The Dipolog City Council (Filipino: Sangguniang Panlungsod ng Dipolog) is Dipolog's Sangguniang Panlungsod or legislative body. The council has thirteen (13) members which is composed of ten (10) councilors, one (1) ex officio member elected from the ranks of barangay (neighborhood) chairmen, one (1) ex officio member elected from the ranks of Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) chairmen and one (1) presiding officer. The city's vice-mayor is the council's presiding officer, who is elected citywide.
The council creates laws and ordinances under the city's jurisdiction. The mayor can veto proposed bills, but the council can override it with a two-thirds supermajority.
The council usually meets at the Session Hall of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Building along Padre Jose A. Ramon Street at Estaka for regular sessions. As of 2023, the Sangguniang Panlungsod Building is undergoing redevelopment, and the council temporarily meets and holds offices at the Function Room of the Boulevard Commercial Complex at the Dipolog Boulevard.[1]
Powers, duties and functions
The Sangguniang Panlungsod, as the legislative body of the city, is mandated by the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act No. 7160) to:
Enact ordinances;
Approve resolutions;
Appropriate funds for the general welfare of the city and its inhabitants; and
Ensure the proper exercise of the corporate powers of the city as provided for under Section 22 of the Local Government Code.
Furthermore, the following duties and functions are relegated to the Sangguniang Panlungsod:
Approve ordinances and pass resolutions necessary for an efficient and effective city government;
Generate and maximize the use of resources and revenues for the development plans, program objectives and priorities of the city as provided for under section 18 of the Local Government Code of 1991, with particular attention to agro-industrial development and citywide growth and progress;
Enact ordinances granting franchises and authorizing the issuance of permits or licenses, upon such conditions and for such purposes intended to promote the general welfare of the inhabitants of the city but subject to the provisions of Book II of the Local Government Code of 1991;
Regulate activities relative to the use of land, buildings, and structures within the city in order to promote the general welfare of its inhabitants;
Approve ordinances which shall ensure the efficient and effective delivery of the basic services and facilities as provided for under Section 17 of the Local Government Code; and
Exercise such other powers and perform such other duties and functions as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.
Membership
Each of Dipolog's councilor elects ten members of the council. In plurality-at-large voting, a voter may vote for up to ten candidates and the candidates with the ten highest numbers of votes are elected.[2] Barangay and SK chairs throughout the city each elect a representative to the council, for a total of 12 councilors. City-council elections are synchronized with other elections in the country, which have been held on the second Monday of May every third year since 1992.[3]
Horacio B. Velasco - doctor, City Vice Mayor (2013 - 2022), and former City Councilor (1992 - 2001, 2004 - 2013)
Senen O. Angeles - lawyer, former city councilor (2001 - 2004), former city vice mayor (2004 - 2013), and Vice Governor of Zamboanga del Norte (2013 - 2022).
Edelburgo L. Cheng - former City Mayor (March 27, 1998 - June 30, 1998),[18] and former City Vice Mayor (1995 - March 1998; July 1998 - 2004).
^Baes served after taking Janus Yu's place until he resigned from the position to run for city councilor for the 2016 elections.
^Diaz, who took over Maynard Baes's position, served the remaining unexpired term of Janus Yu, and continue in the next Sangguniang Panlungsod membership change before the 2018 Barangay elections in Dipolog.