Organization of Philippine Municipal Governments

Municipal government structure

Section 3 vests each municipality’s government in a president, vice-president, and municipal council.
Section 3 requires that the president and councilors, together with the vice-president, are chosen at large by qualified municipal electors.
Section 3 sets a two-year term for the president and councilors, running from the first Monday in January next after their election until successors are duly chosen and qualified.
Section 3 establishes a transitory rule for nineteen hundred and one: the president and vice-president hold office until the first Monday in January, nineteen hundred and three (or until successors qualify), and councilors are divided by lot into two classes so that one-half of the municipal council is chosen annually.
Section 5 requires the municipality to be divided into barrios or wards, with clearly defined limits, and allows grouping barrios into districts for administrative purposes.

Municipal classes and barrio formation

Section 4(a) classifies municipalities into four classes by inhabitants, prescribing councilor counts:
- First class: not less than twenty-five thousand inhabitants (eighteen councilors).
- Second class: eighteen thousand and less than twenty-five thousand (fourteen councilors).
- Third class: ten thousand and less than eighteen thousand (ten councilors).
- Fourth class: less than ten thousand (eight councilors).
Section 4(b) allows municipalities with less than two thousand inhabitants to be incorporated under the Act or, by petition of a majority of qualified electors, to be attached as a barrio to an adjacent incorporated municipality if the latter’s council grants the petition.
Section 4(c) allows an aggregate of more than two thousand in a barrio/barrios to be incorporated as a separate municipality upon a petition signed by two-thirds of qualified electors, subject to granting by the Commission.
Section 4(d) requires the Commission to determine class membership in controversies and allows class change by order of the provincial board when population sufficiently increases or diminishes.
Section 5 states that the number of districts equals the number of councilors, including the vice-president.

Electors: qualifications, oath, and disqualifications

Section 6 limits voting for elective municipal officers to male persons who are twenty-three years of age or over, have legal residence in the municipality for six months immediately preceding the election, are not citizens or subjects of any foreign power, and fall within one of three classes:
- Former municipal officials listed in Section 6(a).
- Owners of real property valued at five hundred pesos or those paying thirty pesos or more in established taxes annually (Section 6(b)).
- Persons who speak, read, and write English or Spanish (Section 6(c)).
Section 7 requires each elector, before casting a ballot, to take and subscribe an Elector’s Oath administered by the municipal secretary with the oath filed with that secretary.
Section 8 disqualifies voting for enumerated grounds, including:
- Delinquent payment of public taxes assessed since August thirteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight (Section 8(a)).
- Deprivation of the right to vote by court sentence since August thirteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight (Section 8(b)).
- Taking and violating the oath of allegiance to the United States (Section 8(c)).
- Being in arms on April 1, 1901, or thereafter, against the authority or sovereignty of the United States (Section 8(d)).
- Contributing money or valuable things, demanding/receiving contributions, or providing protection/immunity/benefits in aid of persons or organizations hostile to the United States authority (Section 8(e)).
- Giving aid and comfort on April 1, 1901, or thereafter, in opposition to or in arms against U.S. authority (Section 8(f)).
- Insane or feeble-minded persons (Section 8(g)).

Elections: schedules, enrollment, voting, and canvass

Section 9(a) sets general municipal elections (except the first, covered by special provisions in Chapter VIII) on the first Tuesday in December each year, with elected officers entering on the first Monday in January following.
Section 9(a) requires the municipal president, during the first five days of the month preceding a general election, to prepare and post a proclamation stating the election place and hours and notifying qualified electors to appear before the municipal secretary during the first fifteen days of the month to take the elector’s oath.
Section 9(a) provides that the secretary administers oaths without fee.
Section 9(b) requires proclamation posting (main municipal entrance and each barrio), then creation and posting (between fifteenth and twentieth days) of alphabetically arranged lists of qualified electors, with notices allowing a five-day period for demands for proper enrollment or requests for exclusion of names lacking voting rights.
Section 9(b) creates an enrollment dispute board composed of the vice-president, municipal treasurer, and the president, and requires land qualification valuation to be based on assessed taxation value if disputed, or determined by the board if no assessment exists.
Section 9(c) provides that special elections called under Section 13(b) occur on the fourth Tuesday succeeding the call, and are conducted under the same rules as general elections in Sections 9–13.
Section 10 requires elections in the municipal house, presided over by a board of election judges composed of three qualified electors not candidates, with two tellers, designated in writing prior to election by a majority of a board of council members with the longest unexpired terms.
Section 10 invalidates any votes cast for election board members.
Section 11 provides for secret ballot elections with:
- Qualified electors only inside the election room (Section 11(a)).
- Official ballots printed by the provincial governor, with the municipality paying at cost price (Section 11(b)).
- Ballot preparation at tables, with identity checking to prevent repeat voting (Sections 11(c) and 11(d)).
- Voters admitted not exceeding table capacity and not sharing tables at the same time, except for illiterates (Section 11(e)).
- Assistance for illiterate electors by two tellers, who fill the ballot per the elector’s dictation (Section 11(f)).
- Locked ballot box controlled by the board chairman; the box is not unlocked until ready to count, and is not removed during the election (Sections 11(g)).
- Voting hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Section 11(h)).
Section 12 establishes that a plurality of votes elects.
Section 13(a) requires post-election ballot opening, canvass, and preparation of a duplicate election certificate signed by board members and tellers; the certificate is a warrant for assumption of office unless objections are timely raised.
Section 13(a) grants objectors a three-day term after the posting of the objections duplicate to present in writing objections to the board/chairman.
Section 13(b) requires the chairman to send the duplicate certificate and objections to the provincial board the day after the objections term ends.
Section 13(b) requires the provincial board, after investigation and hearing if necessary, to decide election legality within seven days after receipt:
- If legal: it directs newly elected officers to qualify and enter duties on the date fixed by the Act.
- If illegality exists or a candidate is ineligible: it declares in writing, orders a special election to fill vacancies, and directs certification to the municipal secretary for council records.
Section 13(b) requires provincial board review to ignore irregularities or informalities that do not prevent the declared result from being the actual will of electors.

Municipal officers: eligibility, prohibitions, oaths, and bonds

Section 14(a) requires municipal president, vice-president, or councilor to be qualified municipal electors aged twenty-six or more, with one year legal residence prior to election.
Section 14(b) requires intelligence ability to speak, read, and write either Spanish or English or the local dialect.
Section 15 prohibits election or appointment to municipal office of:
- Ecclesiastics,
- soldiers in active service,
- persons receiving salaries from provincial, departmental, or governmental funds,
- contractors for public works of the municipality.
Section 16(a) requires elected or appointed officers to take and subscribe an Oath of Office before the president or municipal secretary before entering duties, and Section 16(b) requires filing of these oaths in the office of the municipal secretary.
Section 17 requires every municipal officer charged with custody of municipal funds to execute a bond with two or more sureties approved by:
- the president, and
- the provincial treasurer in writing (indorsed),
- and by the municipal council by recorded vote.
Section 17 sets the bond penal sum at not less than half of the amount of the aggregate revenue that will probably come into custody during the current year, conditioned for faithful performance and payment of all moneys received for the municipality.
Section 17 provides that in suits on the bond, signing sureties cannot defend by claiming approval requirements were not complied with if, in fact, the officer entered official duties via the bond.
Section 18 vests the president as chief executive and assigns duties including:
- executing ordinances and supervising subordinates (Section 18(a)),
- examining books/records/papers (Section 18(b)),
- issuing orders for police/public safety and calamity prevention (Section 18(c)),
- drawing warrants for council-authorized payments (Section 18(d)),
- assisting the provincial treasurer in tax collection (Section 18(e)),
- holding public auctions authorized by the council (Section 18(f)),
- holding a court to hear and adjudge violations of public ordinances after due trial and imposing punishments as provided in Section 39(dd) (Section 18(g)),
- countersigning and recording fine payments (Sect
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