The Barangay Council is a collegial body and as such, decisions are arrived at as a group. These decisions are made at sangguniang barangay sessions where the punong barangay presides.
A session denotes a series of meetings, conducted in close succession and for any length of time. A session is ended by adjournment sine die. The LGC of 1991 provides that no two sessions of the local sanggunians can be held in a single day.
As you know, there are two types of sessions, the regular or special. Regular sessions are ones convened at scheduled times and deal with both thee general and usual business of the sanggunian while special sessions are ones which are called as the need arises to tackle specific item/s or issue/s.
Presented are some tips on presiding a session/meeting and also on calling them to order.
Presiding a Session/Meeting:
a. The presiding officer follows a general order of business which normally starts with the call to order and ends with the official adjournment; and
b. The order of business is a means to provide a logical system for group considerations and the procedure by which the Chair tackles one item after another. The order of business can be revised anytime by a 2/3 vote of the members.
Calling the Session to Order
a. To open the session, the Chairperson rises, raps he gavel and declares; "The session may please come to order." He may then proceed with the other opening rites or numbers or directly inquire from the secretary if a quorum is present.
b. If there is a quorum, the Chair proceeds with the agenda or order of business.
c. If there is no quorum, he says: "As there is no quorum, a motion to adjourn is in order." a motion ahs to be made by a member, then duly seconded, and then the chair declares the session adjourned or defer the time to wait for others to arrive.
d. If a quorum cannot be obtained, the Chair may conduct a caucus without quorum. However, actions and decisions promulgated during such session (or more appropriately caucus) shall be subject to approval at the next duly constituted session.
e. The Chair usually decides to forego the calling of the roll except in instances where there is a question as to whether there is a quorum, or to identify all individuals present and those not present.
f. If the session starts with a quorum, but loses it later in the session, only those item taken up or for which votes were taken while the quorum exists shall be considered officially acted upon.
g. For all others, the session shall be converted to a caucus and discussion may continue but no vote can be taken.
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