amend the constitution and
bylaws; to close nominations; to remove an officer or expel a member; or to object to the
consideration of a motion. Another example is that, in a meeting that has 50 members, the vote
required is 2/3. The 2/3 of 50 members is 34 which means that 34 members are required to
confirm a decisions. Moreover, if a meeting has 75 members, this means that 50 members are
required to vote.

7. Is the presiding officer can be interrupted by a point of order from a member? Yes or
No? and Why?

Before a member in an assembly can make a motion or speak in debate—the parliamentary name
given to any form of discussion of the merits of a motion—he must obtain the floor; that is, he
must be recognized by the chair as having the exclusive right to be heard at that time. However,
the presiding officer can be interrupted by a member when the urgency of the situation justifies
to call for the orders of the day when they are not being conformed to. A point of order can be
raised by the members if the they observed that the presiding officer does not follow the rules
and objectives of the meeting as well as when he fails to observe the rules of speaking.

8. Making a main motion should start with what phrase/words?

In making a main motion, a member must obtain the floor when no other question is pending
and when business of the kind represented by the motion is in order. The member then makes
his motion, in simple cases by saying, “I move that…[announcing what he proposes in a wording
intended to become the assembly’s official statement of the action taken].” For more important
or complex questions, or when greater formality is desired, he presents the motion in the form
of a resolution. The usual wording then is, “I move the adoption of the following Resolution:
‘Resolved, That…’”; or, “I offer the following Resolution: ‘Resolved, That…’”

9. What is the difference between the majority of the entire membership from majority of
the present members? Give examples.

On the hand, if the bylaws of the meeting requires the majority of the entire membership to
adapt a motion, that means that the number of the entire membership determines the majority
and not the number of members who are present or the number of members who vote. For
example, a meeting has an entire membership of 75, the majority of this is 38. This means that
38 members are required to vote to adopt a motion. However, if there are 40 present members
and there are 37 votes for the affirmative, 2 votes for the negative, and 1 abstain, this means
that the motion is lost because it take 38 votes to adopt a motion. On the other hand, if the
bylaws of the meeting requires the majority of those who are present, then the majority is
determine by the number of members who are present. For example, the meeting has the entire
membership of 75, and the members present are 40. This means that the members required to
vote are 21 members because these are the majority of those present members. If out of 40
members present, only 35 have voted, 20 members vote for affirmative and 15 members vote
for negative, this means that the motion fails because to sustain the majority of those present
and adopt a motion, 21 members must vote in favor of the motion.

10. Suppose that you are a member of the assembly and you would like to make a main
motion, what should you consider before obtaining the floor?

If I am a member of an assembly and would like to make a main motion, first thing I would
consider is how my motion would interact with other types of motions. It is important that the
main motion sets a pattern from which all other motions are derived.