Municipalities of the Philippines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Philippines | ||||||||
 This article is part of the series: |
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
| Government | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political history | ||||||||
| Constitution
|
||||||||
| Executive | ||||||||
| President (list) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Vice President (list) |
||||||||
|
||||||||
| Judiciary | ||||||||
| Supreme Court Chief Justice: Reynato Puno |
||||||||
| Elections | ||||||||
| Commission on Elections
2007 | 2004 | 2001 | 1998 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Other countries • Politics Portal |
||||||||
A municipality (bayan, sometimes munisipyo, in Tagalog) is a local government unit in the Philippines. Provinces are composed of cities and municipalities. Municipalities, in turn, are composed of barangays or barrios. Municipalities are also called towns, which actually is a better translation of bayan.
Local Governments, such as a Municipality are to a certain large extent autonomous of the National Government of the Republic of the Philippines. They are allowed to chart their own economic, industrial and political development by the National Government through a national law called the LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991. In this law, the local governments are granted corporate personaltiy, enabling the latter to perform governmental functions, enact policies or local laws called ordinances, enforce the same, and perform governmental functions within its territorial jurisdiction. It can even enter into private transactions and businesses through its elective and appointive officials and is empowered to generate its own income through local taxation. It is tasked with the duty to enforce all laws, whether it be local or national. The National Government does not exert any control over the local governments. It can only assist and supervise the local governments, a function limited to ensuring that the local government do not violate the national law. The Local Government have its own Executive and Legislative Branches and the check and balance between these two major branches, along with their separation, are more pronounced than that of the national government. However, the Judicial Branch of the Republic of the Philippines also caters to the needs of the local government units. In other words, local governments, such as a municipality, does not have its own judicial branch. Its Judiciary is the same as that of the National Government.
A municipality is headed by a municipal mayor who is the executive officer. The legislature is composed of the vice-mayor (bise-mayor) and eight councilors (kagawad or konsehal). The eight councilors, plus the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) (Youth Council) President and the Liga President, forms the Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Council). All are elected public officials who serve terms of three years and maximum of three consecutive terms.
The legislature is presided by the Vice-Mayor, but the latter cannot vote except to break a tie. Laws or ordinances proposed by the legislature (Sangguniang Bayan) may be approved or vetoed by the Mayor. If approved it becomes law. If the Mayor does not vetoe and he does not approve the proposal of the Sangguniang Bayan for ten (10) days from the time of his receipt of the same, the said proposal becomes law as if he had signed it. If vetoed, the draft is sent back to the Sangguniang Bayan. The latter may 'override' the Mayor by a vote of at least 2/3 of all its members, in which case, the proposal becomes Law.
A municipality, upon reaching a certain size, may opt to become a city. First, a bill must be passed in Congress and signed into law by the President and then the residents would vote in the succeeding plebiscite to accept or reject cityhood. One benefit in being a city is that the city government gets more budget, but taxes are much higher, compared to municipalities.
[edit] Income classification
Municipalities are divided into income classes according to their average annual income during the last three calendar years:
| 1st class | P35,000,000 or more. |
|---|---|
| 2nd class | P27,000,000 or more but less than P35,000,000. |
| 3rd class | P21,000,000 or more but less than P27,000,000. |
| 4th class | P13,000,000 or more but less than P21,000,000. |
| 5th class | P7,000,000 or more but less than P13,000,000. |
| 6th class | Below P7,000,000 |
