SP amends house rules, adds IPMR as member

THE 20th City Council, in its regular session Monday presided over by Vice Mayor Bebot Rodriguez, amended its house rules to add the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) as one of the members of the City Council and create the Committee on Cultural Communities as a separate standing committee.

Specifically amended were Section 2 (Composition) under Rule II of the IRP and Section 13 (Standing Committees). The creation of the IPMR is  pursuant to RA No. 8371 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), pertinent issuances of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and City Ordinance No. 14804-2024.

As an ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the IPMR shall automatically chair the City Council Committee on Cultural Communities or its equivalent and be eligible for election as vice chair or member of other standing committees.

The City Council Committee on Cultural Communities shall formulate policies, plans, and programs which will promote and protect the rights and well-being of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and their ancestral domain, the preservation of their heritage, livelihood opportunities and programs for their growth and development.

The legislation was sponsored by the City Council Committee on Laws and Rules chaired by Councilor Edgar S. Cabanlas.