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. RePublic of the PhiliPPines

DEPARTMEIT OF TH-E INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

A. Francisco Gold Condominium II Bldg, EDSAcorner Mapagrnahal St', Diliman, Quezon City

LEGAL SERVICE

Nov 2 2 2010

DILG LEGAL OPINION NO. 145 S. 201O

HON. HAROUN ALRASHID A. LUCMAN' JR'

DILG-ARMM Regional SecretarY and

Provincial DirectorProvince of Lanao, Amai-PakPak

Brgy. Green, Marawi CitY

Dear Regional Secretary Lucman, Jr,:

This has reference to your letter seeking legal opinion on "whe.ther the

holdover term constitutes as ONE fEAU in counting the three (3)

consecutive terms of a Barangay Chairman"'

Inyour|etter,youcitedtwo(2)scenariosand.furtherstatedthattheopinion

L fiucn soug'fti to help the dILG Provincial Officg settle the issuepertaining

thereto. Pleise take note that Scenario No' 1 is incomplete' Hence' may we

u" piouia"a with the pertinent data which were not so provided in your letter

in order for us to properly advise you on the matter'

RA 91641, as amended by RA 9340, fixed the date of the barangay and SK

"f"Aio"r,'frescribed the term of office of the barangay and SK officials, and

p.ouio"o' for the qualifications of candidates and voters for the sK elections'

The word .,term,, in a legal sense means a fixed and definite period of time

which the law describei that an officer may hold an office. According to

tu|".h".,thetermofofficeistheperiodduringWhichanoffjce-may-belc!d.-U;"" expiration of the officert term, unless he is authorized by

t"--* to '6OIO6VER,his rights, duties and authority as a public offic-er must

ipr" i.a" iease. In inu tu*-of public officers, the most and natural frequent

;;ih"d by *hich a public officer ceases to be such is by the expiration of the

terms for which he was elected or appointed' A later case' Gaminde v'

commission on Audit, reiterated that "[T]he term means the time durinc

which the officer mav claim to hold office as of riqht, and fix.es the interval

after *hich ttte several incurnbents shall succeed one another"'r

principle as provided for in Section 5 of RA

in the transaction of ofticial business and

pending the assumption of a successor into

The application of the holdover

9164preserues continuitv

prevents a hiatus in governmentoffice.

l An Act Providing For Slmchronized Barangay And sangguniang Kabataan.Elections,

Amending nepub*lic Act No' 7160, As Amended, Otherwise Known As The "Local

Government Code Of 1991", And For Other Purposes

2 Aldolrlno ts Commisslon On Electlons, C R. l'to' 184836, 23 December 2009

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Drevents a hiatus in government pending the assumption of a successor into

office.

Ergo, the holdover period does not constitute a separate term but

merelv a valid extenslon' p"tioO during which an incumbent may legally

lilrr"'irir.r" rir".iioni ir his office pending the assumption of a successor'

Delvingonthescenarlosyoupresented,weta-ckle.Scenario2wherebya'f-termer Punons Barangav iouiistittaoi runs for the position :t:^lT:q-1{tinii" i.rii ton ftonni"

-sjr.Loo)runs for the post.of a Punong Barangay' ano

rrt"i u"i.g elected u. .rin, the son reiinquishes his post as Punong

Barangay to give way to his successor, presumably the father' being the

highest ranking sanggunian barangay memoer'

Under this premlse, we can only substantiate the issue on a valid

succession as sanctioned JV S"ction qC $) of the Local Government Code of

1991, wherein the hignesi'tuntting sanggunian member becomes the PunongBarangay in case a p"rmanenf vacancy occurs in the latter post' as

mentioned in Your Scenario 2'

The issue as to whether the acts of the father and son constitute a

'i.ii.u.u"ntion of law" ii not for this Department to determine' A person

;;;;;J bt acts perceived io be contrary to law' such as in the given

case where the arregej lssumpiion to office appears to be a circumvention

of the law, may file u p"tiii"" 'before the Regional Trial court to question

the said assumption to office'

We hope that the foregoing sufficiently resolvesyour concerns'

Very truly Yours,

LS:55/rb

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