REPUBLIC ACT No. 981
An Act Establishing the New Capital of the Province of Cavite, and Providing a Charter Therefor, and for Other Purposes
Charter of the City of Trece Martires
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:
General Provisions
Section 1. Incorporation, powers. -The territory not exceeding one thousand hectares, located at or near the intersection of the Tanza-Indang Road and the proposed Naic-Dasmariñas Road, in the Province of Cavite, the exact boundaries and limits of which to be defined as herein provided, shall be a political subdivision to be known as the City of Trece Martires, and by that means shall have perpetual succession; have and use a common seal which it may alter at pleasure; sue and be sued, and prosecute and defend to final judgment and execution; take purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property, for the benefit of the city, within or without its corporate limits; contract and be contracted with; and execute all the powers hereinafter conferred, as well as those generally and ordinarily conferred upon chartered cities.
Section 2. Territory. -The District Engineer of the Province of Cavite shall, within three months after the approval of this Act, survey and, by proper metes and bounds, determine the territory of the City of Trece Martires, indicating in the plan, among others, avenues, streets, plazas, parks, and lots for public use. Upon the completion of such survey, the Director of Public Works shall certify the same to the President of the Philippines, who shall by executive order define the boundaries and limits of the territory of the city.
The Provincial Board of Cavite shall have power to purchase, accept gifts or donations of, or institute expropriation proceedings concerning, such lands as may be within the territory of the city for the general interests of the city or for public use.
Section 3. Jurisdiction of city for police purposes. -The jurisdiction of the City of Trece Martires for police purposes shall extend within the territorial limits of the said city; and for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity and quantity of water supply of the city, such police jurisdiction shall also extend over all territory within the drainage area of such water supply, or within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct, pumping station of watershed, used in connection with the city water service. The municipal court of the city shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the justice of the peace courts of the municipalities within which the said territory within the drainage area and the said space of one hundred meters are situated to try crimes or offenses committed therein. The court first taking jurisdiction of such an offense shall thereafter retain exclusive jurisdiction thereof. All fines, forfeitures, fees and costs, imposed by reason of offenses committed within the said space of one hundred meters and territory within the said drainage area shall accrue, not to the treasury of the City of Trece Martires but to the treasury of the municipality in which the said space or territory in which the offense committed is located.
Section 4. City not liable for damages. -The city shall not be liable of held for damages or injuries to persons or property arising from the failure of the City Council, the City Mayor, or any other city officer or employee, to enforce the provisions of this Charter, or any other law or ordinance, or from negligence of said City Council, Mayor, or other city officers or employees while enforcing or attempting to enforce said province.
City Offices and Officers in General
Section 5. Chief officials of city government. -The chief officials of the government of the city are the City Mayor, members of the City Council, city engineer, city treasurer-assessor, city fiscal, city health officer, chief of police, judge of the municipal court and secretary of the City Mayor.
The Provincial Governor, the members of the provincial board, the district engineer, the provincial treasurer, the provincial fiscal, and the district health officer of the Province of Cavite, shall be ex officio City Mayor, members of the City Council, city engineer, city treasurer-assessor, city fiscal, and city health officer of the city, respectively.
The secretary of the Provincial Board of Cavite shall act as secretary to the City Mayor and of the City Council.
Section 6. General powers and duties of the City Mayor. -Unless otherwise provided by law, the City Mayor shall have immediate control over the executive and administrative functions of the different offices of the city, subject to the authority and supervision of the Department Head. He shall have the following general powers and duties;
(a) To employ with and enforce and give the necessary orders for the faithful enforcement and execution of the laws and ordinances in effect within the jurisdiction of the city.
(b) To safeguard all the lands, buildings, records, moneys, credits, and other property and rights of the city, and subject to the provisions of this Charter, have control of all its property.
(c) To see that all taxes and other revenues of the city are collected and applied in accordance with appropriations to the payment of the municipal expenses.
(d) To cause to be instituted judicial proceedings to recover property and funds of the city wherever found, to cause to be defended all suits against the city, and otherwise to protect the interests of the city.
(e) To see that the executive officers and employees of the city properly discharge their respective duties.
(f) To examine and inspect the books, records and papers of all officers, agents, and employees of the city over whom he has executive supervision and control at least once a year, and whenever occasion arises. For this purpose he shall be provided by the City Council with such clerical or other assistance as may be necessary.
(g) To give such information and recommend such measures to the City Council as he shall deem advantageous to the city.
(h) To represent the city in all its business matters and sign on its behalf all its bonds, contracts, and obligations made in accordance with law or ordinance.
(i) To submit to the City Council at least two months before beginning of each fiscal year a budget or receipts and expenditures of the city.
(j) To receive, hear, and decide as he may deem proper the petitions, complaints, and claims concerning all classes of municipal matters of an administrative or executive character.
(k) To grant or refuse municipal licenses or permits of all classes and to revoke the same for violation of the conditions upon which they were granted, or if acts prohibited by law of municipal ordinances are being committed under the protection of such licenses or in the premises in which the business for which the same have been granted is carried on, or for any other good reason of general interest.
(l) To exempt, with the concurrence of the division superintendent of school, deserving poor pupils from the payment of school fees or of any part thereof.
(m) To take such emergency measures as may be necessary to avoid fires and floods, and mitigate the effects of storms and other public calamities.
(n) To submit an annual report to the Department Head.
(o) To perform such other duties and exercise such other executive powers as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.1âшphi1
Section 7. Secretary to City Mayor; his duties. -The Secretary shall have charge and custody of all records and documents of the city and of any office or department thereof for which provision is not otherwise made; shall keep the corporate seal and affix the same with his signature to all ordinances and resolutions signed by the City Mayor and to all other official documents and papers of the government of the city as may be required by law or ordinance; shall attest all executive orders, proclamations, ordinances, and resolutions signed by the City Mayor; shall upon request, furnish certified copies of all city records and documents in his charge which are not of a confidential character and shall charge fifty centavos for each one hundred words including the certificate, such fees to be paid directly to the city treasurer-assessor; and shall perform such other duties as the City Mayor may require of him.
Section 8. Secretary of the City Council; his duties. -The secretary shall be in charge of the records of the City Council. He shall keep a full record of the proceedings of the City Council, and file all documents relating thereto; shall record, in a book kept for that purpose, all ordinances, and all resolutions and motions directing the payment of money creating liability, enacted or adopted by the City Council, with the dates of passage of the same and of the publication of ordinances; shall keep a seal, circular in form with the inscription "City Council-City of Trece Martires", and affix the same, with his signature, to all ordinances and other officials acts of the City Council, and shall present the same for signature to the presiding officer of the City Council; shall cause each ordinance passed to be published as herein provided; shall, upon request, furnish certified copies of all records of the city Council of public character in his charge under the seal of his office and charge fifty centavos for each one hundred words including the certificate, such fees to be paid directly to the city treasurer, and shall keep his office and all records therein which are not of a confidential character open to public inspection during usual business hours.
Section 9. Methods of transacting business by City Council. -The City Mayor, as chief executive of the city, shall be a member and presiding officer of the City Council. Unless the Department Head orders otherwise, the City Council shall hold one ordinary session for the transaction of business during each week on days which it shall fix by resolution, and such extraordinary sessions, as may be called by the City Mayor. It shall sit with open doors, unless otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of all the members. It shall keep a record of its proceedings and determine its rules or procedures not herein set forth. Two members of the City Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. But a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may compel the immediate attendance of any member absent without good cause by issuing to the police of the city an order for his arrest and production at the session under such penalties as shall have been previously prescribed by ordinance. Two affirmative votes shall be necessary for the passage of any ordinance, or of any resolution or motion directing the payment of money creating liability, but other measures shall prevail upon the majority votes of the members present at any meeting duly called and held. The ayes and nays shall be taken and recorded upon the passage of all ordinances, upon all resolutions or motions directing the payment of money or creating liability, and at the request of any member, upon any other resolution or motion. Each approved ordinance, resolution or motion shall be sealed with the seal of the City Council, signed by ht e presiding officer and the secretary of the City Council and recorded in a book kept for the purpose, and shall on the day following its passage, be posted by the secretary at the main entrance to the city hall, and shall take effect and be in force on and after the tenth day following its passage unless otherwise stated in said ordinance, resolution or motion.
The Department Head shall have full power to disapprove directly, in whole or in part, any ordinance, resolution or motion of the City Council if he finds said ordinance, resolution or motion or parts thereof, beyond the powers conferred upon the City Council.
Section 10. General powers and duties of the City Council. -Except as otherwise provided by law, and subject to the conditions and limitations thereof, the City Council shall have the following legislative powered;
(a) To provide for the levy and collection of taxes for general and special purposes in accordance with law.
(b) To make all appropriations for the expenses of the government of the city: Provided, That without the express authorization of the President of the Philippines, the appropriation for the payment of salaries and wages of officers and employees of the city government for any fiscal year shall not be more than sixty per cent of the expected revenue of the city for such fiscal year.
(c) To fix with the approval of the Department Head the number and salaries of officials and employees of the city, subject to the limitations of this Act.
(d) To authorize with the approval of the Department Head the free distribution of medicines to the employees and laborers of the city whose salary or wage does not exceed one hundred and twenty pesos per month or four pesos per day, and of evaporated or fresh native milk to indigent mothers residing in the city and of bread and light meals to indigent children ten year or less of age residing in the city, the distribution to be made under the direct supervision and control of the City Mayor.
(e) To fix the tariff of fees and charges for all services rendered by the city or any of its offices, branches or officials.
(f) To provide for the erection and maintenance or the rental of the necessary buildings for the use of the city.
(g) To provide for the establishment and maintenance of public schools; and, except as otherwise provided by law, to fix, with the approval of the Director of Public Schools, reasonable matriculation and/or tuition fees for instruction therein.
(h) To establish and maintain or aid in the establishment and maintenance of vocational schools and institutions of higher learning conducted by the National Government or any of its subdivisions and agencies; and, with the approval of the Director of Public Schools, to fix reasonable tuition fees for instruction in the vocational schools and in the institutions of higher learning supported by the city.
(i) To provide for and maintain an efficient police force for the maintenance of law and order in the city, and make all necessary police ordinances, with a view to the confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating any of the ordinances of the city.
(j) To provide for and maintain an official fire force and provide engine houses, fire engines, hose carts or trucks, hooks and ladders, and other equipment for the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and to regulate the management and use of the same.
(k) To establish fire zones, determine the kinds of buildings or structures that may be erected within their limits, regulate the manner of constructing and repairing the same, and fix the fees for permits for the construction, repair, or demolition of buildings and other structures.
(l) To regulate the use of lights in stables, shops, and other building and places and to regulate and restrict the issuance of permits for the building of bonfires and the use of firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes, candles, sky- rockets, and other pyrotechnic displays, and to fix the fees for such permits.
(m) To make regulations to protect the public from conflagration and to prevent and mitigate the effect of famine, floods, storms and other public calamities, and provide relief for victims thereof.
(n) To regulate and fix the amount of the license fees for the following: hawkers, peddlers, hucksters, not including hucksters or peddlers who sell only native vegetables, fruits, or foods, personally carried by the hucksters or peddlers, auctioneers, plumbers, barbers, collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, shipping and intelligence offices, private detective agencies, advertising agencies, beauty parlors, massagists, manicurists, chiropodists, hair dressers, tattooers, jugglers, acrobats, hotels, clubs, restaurants, cafes, lodging houses, boarding houses, livery garages, livery stables, boarding stables, dealers in large cattle, public billiard tables, public pool tables, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, public warehouses, circuses, and other similar parades, public vehicles, race tracks, horse races, bowling alleys, shooting galleries, merry-go-rounds and other similar riding devices, pawn- shops, dealers in second hand merchandise, junk dealers, brewers, distillers, rectifiers, money changers and brokers, public ferries, theaters, theatrical performances, cinematographs, public exhibitions, circus and other performances and places of amusements, and the keeping, preparation, and sale of meat, poultry, fish, game, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, bread, and other provisions.
(o) To tax and fix the license fees for dealers in automobiles or accessories or both, and retail dealers in merchandise, which dealers are not yet subject to the payment of any municipal tax. of the purpose of taxation, these retail dealers shall be classified as (1) retail dealers in general merchandise, and (2) retail dealers exclusively engaged in the sale of (a) textiles including knitted wares or goods, (b) hardwares including glasswares, cooking utensils, electrical goods and construction materials, (c) groceries including toilet articles except perfumery, (d) drugs including medicines and perfumeries, (e) books, including stationery, paper, and office supplies, (f) jewelry, (g) slippers, and (h) arms, ammunitions and sporting goods.
(p) To tax, fix the license fee for, regulate the business and fix the location of match factories, blacksmith shops, foundries, steam boilers, lumber mills, lumber yards, shipyards, the storage and sale of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, coal, oil, gasoline, benzine, turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitroglycerine, petroleum, or any of the products thereof, and of all other highly combustible or explosive materials, and other establishments likely to endanger the public safety or give rise to conflagrations or explosions, and, subject to the rules and regulations issued by the Director of Health in accordance with law, tanneries, lard factories, renderies, tallow chandleries, embalmers, and funeral parlors, bone factories, and soap factories.
(q) To tax, fix the license fee for, and regulate the sale, trading in or disposal of alcoholic or malt beverages, wines, and mixed or fermented liquors, including tuba, basi, tapuy, offered for retail sale.
(r) To impose a tax on all products or commodities manufactured or produced in, or brought to, the city and removed therefrom.
(s) To impose a sales tax not exceeding one per centum of the gross value in money of all articles sold, bartered, exchanged or transferred within the city.
(t) To regulate the method of using steam engines and boilers, and all other motive powers other than marine or belonging to the Government of the Philippines; to provide for the inspection thereof and for a reasonable fee for such inspection; and to regulate and fix the fees for the licenses of the engineers engaged in operating the same.
(u) To provide for the prohibition and suppression of riots, affrays, disturbances, and disorderly assemblies; houses of ill fame and other disorderly houses; gaming houses, gambling and all fraudulent devices for the purposes of obtaining money or property; prostitution, vagrancy, intoxication, fighting, quarrelling, and all disorderly conduct; the printing, circulation, exhibition or sale of obscene pictures, books, or publications, and for the maintenance and preservation of peace and good morals.
(v) To regulate and fix the license fees for the keeping of dogs, to authorize their impounding and destructions when running at large, contrary to ordinances, and to tax and regulate the keeping or training of fighting cocks.
(w) To establish and maintain municipal pounds; to regulate, restrain and prohibit the running at large of domestic animals, and provide for the distraining, impounding and sale of the same for the penalty incurred, and the cost of the proceedings; and to impose penalties upon the owners of said animals for the violation of any ordinance in relation thereto.
(x) To prohibit and provide for the punishment of cruelty to animals.
(y) To regulate the inspection, weighing and measuring of brick, lumber, coal, and other articles of merchandise,
(z) To regulate, fix the location of, an fix the license fees for the establishment and operation of night clubs, dancing schools, dance halls, cabarets, cockpits and other places of amusements.
(aa) Subject to the provisions of existing laws, to provide for the laying out, construction, and improvement, and to regulate the use of streets, avenues, alleys, side- walks, parks, cemeteries, and other public places; to provide for lighting, cleaning, and sprinkling of streets and public places; to regulate, fix license fees for, and prohibit the use of the same for processions, signs, signposts, awnings, awningposts, the carrying or displaying of banners, placards, advertisements, or hand bills, or the flying of signs, flags, or banners, whether along, across, over, or from buildings along the same; to prohibit the placing, throwing, depositing, or leaving of obstacles of any kind, offal, garbage, refuse or to her offensive matter or matters liable to cause damage in the streets and other public places, and to provide for the collection and disposition thereof; to provide for the inspection of, fix the license fees for, and regulate the openings in the same for the laying of gas, water, sewer, and other pipes, the building and repair of the tunnels, sewers, and drains, and all structures in and under the same, and the erecting of poles and the stringing of wires therein; to provide for and regulate crosswalks, curbs, and gutters therein; to name streets without name and provide for and regulate the numbering of the houses and lots fronting thereon or in the interior of the blocks; to regulate to traffic and sales upon the streets and other public places; to provide for the abatement of nuisances in the same and punish the author or owners thereof; to provide for the construction and maintenance, and regulate the use of bridges, viaducts, and culverts; to prohibit or regulate ball playing, kite flying, hoop rolling, and other amusements which may annoy persons using the streets and public places, or frighten horses or other animals; to regulate the speed of horses or other animals, motor and other vehicles cars, and locomotives within the limits of the city; to regulate the locating, construction, and laying of the track of electric, and other forms of railroad in the streets or other public places of the city authorized by law; unless otherwise provided by law, to provide for and change the location, grade, and crossings of railroads, and to compel any such railroad to raise or lower its tracks to conform to such provisions or changes; and to require railroad companies to fence their property, or any part thereof, and to construct and repair ditches, drains, sewers and culverts along and under the tracks, so that the natural drainage of the streets and adjacent property shall not be obstructed.
(bb) To provide for the construction and maintenance of, and regulate the navigation on, canals and water courses within the city and provide for the cleansing and purification of the same; unless otherwise provided by law, to provide for the construction and maintenance, and regulate the use of public landing places, and those of private ownership; and to provide for or regulate the drainage and filling of private premises when necessary in the enforcement of sanitary rules and regulations issued in accordance with law.
(cc) To provide for the maintenance of waterworks for the purposes of supplying water to the inhabitants of the city, and for the purification of the sources of supply and the places through which the same passes, and to regulate the consumption and use of the water; to fix, subject to the provisions of the Public Service law, and to provide for the collection of rents therefor; and to regulate the construction, repair, and use of hydrants, pumps, cisterns, and reservoirs.
(dd) To provide for the establishment and maintenance and regulate the use, of public drains, sewers, latrines, and cesspools.
(ee) Subject to the rules and regulations issued by the Director of Health in accordance with law, to provide for the establishment, maintenance and fix the fees for the use of, and regulate public stables, laundries and baths, and public markets and prohibit the establishment or operation within the city limits of public markets by any person, entity, association, or corporation other than the city.
(ff) To establish or authorize the establishment of slaughterhouses, to provide for their veterinary or sanitary inspection, to regulate the use of the same, and to charge reasonable slaughter fees. No fees shall be charged for veterinary or sanitary inspection of meat from large cattle or other domestic animals slaughtered outside the city, when such inspection was has at the place where the animals where slaughtered.
(gg) To regulate, inspect and provide measures preventing and discrimination or the exclusion of any race or races in or from any institution, establishments, or service open to the public within the city limits, or in the sale and supply of gas or electricity, or in the telephone and street-railway service; to fix and regulate charges therefor where the same have not been fixed by national law; to regulate and provide for the inspection of all gas, electric, telephone, and street-railway conduits, mains, meters, substitution or removal of the same when defective or dangerous.
(hh) To declare, prevent, and provide for the abatement of nuisances; to regulate the ringing of bells and the making of loud or unusual noises; to provide that owners, agents, or tenants of buildings or premises keep and maintain the same in sanitary condition, and that, in case of failure to do so within sixty days from the date of serving a written notice, the city health officer shall cause the same to be kept in sanitary condition, the cost thereof to be assessed to the owner to the extent of not to exceed sixty per centum of the assessed value, which cost shall constitute a lien against the property; and to regulate or prohibit or fix the license fees for the use of property on or near public ways, grounds, or places, or elsewhere within the city, for a display of electric signs or the erection or maintenance of billboards or structures of whatever material erected, maintained, or used for the display of posters, signs, or other pictorial or reading matter, except signs displayed at the place or places where the profession of business advertised thereby is in whole or in part conducted.
(ii) To provide for the enforcement of the rules and regulations issued by the Director of Health, and by ordinance to prescribe penalties for violations of such rules and regulations.
(jj) To extend its ordinances over all waters within the city, and over any boat or other floating structures thereon and for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity of the water supply of the city, over all territory within the drainage area of such water supply, and within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct, or pumping station used in connection with the city water service.
(kk) To regulate any other business or occupation being conducted within the city not specifically mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, and to impose a license fee upon all persons engaged in the same or who enjoy privileges in the city.
(ll) To grant fishing and fishery privileges subject to the provisions of the Fisheries Act.
(mm) To fix the date of the holding of a fiesta in the city not oftener than once a year and to alter, not offender than once in three years, the date fixed for the celebration thereof.
(nn) To enact all ordinances it may deem necessary and proper for the sanitation and safety, the furtherance of the prosperity, and the promotion of the morality, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, and such others as may be necessary to carry into effect and discharge the powers and duties conferred by this Charter, and to fix penalties for the violation of ordinances, which shall not exceed a two hundred peso fine or six months imprisonment, or both such fine and imprisonment for a single offense.
Section 11. Restrictive provisions. -No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings. If after due investigation, and having given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the City Mayor shall decide that any sign, signboard, or billboard displayed or exposed in public view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order the removal of such sign, signboard, or billboard, and if same is not removed within ten days after he has issued such order, he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall be thereupon be forfeited to the city and the expenses incident to the removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof.
Section 12. Powers and duties and heads of city offices. -The city engineer, city treasurer-assessor, city fiscal and city health officer and other heads of offices of the city shall be in control of their respective offices under the direction and supervision of the City Mayor, and each shall possess such powers as may be prescribed herein or by ordinance. Each shall certify to the correctness of all payrolls and vouchers of his office covering the payment of money before payment, except as herein otherwise expressly provided. At least three months before the beginning of each fiscal year, each shall prepare and present to the City Mayor an estimate of the receipts and appropriation necessary for the operation of his office during the ensuing fiscal year, and shall submit therewith such information for purposes of comparison as the City Mayor may desire. Each shall submit to the City Mayor a often as required reports covering the operations of his office.
In case of the absence or sickness, or inability to act for any other reason, of the head of one of the city offices, the officer next in charge of that office shall act in his place with authority to sign all necessary papers, vouchers, requisitions and similar documents.
Section 13. Appointment and removal of officials and employees. -The President of the Philippines shall appoint with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, the judge and auxiliary judge of the municipal court, the chief of police and fire force, and other heads of offices as may be created. Except the judge and auxiliary judge of the municipal court, said officers shall hold office at the pleasure of the President.
All others officers and employees of the city whose appointment is not otherwise provided for by law shall be appointed by the City Mayor upon the recommendation of the corresponding head of office of the city in accordance with the Civil Service Law and they shall be suspended or removed in accordance with law.
Section 14. Officers not to engage in certain transactions. -It shall be unlawful for any city officer, directly or indirectly, individually or as a member of a firm, to engage in any business transaction with the city, or with any of its authorized officials, boards, agents, or attorneys, whereby money is to be paid, directly or indirectly, out of the resources of the city to such person or firm; or to purchase any real estate or other property belonging to the city, or which shall be sold for taxes or assessments, or by virtue of legal process at the suit of the city; or to be surety for any person having a contract or doing business with the city, for the performance of which security may be required; or to be surety on the official bond of any officer of the city.
Section 15. The City Engineer—His powers and duties. -The city engineer shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) He shall have charge of all the surveying and engineering work of the city, and shall perform such service in connection with public improvements, or any work entered upon or proposed by the city, or any department thereof, as may require the skill and experience of a civil engineer.
(b) He shall ascertain, record, and establish monuments of the city survey and from thence extend the survey of the city, and locate, establish, and survey all city property and also private property abutting on the same, whenever directed by the City Mayor.
(c) He shall prepare and submit plans, maps, specifications and estimates for buildings, streets, bridges, docks, and other public works, and supervise the construction and repair of the same.
(d) He shall make such tests and inspections of engineering materials used in construction and repair as may be necessary to protect the city from the use of materials of a poor or dangerous quality.
(e) He shall have the care of all public buildings, when erected, including markets and slaughterhouses and all buildings rented for city purposes, and of any system now or hereafter established by the city for lighting the streets, public places, or public buildings.
(f) He shall have the care of all public streets, parks and bridges, and shall maintain, clean, sprinkle, and regulate the use of the same for all purposes as provided by ordinance; shall collect and dispose of all garbage, refuse, the contents of closets, vaults, and cesspools, and all other offensive and dangerous substances within the city.
(g) He shall prevent the encroachment of private buildings and fences on the streets and public places of the city.
(h) He shall have the care and custody at the public system of waterworks and sewers, and all sources of water supply, and shall control, maintain, and regulate the use of the same, in accordance with the ordinance relating thereto; shall inspect and regulate the use of all private systems for supplying water to the city and its inhabitants, and all private sewers and their connections with the public sewer system.
(i) He shall supervise the laying of mains and connections for the purpose of supplying gas to the inhabitants of the city.
(j) He shall inspect and report upon the conditions of public property and public works whenever required by the City Mayor.
(k) He shall supervise and regulate the location and use of engines, boilers, forges, and other manufacturing and heating appliances in accordance with law and ordinance relating thereto. He is authorized to charge fees, at rates to be fixed by the City Council with the approval of the Department Head, for the sanitation and transportation services and supplies furnished by his office.
(l) He shall inspect and supervise the construction, repair, removal, and safety of private buildings, and regulate and enforce the numbering of houses, in accordance with the ordinances of the city.
(m) With the previous approval of the City Mayor is each case, he shall order the removal of buildings and structures erected in violation of the ordinances; shall order the removal of the materials employed in the construction or repair of any building or structure made in violation of said ordinances; and shall cause buildings and structures dangerous to the public to be made secure or torn down.
(n) He shall file and preserve all maps, plans, notes, surveys, and other papers and documents pertaining to his office.
Section 16. Executions of authorized public works and improvements. -All repair or construction of any work or public improvement, except parks, boulevards, streets or alleys, involving an estimated cost of three thousand pesos or more shall be awarded by the Mayor upon the recommendation of the city engineer to the lowest responsible bidder after public advertisement by posting notices of the call for bids in conspicuous places in the city hall and other public places, which shall not be less than ten, and by publication in the Official Gazette, both for not less than ten days: Provided, However, That the city engineer may, with the approval of the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, execute by administration any such public work costing three thousand pesos or more.
In case of public works involving an expenditure of less than three thousand pesos, it shall be discretionary with the city engineer either to proceed with the work himself or to let the contract to the lowest bidder after such publication and notice as shall be deemed appropriate or as may be, by regulations, prescribed.
Section 17. The City Treasurer-Assessor—His powers and duties. -The city treasurer-assessor shall act as chief fiscal officer and financial adviser of the city and custodian of its funds. He shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) He shall collect all taxes due the city, all licenses authorized by law or ordinance, all rents due for lands, markets, and other property owned by the city, all further charges of whatever nature fixed by law or ordinance, and shall receive and issue receipt for all costs, fees, fines and forfeitures imposed by the municipal court.
(b) He shall collect as deputy of the Collector of Internal Revenue, by himself or deputies, all taxes and charges imposed by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines upon property or persons in the city depositing daily such collections in any depository bank of the Government.
(c) He shall perform in and for the city the duties imposed by the National Internal Revenue Code and such further duties imposed by law upon provincial treasurers as are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act as well as the other duties imposed upon him by law.
(d) He shall purchase and issue all supplies, equipment or other property required by the city, through the Purchasing Agent, or otherwise, as may be authorized, subject to the general provisions of law relating thereto.
(e) He shall be accountable for all funds and property of the city and shall render such accounts in connection therewith as may be prescribed by the Auditor-General.
(f) He shall deposit daily all municipal funds and collections in any bank duly designated as Government depository.
(g) He shall disburse the funds of the city in accordance with duly authorized appropriations, upon property executed vouchers bearing the approval of the chief of the city office concerned, and on or before the twentieth day of each month he shall furnish the Mayor and the City Council for their administrative information a statement of the appropriation, expenditures and balances of all funds and accounts as of the last day of the month preceding.
(h) He shall annually assess and value for taxation the real estate of the city in accordance with Act Numbered Four Hundred seventy of the Commonwealth, known as the Assessment Law, as amended, and shall exercise and perform the powers and duties conferred by said law upon provincial assessors and municipal treasurers generally.
Section 18. The City Fiscal—His powers and duties. -The city fiscal shall be the chief legal advisers of the city. He shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) He shall represent the city in all civil cases wherein the city or any officer thereof, in his official capacity, is a party.
(b) He shall, when directed by the Mayor, institute and prosecute in the city’s interest all suits on any bonds, lease, or other contract and upon any branch or violation thereof.
(c) He shall, when requested, attend meetings of the City Council, draw ordinances, contracts, bonds, leases, and other instruments involving any interest of the city, and inspect and pass upon any such instrument already drawn.
(d) He shall give his opinion in writing, when requested by the City Mayor or the City Council or any of the heads of the city offices, upon any question relating to the city or the rights or duties of any city officer thereof.
(e) He shall, whenever it is brought to his knowledge that any person, firm, or corporation holding or exercising any franchise or public privilege from the city, has failed to comply with any condition, or to pay any consideration mentioned in the grant of such franchise or privilege, investigate or cause to be investigated the same and report to the City Mayor.
(f) He shall investigate all charges of crimes, misdemeanors, and violations of laws and city ordinances and prepare the necessary informations or make the necessary complaints against the persons accused. He may conduct such investigations by taking oral evidence of reputed witnesses and for this purpose may, be subpoena or subpoena duces tecum, summon witnesses to appear and testify under oath before him, or to produce documents and other evidence before him, and the attendance of, or the production of documents and other evidence by, an absent or recalcitrant witness may be enforced by application to the municipal court or the Court of First Instance.
(g) He shall have charge of the prosecution of all crimes, misdemeanors and violations of laws and city ordinances triable in the Court of First Instance and the municipal court of the city, and shall discharge all the duties in respect to criminal prosecutions enjoined by law upon provincial fiscals.
(h) He shall cause to be investigated the causes of sudden deaths which have not been satisfactorily explained and when there is suspicion that the cause arose from unlawful acts or omissions of other persons or from foul play. For the purpose he may cause autopsies to be made in case it is deemed necessary and shall be entitled to demand and receive for the purpose of such investigations of autopsies the aid of the city health officer.
(i) He shall at all times render such professional services as the City Mayor or City Council may require, and shall have such powers and perform such duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.
Section 19. The City Health Officer—His powers and duties. -The City health officer shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) He shall have general supervision over the health and sanitary conditions of the city, including the cleaning of crematories, cemeteries, stockyards, slaughterhouses, and markets.
(b) He shall execute and enforce all laws, ordinances and regulations relating to the public health.
(c) He shall recommend to the City Council the passage of such ordinances as he may deem necessary for the preservation of the public health.
(d) He shall cause to be prosecuted all violations of sanitary laws, ordinances, or regulations.
(e) He shall make sanitary inspections and may be aided therein by such members of the police force of the city or the national police as shall be designated as sanitary police by the chief of police or proper national police officer and such sanitary inspectors as may be authorized by law.
(f) He shall keep a civil register for the city and shall record therein all births, marriages, and deaths with their respective dates.
(g) He shall perform such other duties, not repugnant to law or ordinance, with reference to the health and sanitation of the city as the Director of Health shall direct.
Section 20. The Chief of Police—His powers and duties. -The Chief of police shall have charge of the police and fire force of the city. He shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) He may issue supplementary regulations not incompatible with law or general regulations promulgated by the proper department head of the National Government, in accordance with law, for the governance of the city police, detective force and the fire force.
(b) He shall quell riots, disorders, disturbances of the peace, and shall arrest and prosecute violators of any law or ordinance; shall exercise police supervision over all land and water within the police jurisdiction of the city; shall be charged with the protection of the rights of persons and property wherever found within the jurisdiction of the city, and shall arrest when necessary to prevent the escape of the offender, violators of any law or ordinance, and all who obstruct or interfere with him in the discharge of his duty; shall have charge of the city prison; and shall be responsible for the safekeeping of all prisons until they shall be released from custody, in accordance with law, or delivered to the warden of the proper prison or penitentiary.(c) He may take good and sufficient bail for the appearance before the judge of the municipal court of any person arrested for violation of any city ordinance.
(d) He shall have authority within the police limits of the city, to serve and execute criminal processes of any court.
(e) He shall be the deputy sheriff of the city, and as such he shall, personally or by representative, attend the sessions of the municipal court, and shall execute promptly and faithfully, all writs and processes of said court.
(f) He shall have charge of the fire-engine houses, fire engines, hose trucks, hooks and ladders, and all other fire apparatus.
(g) He shall have full police powers in the vicinity of fires.
(h) He shall have authority to remove or demolish any building or other property whenever it shall become necessary to prevent the spreading of fire or to protect adjacent property.
(i) He shall investigate and report to the Mayor upon the origin and cause of all fires occurring within the city.
(j) He shall inspect all buildings erected or under construction or repair within the city and determine whether they provide sufficient protection against fire and comply with the ordinance relating thereto.
(k) He shall have charge of the city fire alarm service.
(l) he shall supervise and regulate the stringing, grounding, and installation of wires for all electrical connections with a view to avoiding conflagrations, interference with public traffic or safety, or the necessary operation of the police and fire force.
(m) He shall supervise the manufacture, storage, and use of petroleum, gas, acetylene, gunpowder, and other highly combustible matter and explosives.
(n) He shall have such other powers and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.
Section 21. Peace officers—Their powers and duties. -The City Mayor, the chief of police, and all officers and members of the city police and detective force shall be peace officers. Such peace officers are authorized to serve and execute all processes of the municipal court and criminal processes of all other courts to whomsoever directed, within the jurisdictional limits of the city or within the police limits as hereinbefore defined; within the same territory, to pursue and arrest, without warrant, any person found in suspicious places or under suspicious circumstances reasonably tending to show that such person has committed, or is about to commit, any crime, or breach of the peace; to arrest or cause to be arrested, without warrant, any offender when offense is committed in the presence of a peace officer or within his view; in such pursuit or arrest to enter any building, ship, boat, or vessel or take into custody any person therein suspected of having participated in such crime or breach of the peace, and any property suspected of having been stolen and to exercise such other powers and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance. Whenever the Mayor shall deem it necessary to avert danger or to protect life and property, in case of riot, disturbance, or public calamity, or when he has reason to fear any serious violation of law and order, he shall have the power to swear in special police, in such numbers as the occasion may demand. Such special police shall have the powers while on duty as members of the regular force.
Section 22. Regular, auxiliary and acting judges of municipal court. -There shall be a municipal court for the city for which there shall be appointed a municipal judge and an auxiliary municipal judge.
The municipal judge may, upon proper application, be allowed a vacation of not more than thirty days every year with salary. The auxiliary municipal judge shall discharge the duties of the municipal judge in case of absence, incapacity, or inability of the latter until he resumes his post, or until a new judge shall have been appointed. During his incumbency the auxiliary municipal judge shall enjoy the powers, emoluments and privileges of the municipal judge who shall not receive any remuneration therefor except the salary to which he is entitled by reason of his vacation provided for in this Charter.
In case of absence, incapacity or inability, of both the municipal judge and the auxiliary municipal judge, the Secretary of Justice shall designate the justice of the peace of any of the adjoining municipalities to preside over the municipal court, and he shall hold office temporarily until the regular incumbent or the auxiliary judge thereof shall have resumed office, or until another judge shall have been appointed in accordance with the provisions of this Charter. The justice of the peace so designated shall receive his salary as justice of the peace plus seventy per cent of the salary of the municipal judge whose office he has temporarily assumed.
Section 23. Clerk and employees of the municipal court. -There shall be a clerk of the municipal court who shall be appointed by the Municipal Judge in accordance with the Civil Service Law, rules and regulations, and who shall receive a compensation, to be fixed by ordinance approved by the Secretary of Justice, at not exceeding one thousand four hundred and forty pesos per annum. He shall keep the seal of the court and affix it to all orders, judgments, certificates, records, and other documents issued by the court. He shall keep a docket of the trials in the court, in which he shall record in a summary manner the names of the parties and the various proceedings in civil cases, and the criminal cases, the name of the defendant, the charge against him, the names of the witnesses, the date of the arrest, the appearance of defendant, together with the fines and costs adjudged or collected in accordance with the judgment. He shall have the power to administer oath.
The clerk of the municipal court shall at the same time be sheriff of the city and shall as such have the same powers and duties conferred by existing law upon sheriffs. The City Council may provide for such number of clerks in the office of the clerk of the municipal court as the needs of the service may demand.
Section 24. Jurisdiction of Municipal Court. -The municipal court shall have like jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases and the same incidental powers as are conferred by law upon municipal courts of chartered cities.
Section 25. Procedure in municipal court in prosecution for violation of laws and ordinances. -In a prosecution for the violation of any ordinance, the first process shall be a summons; except that a warrant for the arrest of the offender may be issued in the first instance upon the affidavit of any person that such ordinance has been violated, and that the person making the complaint has reasonable grounds to believe that the party charged is guilty thereof, which warrant shall conclude: "Against the ordinance of the city in such cases made and provided." All proceedings and prosecutions for offenses against the laws of the Philippines shall conform to the rules relating to process, pleading, practice, and procedure for the judiciary of the Philippines, and such rules shall govern the municipal court and its officers in all cases insofar as the same may be applicable.
Section 26. Costs, fees, fines and forfeitures in municipal court. -There shall be taxed against and collected from the defendant, in case of his conviction in the municipal court, such costs and fees as may be prescribed by law in criminal cases in justice of the peace courts. All costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures shall be collected by the clerk of court, who shall keep a docket of those imposed and of those collected, and shall pay collections of the same to the city treasurer, for the benefit of the city, on the next business day after the same are collected, and take receipts therefor. The municipal judge shall examine said docket each day, compare the same with the amount receipted for by the city treasurer and satisfy himself that all such costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures have been duly accounted for.
Section 27. No person sentenced by municipal court to be confined without commitment. -No person shall be confined in the prison by sentence of the municipal court until the warden or officer in charge of the prison shall receive a written commitment showing the offense for which the prisoner was tried, the date of the trial, the exact terms of the judgment or sentence, and the date of the order of the commitment.1âшphi1 The clerk shall, under seal of the court, issue a commitment in each case of sentence to imprisonment.
Section 28. Procedure on appeal from municipal court to Court of First Instance. -An appeal shall lie to the Court of First Instance in all cases where fine or imprisonment or both, is imposed by the municipal court.1âшphi1 The party desiring to appeal shall, before six o’clock post meridian of the fifteenth day after the promulgation and entry of the judgment by the municipal court, file with the clerk of the court of written statement that he appeals to the court of First Instance. The filing of such statement shall perfect the appeal. The judge of the court from whose decision appeal is taken, shall, within five days after the appeal is taken, transmit to the clerk of the Court of First Instance a certified copy of the record of proceedings and all the original papers and processes in the case. A perfected appeal shall operate to vacate the judgment of the municipal court, and the action, when duly entered in the Court of First Instance, shall stand for trial de novo upon its merits as though the same had never been tried. Pending an appeal, the defendant shall remain in custody unless sufficient bail, in accordance with existing provisions of law, has been filed and perfected.
Appeals in civil cases shall be governed by the ordinary procedures established by law
Assessment
Section 29. The provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered Four hundred and seventy, known as the Assessment Law, as amended and other laws relative to real property tax applicable to the municipalities, shall continue in force in, or be applicable to, the City of Trece Martires as before its incorporation. For this purpose, whenever the words "municipal council", "municipality", "municipalities", or "municipal" appear in said act, the same shall be construed to mean as City Council, or City of Trece Martires.
Section 30. Allotment of internal revenue and other taxes. -Of the internal revenue accruing to the National Treasury under Chapter II, Title XII, Commonwealth Act Numbered Four hundred and sixty-six, and other taxes collected by the National Government and allotted to the various provinces, as well as the National aid for schools, the City of Trece Martires shall receive a share equal to what it would receive if it were a regularly organized province.
City Budget
Section 31. Annual budget. -At least four months before the beginning of each fiscal year the city treasurer-assessor shall present to the City Mayor a certified detailed statement by department of all receipts and expenditures of the city pertaining to the preceding fiscal year, and to the first seven months of the current fiscal year together with an estimate of the receipts and expenditures for the remainder of the current fiscal year; and he shall submit with this statement a detailed estimate of the revenues and receipts of the city from all sources for the ensuing fiscal year. Upon receipt of his statement and estimate and the statements of heads of city offices as required by section twelve of this Charter, the City Mayor shall formulate and submit to the City Council at least two and a half months before the beginning of the ensuing fiscal year, a detailed budget covering the estimated necessary expenditures for the said ensuing fiscal year, which shall be the basis of the annual appropriation ordinance; Provided, However, That in no case shall the aggregate amount of such appropriation exceed the estimate of revenues and receipts submitted by the city treasurer-assessor as provided above: Provided, further, That not more than fifty per cent of the expected revenue of the city for any fiscal year shall be appropriated for the payment of salaries and wages of officials and employees of the city government for the said fiscal year.
Section 32. Supplemental budget. -Supplemental budget formulated in the same manner may be adopted when special or unforeseen circumstances make such action necessary.
Section 33. Failure to enact an appropriation ordinance. -Whenever the City Council fails to enact an appropriation ordinance for any fiscal year before the end of the previous fiscal year the appropriation ordinance for such previous year shall be deemed reenacted, and shall go into effect on the first day of the new fiscal year as the appropriation ordinance for that year, and such appropriation ordinance shall be deemed reenacted from year to year, and shall be renewed and go into effect on the first day of each fiscal year, as the appropriation ordinance for that year, until a new appropriation ordinance is duly enacted.
Bureaus Performing Municipal Duties
Section 34. General Auditing Office—City Auditor. -The city auditor, under the supervision of the Auditor General, shall receive and audit all accounts of the city, in accordance with the provisions of law relating to government accounts and accounting. The provincial auditor of the Province of Cavite shall act as city auditor ex officio of the City of Trece Martires with an additional compensation of four hundred eighty pesos per annum, payable from the funds of the city.
Section 35. The Register of Deeds of the Province of Cavite as city register of deeds of the City of Trece Martires. -The register of deeds of the Province of Cavite shall act as city register of deeds ex officio of the City of Trece Martires with an additional compensation of four hundred eighty pesos per annum, payable from the funds of the city.
Section 36. The Bureau of Supply. -The Purchasing Agent shall purchase and supply in accordance with law all supplies, equipment, material, and property of every kind, except real estate for the use of the city and its offices. But contracts for completed work of any kind for the use of the city, or any of its departments or offices, involving both labor and materials, where the materials are furnished by the contractors, shall not be deemed to be within the purview of this section.
Section 37. The Bureau of Public Schools. -The Director of the Bureau of Public Schools shall exercise the same jurisdiction and powers in the city as elsewhere in the Philippines and the division superintendent of schools for the Province of Cavite shall have all the powers and duties in respect to the schools of the city as are vested in division superintendents in respect to schools of their divisions.
The city council shall have the same powers in respect to the establishment of schools as are conferred by law on municipal councils.
Section 38. Reports to the Mayor concerning schools—Construction and custody of school buildings. -The division superintendent of schools shall make a quarterly report of the condition of the schools and school buildings of the City of Trece Martires to the City Mayor, and such recommendations as seem to him wise in respect to the number of teachers, their salaries, new buildings to be erected and all other similar matters, together with the amount of city revenues which should be expended in paying teachers, and improving the schools or schools buildings of the city.
Section 39. Capital and seal of government of Province of Cavite. -The City of Trece Martires shall be the capital and seat of government of the Province of Cavite.
Section 40. Representative district. -For election purposes, the City of Trece Martires shall continue to be a part of the province and representative district of Cavite. The qualified voters of the said city shall be qualified to vote in the election of elective officials of the said province.
Section 41. Appropriation. -There is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five hundred thousand pesos which shall be expended by the Provincial Board of Cavite for the survey and delimitation of the lands to be comprised within the territory of the City of Trece Martires, for the purchase or appropriation of private lands within the said territory, for the construction of the necessary buildings for housing the government offices and for the payment of necessary expenses to be incurred in connection with the operation for the first year of the government of said city.
Section 42. Date of taking effect. -The provisions of this Act, which refer to the survey and delimitation of the territory of the City of Trece Martires, to the purchase or expropriation of the lands comprised in the said territory, to the appropriation for the said purposes, and to the construction of the necessary buildings for housing the offices of the government of the city, shall take effect upon the approval of this Act; all the other provisions of said Act shall take effect on the date of the inauguration of the city which shall be fixed by the President of the Philippines.
Approved: May 24, 1954.
The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation
