Section 1. This Act shall be known as "The Charter of the City of Bacolod."
ARTICLE I
General Provisions
Section 2. Territory of the City. — The City of
Bacolod, which is hereby created, shall comprise the territory of the
present municipality of Bacolod, in the Province of Occidental
Negros.
Section 3. Corporate character of the City of Bacolod.
— The City of Bacolod constitutes a political body corporate and, as
such, is endowed with the attribute of perpetual succession and
possessed of the powers which pertain to a municipal corporation, to be
exercised in conformity with the provisions of this Charter.
Section 4. Seal and general powers of the city. — The
city shall have a common seal, and may alter the same at pleasure.
It may take, purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of
real and personal property for the general interests of the city,
condemn private property for public use, contract and be contracted
with, sue and be sued, and prosecute and defend to final judgment and
execution, and exercise all the powers hereinafter conferred.
Section 5. The city not liable for damages. — The city
shall not be liable or held for damages or injuries to persons or
property arising from the failure of the Mayor, the City Council, or
any other city officer, to enforce the provisions of this Charter or
any other law or ordinance, or from negligence of said Mayor, City
Council, or other officers while enforcing or attempting to enforce
said provisions.
Section 6. Jurisdiction of the city for police
purposes. — The jurisdiction of the City of Bacolod for police purposes
only shall extend to three miles from the shore into the sea and over a
zone surrounding the city on land of two and one-half miles in width;
and, for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity of the 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, or pumping
station used in connection with the city water service. The police of
the several municipalities concerned shall have concurrent jurisdiction
with the police of the City of Bacolod for the maintenance of good
order and the enforcement of lawful ordinances throughout said zone,
area, and spaces. But any license that may lawfully be granted within
said zone, area, and spaces shall be granted by the proper authorities
of the municipality concerned, and the fees arising therefrom shall
appertain to the treasury of the municipality concerned and not to that
of the City of Bacolod.
Section 7. Relations between the City of Bacolod and
the Provincial Government of Occidental Negros. — For election
purposes, the City of Bacolod shall continue as part of the Second
Assembly District of the Province of Occidental Negros. The voters of
said City of Bacolod shall take part in the election of the provincial
officers of Occidental Negros, but the latter have no jurisdiction over
the City of Bacolod and the officers of the same, except as provided in
section fourteen hereof.
In consideration of the privileges and exemptions enjoyed by the
provincial government within the city and of the responsibilities
imposed on the same by the continuance of the city as capital of the
province, the provincial board of Occidental Negros shall be obliged to
create a permanent continuing annual appropriation of not less than
fifty thousand pesos to be credited to the general funds of the city.
The Auditor General shall see to the enforcement of this provision of
law and shall transfer to the City of Bacolod at the beginning of each
year, from any funds in the provincial treasury of Occidental Negros
not otherwise appropriated, the sum of fifty thousand pesos, unless the
provincial government shall have previously voted a greater sum.
ARTICLE II
The Mayor
Section 8. Appointment and compensation. — The Mayor
shall be the chief executive of the city.
The Mayor shall be appointed by the President, with the consent of the
Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly, and shall hold
office at the pleasure of the President.
He shall receive a salary of six thousand pesos a year. With the
approval of the Secretary of the Interior, the Mayor may receive, in
addition to his salary, an allowance of two thousand pesos per annum.
Section 9. The Acting Mayor. — In the event of the
sickness, absence or other temporary incapacity of the Mayor, or in the
event of a definite vacancy in the position of Mayor, the city engineer
shall perform the duties of the Mayor until said office shall be filled
in accordance with law. If for any reason, the city engineer is
incapacitated to perform the duties of the Mayor, or the office of city
engineer is vacant, the duties of the Mayor shall be performed by the
city treasurer. In case of the incapacity of the officials mentioned
above to perform the duties of the Mayor, the President shall appoint
one. The Acting Mayor shall have the same powers and duties as the
Mayor, and, if one appointed is other than a government official, he
shall receive the same compensation.
Section 10. General powers and duties of the Mayor. — As chief executive
of the city government, the Mayor shall have immediate control over the
executive and administrative functions of the different departments,
subject to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, and shall
be held accountable for the proper administration of all affairs of the
city.
He shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) To comply with and enforce and give the necessary
orders for the faithful and proper enforcement and execution of the
laws and city ordinances and resolutions 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 have
control for all its property
(c) To see that all taxes and other revenues of the
city are collected, and the city funds 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 officers and employees of the
city properly discharge their respective duties.
(f) To examine and inspect the books, records, and
papers of all executive or administrative officers, agents and
employees of the city whenever occasion arises, and at least once a
year. 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 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 ordinances.
(i) To submit to the City Council before the
thirty-first day of October of each year a budget of 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 same, in conformity with the provisions of
laws and ordinances, or for violation of the conditions upon which they
were granted, or if acts prohibited by law or 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 determine according to law or ordinance the
time, manner, and place of payment of the salaries and wages of the
officers and employees of the city.
(m) To exempt, with the concurrence of the division
superintendent of schools, deserving poor pupils from the payment of
school fees or any part thereof.
(n) To make all appointments, except as otherwise
provided in this Charter.
(o) To make such emergency measures as may be
necessary to avoid fires, floods, and the effects of storms and other
public calamities.
(p) To render an annual report to the Secretary of
the Interior.
(q) To exercise the power of veto, but any vetoed
ordinance or resolution may be repassed by a two-thirds vote of all the
members of the Council.
(r) To perform such other duties and exercise such
other executive powers as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.
Section 11. Secretary to the Mayor. — The Mayor shall appoint the
secretary who shall have the following duties:
(a) To act as chief clerk of the office of the Mayor.
(b) To act as secretary of the Board of Tax Appeals,
and such other boards or committees as may hereafter be created by law
or ordinance, and shall keep a journal of their proceedings.
(d) To keep the corporate seal.
(e) To keep a civil register for the city and to
record therein all births, marriages, and deaths with their respective
dates.
(f) To perform such other duties as the Mayor or
Council may direct.
Section 12. Execution of authorized public works and improvements. — All
public works of construction, repair, and improvement of the city shall
be carried on by administration under the direction of the city
engineer. For justified reasons, the Mayor, upon recommendation of the
city engineer, may also have said work done totally or partially by
contract, upon advertising for bids therefor In this event, the Mayor
shall advertise for sealed bids or proposals for the same in two
newspapers of general circulation in the City of Bacolod, one in the
native language generally spoken in the city and the other in English
or Spanish, for a period of one week, the first insertion to be less
than ten days before the day fixed for opening such proposals. A plan
or profile of the work to be done, accompanied by specifications for
the performance of the same, shall, before advertisement, be placed on
file in the office of the city engineer, which plan, profile and
specifications shall, at all times, be open for public inspection. All
bids shall be opened in the presence of the Mayor and the city engineer
at the advertised time and place. Each bid shall be accomplished by a
deposit, the amount and character of which shall be fixed by the Mayor
and named in the advertisement, and which in no case shall be less than
ten per centum nor shall exceed twenty-five per centum of the estimated
cost of the improvement or work to be done. Such deposit shall be
forfeited to the city if the bidder in case the contract shall be
awarded to him shall neglect or refuse to enter into a contract, with
approved sureties, to execute the work for the price mentioned in his
bid and according to the plans and specifications. The Mayor may upon
recommendation of the city engineer reject any or all bids received.
Should all bids be rejected, or should it become necessary for any
reason to call for new bids, subsequent advertisement shall be for a
period of five days and in the manner above prescribed. Bonds, to be
approved by the Mayor, shall be taken for the faithful performance of
all contracts. Contracts shall be executed in triplicate by the Mayor
and by the contractor, and one original shall be filed in the office of
the Mayor, one in the office of the Auditor, and the third shall be
given to the contractor.
ARTICLE III
The City Council
Section 13. Constitution and Organization of the City Council. —The City
Council shall be the legislative body of the City, and shall be
composed of the city mayor, the city engineer, the city treasurer, and
six councilors, two appointed by the President, with the consent of the
Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly, and the other four
elected by popular vote. The Mayor shall act as president of the
Council. Pending the next general elections the offices of said four
elective councilors shall be filled in the same manner as the offices
of the appointive councilors.
If any member of the City Council should be a candidate for office in
any election, he shall be incompetent to act with the City Council in
the discharge of the duties herein conferred upon it as to election
matters, and in such case the other members of the Council shall
discharge said duties without his assistance, or they may choose some
disinterested elector of the city to act on the Council in such matters
in his stead.
The councilors shall be resident of the City of Bacolod and shall have
the status and qualifications of provincial officers of an organized
province.
The President of the City Council shall preside at all the meetings of
the council at which he is present and shall have the right to vote on
all matters submitted to the Council. In his absence, the Council
meeting shall be presided over by the city engineer as acting
president. The President of the Council shall sign all ordinances and
all resolutions and motions directing the payment of money or creating
liability. In case of sickness or absence of any member of the Council
or if for any reason it becomes necessary to maintain a quorum, the
President of the Philippines shall appoint a temporary substitute who,
until the return to duty of the sick or absent member, shall hold the
office, possess all rights, receive all the compensation and emoluments
and perform all the duties of a member of the Council.
The Mayor, the city engineer, and the city treasurer shall serve in the
City Council with additional compensation. The other councilors shall
receive, for each day of attendance at the sessions of the Council a
per diem of ten pesos.
The Council shall fix the times and places for its regular meetings,
which shall be held once a week, and shall hold special meetings when
called by the Mayor. Any meeting, regular or special, may, in case the
amount of business shall require, be adjourned from day to day until
the business is completed. Meetings shall be open to the public unless
otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members.
The Council shall keep a record of its proceedings and determine its
rules of procedure not herein set forth. A majority of the Council
shall keep a record of its proceedings and determine its rules of
procedure not herein set forth. A majority of the Council shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a smaller
number may adjourn from time to time. 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 motion or resolution. The
affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the City Council
shall be necessary for the passage of any ordinance, or any resolution
or motion directing the payment of money or creating liability, but
other measures shall prevail upon the majority vote of the members
present at any meeting duly called and held. Each ordinance shall be
sealed with the city seal, signed by the President and the Secretary of
the Council, and recorded in a book kept for that purpose. Each
ordinance 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 or resolution, and unless
vetoed by the Mayor before the expiration of said ten-day period. A
vetoed ordinance, if repassed, shall take effect ten days after the
veto is overridden by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the City
Council, unless another date is fixed in the said resolution or
ordinance.
Section 14. Appointment and Duties of Secretary
of Council. — The Council shall have a secretary, who shall be elected
by it to serve during the term of office of the members. A vacancy in
the office of secretary shall be filled temporarily or for the
unexpired term in like manner. The compensation of the secretary shall
be fixed by the Council at not exceeding three thousand pesos a year.
The secretary shall be in charge of the records of the City Council: He
shall keep a full record of the proceedings of the Council, and file
all documents relating therein; shall record, in a book kept for that
purpose, all ordinances, and all resolutions and motions directing the
payment of money or creating liability, with the dates of approval of
the same, and of the publication of ordinances; shall keep a seal,
circular in form, with the inscription "Municipal Council — City of
Bacolod," and shall affix the same, with his signature, to all
ordinances and other official acts of the Board, and shall present the
same for signature to the President thereof; shall cause each ordinance
passed to be published in the native language generally spoken in the
city, as well as either English or Spanish depending on the language
used in the same at the time of its passage in the Council; shall, on
demand, furnish certified copies of all records of public character in
his charge, and collect and receive therefor, such fees as may be
prescribed by ordinance or resolution of the Council; 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 15. Appropriations by the Council;
Intervention of the Provincial Board. — The Council shall make all
appropriations for the expenses of the government of the city. Whenever
the Council fails to pass an appropriation ordinance for any year
before the end of the previous year, the appropriation ordinance for
such previous year shall be deemed reenacted and shall go into effect
on the first day of January of the current year, as the appropriation
ordinance for that year, until a new appropriation ordinance is duly
enacted.
Ordinances involving appropriations shall be subject to the approval of
the Provincial Board which shall act upon it within ten days from
submission thereof: Provided, That upon failure of the Board to act on
the same within the said period of ten days, such ordinances shall be
deemed to have been approved: And, provided, further, That any action
of the Board disapproving any such ordinance shall be appealable to the
Secretary of the Interior, whose action is final.
Section 16. Method of transacting business by Council; Veto,
authentication and publication of ordinances. — Unless the Secretary of
the Interior orders otherwise, the Council shall hold ordinary sessions
twice a week for the transaction of business on days which it shall fix
by resolution, and such extraordinary sessions, not exceeding ten days
any one year, as may be called by the Mayor, except the sessions
provided for in section thirty-seven of this Charter. It shall sit with
open doors unless otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of four
members. He shall keep a record of its proceedings and determine it
rules of procedure. Five members of the Council shall constitute a
quorum for the transaction of business, and four affirmative votes
shall be necessary for the passage of any ordinance, resolution, or
motion. 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 ordinance enacted by the
Council, and each resolution or motion directing the payment of money
or creating liability, shall be forwarded to the Mayor for his
approval. Within ten days after the receipt of the ordinance,
resolution or motion, the Mayor shall return it with his approval or
veto. If he does not return it within that time, it shall be deemed to
be approved. If he returns it with his veto, his reasons therefor in
writing shall accompany it. It may then be again enacted by the
affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the Council.
Section 17. General powers and duties of the
Council. — Except as otherwise provided by law, and subject to the
conditions and limitations thereof, the City Council shall have the
following legislative powers:
(a) To levy and collect taxes for general and special
purposes in accordance with law, including specifically the power to
levy, in addition to the provincial rate, real property tax not to
exceed one and a half per centum to be applied one-half to the city
school fund and one-half to the city general fund.
(b) To fix the tariff and charges for all services
rendered by the city or any of its departments, branches or offices.
(c) To provide for the erection and maintenance or
the rental of the necessary buildings for the use of the city.
(d) To provide for the establishment and maintenance
of free public schools, at least, for primary instruction.
(e) To establish 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 Education, to fix
reasonable tuition fees for instruction in the secondary and vocational
schools and in those higher institutions supported entirely by the city.
(f) To provide for the establishment and maintenance
of an efficient police force in the city and make all necessary police
ordinances, with a view to the confinement and reformation of vagrants,
disorderly persons, mendicants, and persons convicted of violating any
of the ordinances of the city.
(g) To maintain the court or courts established or
which may be established for the city.
(h) To establish fire zones, determine the kinds of
buildings or structures that may be erected within the limits of said
zones, regulate the manner of constructing and repairing, and fix the
fees for permits for the construction, repair, or demolition of
buildings and structures.
(i) To establish and maintain engine house, fire
engines, hose carts, hooks and ladders, and other equipment for the
prevention and extinction of fires, to regulate the management and use
of the same, and to provide personnel therefor.
(j) To regulate the use of lights in stables, shops,
and other buildings and places, and to regulate and restrict the
issuance of permits for the building of bonfires and the use of
firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes, candles, skyrockets, and other
pyrotechnic displays, and to fix the fees for such permits.
(k) To make regulations to protect the public from
conflagrations and to prevent and mitigate the effects of famine,
floods, storm and other public calamities, and to provide relief for
persons suffering from the same.
(l) 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 goods
personally carried by the hucksters or peddlers; auctioneers, plumbers,
barbers, embalmers, collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, shipping
and intelligence offices, private detective agencies, advertising
agencies, massagists, tattooers, jugglers, acrobats, hotels, clubs,
restaurants, cafes, lodging houses, boarding houses, dealers in large
cattle, public billiard tables, laundries, cleaning and dyeing
establishments, public warehouses, dance halls, cabarets, circus and
other similar parades, public vehicles, race tracks, horse races,
bowling alleys shooting galleries, slot machines, merry-go-rounds,
pawnshops, dealers in second-hand merchandise, junk dealers, brewers,
distillers, rectifiers, money changers and brokers public ferries,
theaters, theatrical performances, cinematographs, public exhibitions,
circuses, and all 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. To tax and fix
the license fees on (a) dealers in new automobiles or accessories or
both, and (b) retail dealers in new merchandise, which dealers are not
yet subject to the payment of any municipal tax. For 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, (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, (h) arms, ammunitions, and sporting goods.
(m) To tax, fix the license fee for, regulate the
business and fix the location of match factories, blacksmith shops,
foundries, steam boilers lumberyards, 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 regulations issued by the Bureau of Health in accordance with law,
tanneries, renderies, tallow chandleries, bone factories, and soap
factories.
(n) To tax motor and other vehicles, notwithstanding
the provisions to the contrary contained in section thirteen of Act
Numbered Twenty-five hundred and eighty-seven, as amended, and draft
animals not paying any national tax: Provided, That all automobiles and
trucks belonging to the National Government or to any provincial or
municipal government and automobiles and trucks not regularly kept in
the City of Bacolod shall be exempt from such tax.
(o) To regulate the method of using steam engines and
boilers, and all other motive powers other than marine or belonging to
the Federal or National Government; 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 engineers engaged in operating the
same.
(p) To enact ordinances for the maintenance and
preservation of peace and good morals.
(q) To regulate and fix the license fees for the
keeping of dogs, to authorize their impounding and destruction when
running at large contrary to ordinances, and to tax and regulate the
keeping or training of fighting cocks.
(r) To establish and maintain municipal pounds; to
regulate, restrain, and prohibit the running at large of domestic
animals, and to 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.
(s) To prohibit and provide for punishment of cruelty
to animals.
(t) To regulate the inspection, weighing, and
measuring of brick, lumber, coal, and other articles of merchandise.
(u) To provide for the laying out, construction, and
improvement, and to regulate the use of streets, avenues, alleys,
sidewalks, wharves, piers, parks, cemeteries, and other public places;
to provide for lighting, cleaning, sprinkling of streets and public
places; to regulate, fix the license for, and prohibit the use of the
same for processions, signs, signposts, awning posts, the carrying or
displaying of banners, placards, advertisements, or handbills, 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 other offensive matter or matter liable to cause damage, in
the streets and other public place and to provide for the collection
and disposition thereof; to provide for the inspection of, fix the
license fee and regulate the openings in the same for the laying of
gas, water, sewer, and other pipes, the building and repair of 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 a name and provide for and regulate the numbering of houses and
lots fronting thereon or in the interior of the blocks; to regulate
traffic and sales upon the streets and other public places; to provide
for the abatement of nuisances in the same and punish the authors or
owners thereof; to provide for the construction and maintenance, and
regulate the use of bridges, viaducts, and culverts; to prohibit and
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 and
other animals; motor and other vehicles, cars, and locomotives within
the limits of the city; to regulate the lights used on all such
vehicles, cars, and locomotives; to provide the locating, constructing
and laying of the track of horse, electric, and other forms of railroad
in the streets or other public places of the city authorized by law; to
provide for the change, the location, grade and crossings of railroads,
and to compel any such railroads to raise or lower their tracks or
conform to such provisions or changes; to require railroad companies
for fence their property, or any part thereof, to provide suitable
protection against injury to persons or property, and to construct and
repair ditches, drains, sewers, and culverts along and under their
tracks, so that the natural drainage of the streets and adjacent
property shall not be obstructed.
(v) To provide for the construction of canals and the
maintenance of, and regulate the irrigation on water courses within the
city, and provide for the cleaning and purification of the same; to
provide for the construction and maintenance and regulate the use, of
public landing places, wharves, piers, docks, and levees, and of those
of private ownership; and to provide for and regulate the drainage and
filling of private premises, when necessary in the enforcement of
sanitary ordinances approved in accordance with law.
(w) To fix the charges to be paid by all water craft
landing at or using public wharves, docks, levees, or landing places.
(x) To provide for the maintenance of waterworks for
the purpose of supplying water to the inhabitants of the city, and for
the purification of the source of supply and the places through which
the same passes, and to regulate the consumption and use of the water;
to fix and provide for the collection of rents or fees therefor, and to
regulate the construction, repair, and use of hydrants, pumps,
cisterns, and reservoirs.
(y) To provide for the establishment and maintenance
and regulate the use of public drains, sewers, latrines, and cesspools.
(z) Subject to the provisions of regulations issued
by the Bureau of Health in accordance with law, to provide for the
establishment and maintenance and fix the fees for the use of, and
regulate public stables, laundries, and baths, and public markets and
slaughterhouses, and prohibit the establishment or operation within the
city limits of public markets and slaughterhouses by any person,
entity, association, or corporation other than the City.
(aa) To regulate, inspect, and provide measures
preventing any discrimination or the exclusion of any race or races in
or from any institution, establishment, 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 the National
Assembly; to regulate and provide for the inspection of all gas,
electric, telephone, and street-railway conduits, mains, meters and
other apparatus and equipment, and provide for the condemnation,
substitution or removal of the same when defective or dangerous.
(bb) To declare, prevent, and provide for the
abatement of nuisance; to regulate the ringing of bells and the making
of loud and 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, after sixty days from
the date of serving a written notice, the cost thereof be assessed to
owner to the extent of not to exceed sixty per centum of the assessed
value, which cost shall constitute alien 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 the display of electric signs, or the erection or maintenance of
billboards or structures of whatever material 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 or
business advertised thereby is in whole or in part conducted.
(cc) To provide for the enforcement of the
regulations of the Bureau of Health, and by ordinance, to prescribe
penalties for violations of such regulations.
(dd) To extend its ordinances over all waters within
the city, over the sea three miles beyond the city limits, 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 city water service.
(ee) 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 18. 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 Mayor of the
City shall decide that any sign, signboard or billboard displayed or
exposed to 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 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.
ARTICLE IV
Other City Officers and Offices
Section 19. City Departments — Municipal Court.
— There shall be a department of engineering and public works headed by
the city engineer; a law department headed by the city attorney; a
finance department headed by the city treasurer; and a police
department headed by the chief of police, and such other departments as
may from time to time he established by law or ordinances approved by
the Secretary of the Interior. Pending the establishment of such
departments, the existing officials who perform functions for or in
behalf of the municipal government of Bacolod shall continue to perform
their respective functions and receive their present compensation.
The City Council may, by ordinance approved by the Secretary of the
Interior, make from time to time such readjustment of the duties of the
several departments, as the public interest may demand, or alter,
consolidate or abolish them.
There shall be a Municipal Court presided over by a Judge.
Section 20. Powers and duties of the City Engineer. — The city engineer
shall be in charge of the department of engineering and public works.
He shall have charge of all the surveying and engineering work of the
city, and shall perform such services in connection with public
improvements, or any work entered upon or projected by the city, or any
department thereof, as may require the skill and experience of a civil
engineer. He shall ascertain, record, and establish monuments of the
city survey and from thence extend the surveys of the city, and locate,
establish, and survey all city property, and also private property
abutting on the same, whenever directed by the Mayor; 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; shall make such tests and
inspection 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; shall inspect and report upon the condition
of public property and public works whenever required by the Mayor;
shall have the care and custody of all public buildings rented for city
purposes, and of any system now or hereafter established for lighting
the streets, public places, and public buildings of the city; shall
prevent the encroachment of private buildings and fences on the streets
and public places of the city, 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
ordinance of the city; 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; shall have the care and custody of all public docks,
wharves, piers, levees, and landing places, when erected; shall have
general supervision and inspection of all private docks, wharves,
piers, levees, and landing places, and other property bordering on the
harbor, river, esteros, and waterways of the city, and shall issue
permits for the construction, repair, and removal of the same, and
enforce all ordinances relating to the same; shall have the care and
custody of 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 ordinances relating thereto; shall
inspect and regulate, subject to the approval of the Mayor, 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. He shall file and preserve all maps, plans, notes,
surveys, and other papers and documents pertaining to his office. He
shall supervise the laying of mains and connections for the purpose of
supplying gas to the inhabitants of the city. He shall have power,
subject to the approval of the Mayor, to cause buildings dangerous to
the public to be made secure or torn down, and 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, at rates to be
fixed by the City Council with the approval of the Department Head, for
sanitation and transportation services and supplies furnished by his
department.
With the previous approval of the Mayor in each case, he may order the
removal of buildings and structures erected in violation of the
ordinances, or the removal of the materials employed in the
construction or repair of any building or structure made in violation
of said ordinances.
Section 21. The Municipal Court. — There shall
be a Judge and an Auxiliary Judge of the Municipal Court for the city,
who shall have the same powers, duties, and jurisdiction as justices of
the peace and auxiliary justices of the peace generally; and, in
addition thereto, territorial jurisdiction over the entire police zone
of the city. All fines, forfeitures, and fees imposed and collected by
the judges authorized by this section shall accrue to the benefit of
the city treasury. The Municipal Court of the City of Bacolod shall
have concurrent territorial jurisdiction with the Court of First
Instance of the Province of Occidental Negros and the courts of
justices of the peace of the respective municipalities to try crimes
and misdemeanors committed within the zone for police purposes as
provided for in section six of this Charter. The court first taking
jurisdiction of such an offense shall there after retain exclusive
territorial jurisdiction thereof.
Section 22. The City Attorney — His Assistant —
His Duties. — The law department shall consist of the city attorney and
one assistant, who shall discharge their duties under the general
supervision of the Secretary of Justice. The city attorney shall be the
chief legal adviser of the city and all offices and departments
thereof; shall represent the city in all civil cases wherein the city
or any officer thereof in his official capacity is a party; shall
attend, when required, meetings of the Council, draw ordinances,
contracts, bonds, leases, and other documents involving any interest of
the city and inspect and pass upon all such documents already drawn;
shall give his opinion in writing when requested by the Mayor or
Council upon any question relating to the city or the rights or duties
of any city officer; shall, whenever it is brought to his knowledge
that any city officer or employee is guilty of neglect of misconduct in
office, or that any person, firm, or corporation holding or exercising
any franchise of 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 the sale and report to the
Mayor; shall, when directed by the Mayor, institute and prosecute in
the city's interest a suit on any bond, lease, or other contract, and
upon any breach or violation thereof; and shall prosecute and defend
all civil actions related to or connected with any city office or
interest. He shall also have charge of the prosecution of all crimes,
misdemeanors, and violations of city ordinances 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.
The city attorney shall cause to be investigated all charges of crimes,
misdemeanors, and violation of ordinances, and have the necessary
information's or complaints prepared or made against the persons
accused. He or his assistant may conduct such investigations by taking
oral evidence of reputed witnesses, and for this purpose may by
subpoena, summon witnesses to appear and testify under oath before him,
and the attendance or evidence of an absent or recalcitrant witness may
be enforced by application of the municipal court or the Court of First
Instance. No witness summoned to testify under this section shall be
under obligation to give any testimony tending to incriminate himself,
and no testimony elicited from a witness by such examination under oath
before the city attorney or his assistant under this section shall be
used against such witness in any prosecution pending or thereafter
instituted against him.
The city attorney shall also cause to be investigated the causes of
sudden death which have not been satisfactorily explained and when
there is suspicion that the cause arose from the unlawful acts or
omissions of other persons, or from foul play. For that 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
or autopsies the aid of the city health officer. He shall at all times
render such professional services as the Mayor or Council may require,
and shall have such powers and perform such other duties as may be
prescribed by law or ordinance.
The city attorney shall perform the duties prescribed by law for
registers of deeds. In case of vacancy, absence or disability, the
duties of register of deeds shall be performed by the city treasurer or
his authorized deputy, or when the needs of the service require it, the
Secretary of Justice may designate any other officer of the government.
To be eligible for appointment to these positions, a person must be a
citizen of the Philippines who has been duly admitted to practice in
the courts of said islands, and has been in actual practice, in the
courts of said islands for at least five years in the case of the city
attorney, or has held during a like period, within the Philippines, an
office requiring the services of a lawyer.
Section 23. The Acting City Attorney. — In case of temporary disability
or absence of the city attorney, and if the exigencies of the service
so require, the Judge of the Court of First Instance, upon
recommendation of the Mayor, shall appoint a practicing attorney to
discharge the duties of the said city attorney. The appointee, while
performing the duties of city attorney, shall have the duties, rights,
and compensation of the city attorney.
Section 24. The Chief of Police. — There shall be a chief of police who
shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) He shall have charge of the organization,
government, discipline, and disposition of the city police and
detective of 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 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 sake-keeping of
all prisoners 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, or serve and execute criminal processes of any court,
shall, either in person or by deputy, attend all sessions of the
Municipal Court and shall promptly and faithfully execute all orders of
the Mayor and all writs and processes of the Municipal Court when
placed in his hands for that purpose.
Section 25. Peace Officers. — The chief of police, all city officers,
and all members of the police force and secret service shall be peace
officers and all are authorized to serve and execute all processes of
courts to whosoever directed, within the jurisdiction or police limits
of the city; and, within the same territory, they may pursue and
arrest, 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 peace; may
arrest or cause to be arrested any offender when the offense is
committed in the presence of a peace officer or within his view; and,
in such pursuit or arrest, may enter any building or take into custody
any person therein suspected of being concerned in such crime or breach
of the peace, and any property suspected of having been stolen; they
shall detain such person only until he can be brought before the proper
court, and shall have 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 violation of law and order, he shall have power to swear in special
police, in such numbers as the occasion may demand. Such special police
shall have the same powers, while on duty, as members of the insular
force.
Section 26. The City Treasurer. — There shall be a city treasurer who
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 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 fines, forfeitures, fees, and costs imposed by the Municipal
Court.
(b) He shall receive and safely keep all moneys
arising from the revenues of the city, and shall expend and disburse
the same upon lawful warrants.
(c) He shall perform in the city the duties
prescribed by the Internal Revenue Law and such further duties
prescribed by law for provincial treasurers as not inconsistent with
the provisions of this Charter.
(d) He shall discharge his duties in accordance with
the provisions of law relating to Government accounts and accounting.
(e) He shall render his accounts in such manner as
the Auditor General may prescribed
Section 27. The City Assessor. — There shall be a city assessor who
shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) He shall annually assess and value for taxation
the real estate of the city, and, for this purpose, is empowered to
administer any oath authorized to be administered in the assessment or
collection of taxes.
(b) He shall make a list of all taxable real estate
in the city and the names of the owners thereof, with a brief
description opposite their names of the property owned by them and the
cash value thereof. In making this list the city assessor shall take
into consideration any sworn statement made by the owners of the
property, but shall not be prevented thereby from considering other
evidence on the subject, and exercising his own judgment in respect
thereto. For the purpose of completing this list, he is authorized to
summon witnesses, administer oaths to them and subject them to
examination concerning the amount of real estate, its ownership, and
cash value. If the city assessor is unable to discover the owner of any
real estate, he shall nevertheless list the same for taxation and
charge the same against an unknown owner. In case of doubt or dispute
as to ownership of real estate, the taxes shall be levied against the
possessor or possessors thereof. Where it shall appear that there are
separate owners of the land and the improvements thereon, a separate
assessment of the property of each shall be made. If it shall be
discovered by the city assessor, or brought to his attention, that any
taxable real estate in the city has escaped listing, it shall be his
duty at once to list and value the same, and the taxes due for the
current year and for all other years since the original assessment, and
the taxes thus assessed shall be legal and collectible, and penalties
shall be added to the back taxes as if they were assessed at the time
when they should have been assessed.
(c) He shall complete the listing and valuation of
real estate situated within the city on or before the thirty-first day
of December of each year, and when completed shall authenticate the
same by signing, the following certificate at the foot of the list:
"I hereby certify that the
foregoing list contains a true statement of the piece or pieces of
taxable real estate belonging to each person named in the list, and its
true cash value and that no real estate taxable by law in the City of
Bacolod has been omitted from the list, according to the best of my
knowledge and belief.
"______________"
(Signature)
(d) He shall, when the list shall be completed,
inform the public by notice published for seven days in a newspaper of
general circulation in the city, if any, and by notice posted for seven
days at the main entrance of the municipal building, that the list is
on file in his office, and may be examined by any person interested
therein, and that upon the date fixed in the notice, which shall not be
later than the tenth day of January, the city assessor will be in his
office for the purpose of hearing complaints as to the accuracy of the
listing of the property and the assessed value thereof. It shall be his
duty carefully to preserve and record in his office copies of said
notice. On the day fixed in the notice, and for five days thereafter,
he shall be present in his office to hear all complaints filed within
the period by persons against whom taxes have been assessed as owners
of real estate, and he shall make his decision forthwith and enter the
same in a well-bound book, to be kept by him for that purpose, and if
he shall determine that injustice has been done or errors have been
committed he is authorized to amend the list in accordance with his
findings.
(e) He shall attend all meetings of the Board of Tax
Appeals and furnish it with all written evidence in his possession
relating to assessment and valuation. He shall likewise furnish the
city treasurer with a list of taxable real estate, the respective
assessments thereof and against whom assessed, and such other
information as the city treasurer may require for the collection of
taxes.
The duties of the city assessor shall be performed by the city
treasurer until the City Council shall have, by ordinance approved by
the Secretary of the Interior, provided for the creation of a separate
department of assessment.
Section 28. The Board of Tax Appeals. — There
shall be a Board of Tax Appeals, which shall be composed of the members
of the City Council, the Mayor to be chairman thereof.
(a) The members of the Board of Tax Appeals shall,
before organizing as such, take the following oath before the Judge of
the Municipal Court or some other officer authorized to administer an
oath:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will well and truly hear and determine all matters and issue
between the city assessor and taxpayers submitted for my decision. So
help me God. (In case of affirmation the last four words are to be
stricken out).
"______________"
(Signature)
"Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me this day of
196________.
"_____________________________"
(Signature of officer administering oath)
(b) The Board of Tax Appeals shall meet beginning the
first Monday after the fifteenth of January of each year and shall hear
all appeals duly transmitted to it by the filing of written notice, and
shall decide the same forthwith. It shall have authority to cause to be
amended the listing and valuation of the property in respect to which
any complaint is made in an order signed by the board or a majority
thereof, and transmit it to the city assessor, who shall amend the tax
list in conformity with said order.
Section 29. Exemptions from Taxation. — Lands and buildings owned by the
United States of America, the Government of the Philippines, the City
of Bacolod, the Province of Occidental Negros, and burying grounds,
churches, and their adjacent personages and convents, and lands for
buildings used exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, or
educational purposes, and not for profit, shall be exempt from
taxation; but such exemption shall not extend to lands or buildings
held for investment, though the income therefrom be devoted to
religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purposes.
Section 30. Taxes on Real Estate. — A tax the rate per centum of ad
valorem taxation not to exceed two per centum, to be determined by the
City Council, shall be levied annually on or before the second Monday
of February on the assessed value of all real estate in the city
subject to taxation. Taxes shall be due and payable annually on and
after the first day of March.
At the option of the taxpayer, the tax for any year may be paid in two
installments to be fixed annually by the City Council simultaneously
with the rate per centum of ad valorem taxation: Provided, That the
time limit for the first and second installments shall be set at not
later than the thirty-first day of May and the thirtieth day of
November of each year, respectively.
Any person who, on the last day set for the payment of the real estate
tax as provided in the preceding paragraph, shall be within the
premises of the municipal building willing and ready to pay the tax but
is unable to effect it on account of the large numbers of taxpayers
therein present, shall be furnished a properly prescribed card that
will permit him to pay the tax the following day without penalty.
If a property owner is not in position to pay the total amount of taxes
due on real estate in his or her name, partial payment may be made on
account of one or more lots, or part thereof.
The words "paid under protest" shall be written upon the face of the
real estate tax receipt on request of any person willing to pay the tax
under protest. Confirmation in writing of an oral protest shall be made
within thirty days.
At the expiration of the time for the payment of the real estate tax
without penalty, the taxpayer shall be subject, from the first day of
delinquency, to the payment of a penalty at the rate of two per centum
for each full month of delinquency due, on the amount of the original
tax due, until the tax shall have been paid in full or until the
property shall have been forfeited to the city as provided in section
thirty-one hereof: Provided, That in no case shall the total penalty
exceed twenty-four per centum of the original tax due: And provided,
further, That the provisions of this section shall be applicable to
such delinquencies of real estate taxes as may be existing on the date
of the approval of this Act.
In the event that the crop is extensively damaged or that a great
lowering of the prices of products is registered in any year, the City
Council may, by resolution passed on or before the thirty-first day of
December of such year, remit wholly or in part the payment of the tax
or penalty for the ensuing year; but such resolution shall have to
specify clearly the grounds for such remission and shall not take
effect till it shall have been approved by the Secretary of the
Interior.
The President of the Philippines may, in his discretion, remit or
reduce the real estate taxes for any year in the City of Bacolod, if he
deems this to be in the public interest.
Section 31. Taxes on Real Estate — Sale of Personality. — In the event
that such tax and penalty shall remain unpaid one month after payment
thereof shall have become due, the city treasurer shall prepare and
sign a certified copy of the records of his office, showing the person
delinquent in payment of the taxes and the amounts of tax and penalty
respectively due from them. He shall proceed at once to seize the
personal property of each delinquent, and, unless redeemed as
hereinafter provided, to sell at public auction, either at the main
entrance of the municipal building or at the place where such property
is seized, as he shall determine, so much of the same as shall satisfy
the tax, penalty, and costs of seizure and sale, to the highest bidder
for cash, after due advertisement by notice posted stating the time,
place, and cause of sale. The certified copy of the city treasurer's
record of delinquents shall] be his warrant for his proceedings, and
the purchaser at such sale shall acquire an indefeasible title to the
property sold. Within two days after the sale the city treasurer shall
make return of his proceedings and spread it upon his record's. Any
surplus resulting from the sale, over and above the tax, penalty, and
costs, shall be returned to the taxpayer on account of whose
delinquency the sale has been made. It shall be essential to the
validity of tax sales of real estate hereunder that the city treasurer
shall have attempted to make out of the personal property of the
taxpayer the tax due upon his real estate. The remedy provided herein
for the collection of taxes upon real estate by levying upon the
personal property of the taxpayer shall be deemed to be cumulative
only. The owner of the personal property seized may redeem the same
from the collecting officer at any time after seizure and before sale
by tendering to him the amount of the tax, the penalty, and costs
incurred upon to the time of tender. The costs to be charged in making
such seizure and sale shall only embrace the actual expense of seizure
and preservation of the property pending the sale, and no charge shall
lie imposed for the services of the collecting officer or his deputy.
Section 32. Taxes on Real Estate. — Liens — Sale of Real property. —
Taxes and penalties assessed against real property shall constitute a
lien thereon, which lien shall be superior to all other liens,
mortgages, or encumbrances of any kind whatsoever; shall be enforceable
against the property whether in the possession of the delinquent or any
subsequent owner, and can only be removed by the payment of tax and
penalty. The lien for the taxes shall attach to the real property from
the first day of March of the year in which the taxes are due. In
addition to the last mentioned procedure the city treasurer may, upon
the warrant of the certified record required in the last preceding
section, one month following the date of delinquency, advertise the
real estate of the delinquent for sale, or so much thereof as may be
necessary to satisfy all public taxes upon said property as above, and
costs of sale, for a period of thirty days.
The advertisement shall be by posting a notice at the main entrance of
the municipal building and in a public and conspicuous place on or
adjacent to the real estate, and by publication once a week for three
weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the city, if
any there be. The advertisement shall contain a statement of the amount
of the taxes and penalties so due and the time and place of sale, the
name of the taxpayer against whom the taxes are levied, and a short
description of the land to be sold. At any time before the day fixed
for the sale the taxpayer may discontinue all proceedings by paying the
taxes, penalties, and costs to the city treasurer. If he does not do so
the sale shall proceed and shall be held either at the main entrance of
the municipal building or on the premises to be sold, as the city
treasurer may determine. Within five days after the sale the city
treasurer shall make return of the proceedings and spread it on his
records. The purchaser at the sale shall receive a certificate from the
city treasurer from his records, showing the proceedings of the sale,
describing the property sold, stating the name of the purchaser, and
setting out the exact amount of all public taxes, penalties, and costs
due. Any surplus remaining, after paying all public taxes, penalties,
and costs due, shall be delivered to the owner of the property.
Section 33. Taxes on Real Estate — Redemption of Real property. — Within
one year from the date of sale the delinquent taxpayer, or anyone for
him, shall have the right of paying to the city treasurer the amount of
the public taxes, penalties, and costs, together with interests on said
purchase price at the rate of fifteen per centum from the date of
purchase to the date of redemption; and such payment shall entitle the
person paving to the delivery of the certificate issued to the
purchaser and a certificate from the city treasurer that he has thus
redeemed the real estate, and the city treasurer shall forthwith pay
over to the purchaser the amount by which such land has thus been
redeemed and the land thereafter shall be free from the lien of such
taxes and penalties.
In case the taxpayer shall not redeem the real estate sold as above
provided within one year from the date of sale, the city treasurer
shall, as grantor, execute a deed in form and effect sufficient under
the laws of the Philippines to convey to the purchaser so much of the
real estate as has been sold, free from all liens of any whatsoever,
and the deed shall succinctly recite all the proceedings upon which the
validity of the sale depends.
Section 34. Taxes on Real Estate — Forfeiture of
Real property. — In case there is no bidder at the public sale of such
land who offers a sum sufficient to pay the taxes, penalties, and
costs, the city treasurer shall declare the land forfeited to the city,
and shall make, within two days thereafter, a return of the proceedings
and the forfeiture, which shall be spread upon the records of his
office.
Within one year from the date of such forfeiture thus declared the
taxpayer, or anyone for him, may redeem said real estate as above
provided in cases where the land is sold. But, if the land is not thus
redeemed within a year the forfeiture shall become absolute and the
City treasurer shall execute a deed, similar in form and having the
same effect as the deed required to be made by him in case of a sale,
conveying the land to the city. The deed shall be recorded as required
by law for other land titles and shall be filed with the city
secretary, who shall enter it in his record of municipal property.
Section 35. Taxes — Legal Procedure. — (a) The assessment of a tax shall
constitute a lawful indebtedness from the taxpayer to the city which
may be enforced by a civil action in any court of competent
jurisdiction, and this remedy shall be in addition to all other
remedies provided by law.
(b) No court shall entertain any suit assailing the
validity of a tax assessed under this Charter until the taxpayer shall
have paid, under protest, the taxes assessed against him; nor shall any
court declare any tax invalid by reason of irregularities or
informalities in the proceedings of the officers charged with the
assessment or collection of the taxes, or of a failure to perform their
duties within the time specified for their performance, unless such
irregularities, informalities, or failures shall have impaired the
substantial rights of the taxpayer.
(c) No court shall entertain any suit assailing the
validity of a tax sale of land under this Charter until the taxpayer
shall have paid into the court the amount for which the land was sold,
together with interest at the rate of fifteen per centum per annum upon
that sum from the date of sale to the time of instituting suit. The
money so paid into court shall belong and shall be delivered to the
purchaser at the tax sale, if the deed is declared invalid and shall be
returned to the depositor, should he fail in his action.
(d) No court shall declare any such sale invalid by
reason of any irregularities or informalities in the proceedings of the
officer charged with the duty of making the sale or by reason of
failure by him to perform his duties within the time herein specified
for their performance, unless such irregularities, informalities, or
failure shall have impaired the substantial rights of the taxpayer
Section 36. Powers and Duties of Heads of Departments. — Each head of
department of the city government shall be in control of such
department, under the supervision and control of the Mayor and shall
possess such powers as may be prescribed herein or by ordinance. He
shall certify to the correctness of all payrolls and vouchers of his
department covering the payment of money before payment, except as
herein may otherwise be expressly provided. On or before the first day
of September of each year, he shall prepare and present to the Mayor
for submission to the Council an estimate of the receipts and
appropriation necessary for the operation of his department during the
ensuing year, and shall submit therewith such information for purposes
of comparison as the Mayor may desire. He shall make to the Mayor, as
often as required, reports covering the operation of his department.
In case of the absence, or sickness, or inability to act for any other
reason, of the head of one of the city departments, the officer next in
charge of that department shall be authorized to sign all necessary
papers, such as vouchers, requisition, and so forth.
Section 37. Appointment and Removal of Officials and Employees —
Compensation. — The President shall appoint, with the consent of the
Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly, the judge and
auxiliary judge of the Municipal Court, the city engineer, the city
treasurer, the city assessor, the city auditor, the city attorney and
assistants, the chief of police and the other heads of the city
departments as may be created from time to time, and he may remove at
pleasure any of the said appointive officers, except the judge and the
auxiliary judge of the Municipal Court, who may be removed only
according to law.
Subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Law, the Mayor shall
appoint all other officers and employees of the city whose appointment
is not otherwise provided for by law. The Mayor may suspend and remove
any appointive city officer and employee not appointed by the
President, and may recommend to the President the suspension or removal
of any city officer or employee appointed by him. Any suspension or
removal by the Mayor shall be appealable to the Secretary of the
Interior, whose determination on the matter shall be final.
The municipal judge, the city auditor, and the city attorney shall each
receive three thousand six hundred pesos per annum. The assistant city
attorney shall receive not less than one thousand eight hundred pesos
per annum. The city engineer and the city treasurer, whether acting or
not as city assessor, shall each receive not less than three thousand
six hundred pesos per annum. The chief of police shall receive a
compensation of not less than three thousand pesos per annum: Provided,
however, That the City Council shall determine and fix by ordinance the
salaries of officers and employees of the city.
Section 38. Officers not to Engage in Certain Transactions or Receive
Favors or Advantages. — 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 officers, board, 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 receive any
favors, free tickets, passes or services direct or indirect, from
corporations, firms, or persons upon terms more advantageous to the
recipient than those generally accorded to the public.
ARTICLE V
Bureaus Performing Municipal Duties
Section 39. The General Auditing Office. — The Auditor General shall
receive and audit all accounts of the city in accordance with the
provisions of law relating to the government account and accounting.
Section 40. The Division of Purchase and Supply. —The Purchasing Agent
shall purchase and supply in accordance with law all supplies,
equipment, material, and property of every kinds except real estate,
for the use of the city and its departments and 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 provisions of this section.
Section 41. The Bureau of Education. — The Director of Education 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 Occidental Negros shall have all the powers and duties in
respect to the schools of the city as are vested in division
superintendents in respect to the schools of their divisions.
A city school board of six members, two of whom shall be women, and who
shall serve without salary, shall be selected and removed in the same
manner, and shall have the same powers and duties, as local school
boards in municipalities.
The City Council shall have the same powers in respect to the
establishment of schools in Bacolod as are conferred by law on
municipal councils.
Section 42. Reports to the Mayor concerning Schools Construction and
Custody of School Buildings. — The division superintendent of schools
shall make an annual report of the condition of the schools and school
buildings of Bacolod to the 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 school buildings of the city.
The local school board shall make a similar annual report to the Mayor.
Section 43. The City Health Officer. — There shall be a health officer
who shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) He shall have general supervision over the health
and sanitary condition of the city.
(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 inspection and may be
aided therein by such members of the police force of the city or of the
Philippine Army as shall be designated as sanitary police by the chief
of police or proper Army officer and such sanitary inspectors as may be
authorized by law.
(f) 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.
ARTICLE VI
Tax Allotments and Special Assessment for Public Improvements
Section 44. Allotments of internal revenue and other taxes. — Of the
internal revenue accruing to the National Treasury under section four
hundred and ninety of the Administrative Code, and other taxes
collected by the National Government and allotted to the various
provinces, the City of Bacolod shall receive a share equal to what it
would receive if it were a regularly organized province.
Section 45. Power to levy special assessments
for certain purposes. — The City Council may, by ordinance duly
approved, provide for the levying and collections, by special
assessments of the real estate comprised within the district or section
of the city especially benefited, of a part not to exceed sixty per
centum of the cost of laying out, opening, constructing, straightening,
widening, extending, grading, paving, curbing, walling, deepening, or
otherwise establishing, repairing, enlarging, or improving public
avenues, roads, streets, alleys, sidewalks, parks, plazas, bridges,
landing places, wharves, piers, docks, levees, reservoirs, waterworks,
watermains, water courses, esteros, canals, drains, and sewers,
including the cost of acquiring the necessary land. Within the meaning
of this section all real estate comprised within the district
benefited, except lands or buildings owned by the United States of
America, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the Provincial Government
of Occidental Negros, or the City of Bacolod, shall be subject to the
payment of the special assessment, based upon the valuation of such
real estate, as shown by the books of the official in charge of city
assessments, or its present value, as fixed by said officer in the
first instance, if the property does not appear of record in his books,
according to the valuation whereof the special tax has to be made,
computed, and assessed.
Section 46. Contents of Special Assessments Ordinance. — The ordinance
providing for the levying and collection of special assessment shall
describe in terms of reasonable accuracy the nature, extent, and
location of the proposed improvement; the probable cost of the
improvement; the rate per centum of the cost to be defrayed by special
assessment; the district which shall be subject to the payment of the
said per centum of the proposed improvement, delimiting the same by
metes and bounds, and the number of annual installments, which shall
not be less than five, in which such special assessment shall be paid
without any interest. The City Council shall not be required to fix one
equal rate per centum for all the taxable real estate in the entire
district, but may fix different rates for real estate in different
parts or sections of the same, according as said property will derive
greater or less benefit from the contemplated improvement.
Section 47. Publication of the proposed special
assessment ordinance, and public hearing on the same. — The proposed
special assessment ordinance shall be published for a period of one
week in the Official Gazette and in two newspapers of general
circulation in the City of Bacolod, one in the native language
generally spoken in the city and the other in either English or
Spanish, before its adoption by the City Council. The secretary of the
City Council, upon request, shall furnish a copy of the proposed
ordinance free of charge to each owner affected or his agent, and shall
in so far as possible send a copy of said proposed ordinance by
ordinary mail or otherwise. At the request of any owner, made within
three days from the last publication of the proposed ordinance, or at
its own motion, the City Council or the committee thereof in charge of
the project shall hold a public hearing on the same and hear all
pertinent arguments and evidence offered by the persons interested or
their attorneys, and such arguments and evidence shall be attached to
the record of the project.
Section 48. Assessment of the special tax
against the real estate affected. — Upon the approval of the special
assessment ordinance, the official whose duty it is to assess taxable
property within the city shall forthwith proceed to determine the
special tax payable by each real property each year during the period
fixed in the ordinance, upon the basis of the estimated cost of the
work and the total and partial value of the real estate comprised
within the district specially benefited, and shall notify each owner by
registered mail of the special tax assessed against each property owned
by him in the district benefited; but if upon the completion of the
improvement, it should appear that the cost has been less or more, the
city engineer shall forthwith certify this fact to the official who
made the assessment, who shall thereupon proceed to rectify the
assessment, reducing or increasing, as the case may be, the special tax
to be collected upon each property for the unpaid remainder of the
annual installments, or, if all are paid, fixing the amount to be
credited to or the additional tax to be collected from the real
property, as the case may be, and shall notify the persons interested
of such rectifications.
Section 49. Payment of the special assessments.
— All sums and amounts due from any owner or owners as a result of any
action taken by virtue of the authority conferred in this article shall
be due and payable to the city treasurer in the same manner as the
annual tax, levied on real estate and shall be subject to the same
penalties for delinquency, and enforceable by the same remedies, as
such annual tax, and all such sums and amounts, together with any such
penalties incurred, shall from the date on which they were assessed
constitute liens on the property against which the same were assessed
and shall take precedence over any and all other liens which may exist
upon such property excepting only such as may have been attached as a
result of the nonpayment of said annual tax.
ARTICLE VII
Transitory Provisions
Section 50. Change of government. — The city government provided for in
this Charter shall be organized immediately after the appointment and
qualification of the City Mayor, and the appointment and induction into
office of the members of the City Council, as herein provided, or as
soon thereafter as possible. The territory of the city, upon completion
of the organization of the municipal government, shall cease to be
under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Government of Occidental
Negros.
Section 51. Conduct of elections in Bacolod. — For the effectuation of
the purposes of the Election Law in the election of public officers for
the City of Bacolod, the duties which are by said law made incumbent
upon provincial boards and municipal councils shall be performed by the
City Council of Bacolod, and the duties imposed by said law upon
provincial treasurers and municipal secretaries shall be performed by
the Secretary to the Mayor.
Section 52. Assembly Districts — Provincial Capital. — Until otherwise
provided by law, the City of Bacolod shall continue as part of the
Second District of the Province of Occidental Negros and the capital of
the province, only for residential purposes of the Provincial
Government shall remain as heretofore.
Section 53. Provincial buildings and properties. — The buildings and
properties which the province shall abandon upon the transfer of the
capital to another place will be acquired and paid for by the City of
Bacolod at a prize to be fixed by the Auditor General.
ARTICLE VIII
Effectivity of the Act
Section 54. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
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