Section 1. This Act shall be known as "The Charter of the City of
Davao."
ARTICLE I
General Provisions
Section 2. Territory of the city. — The City of Davao,
which is hereby created, shall comprise the territories of the present
municipality of Davao and the municipal district of Guianga.
Section 3. Corporate character of the City of Davao. —
The City of Davao 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 an
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 Davao 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 Davao 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 Davao.
ARTICLE II
The Mayor
Section 7. 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 four thousand and eight hundred pesos a
year. With the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, the Mayor may
receive, in addition to his salary, a not commutable allowance of two
thousand pesos per annum.
Section 8. The Acting Mayor. — In the event of the
sickness, absence, or other temporary incapacity of the Mayor, or in
the event of a definitive 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 shall receive the same compensation.
Section 9. 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 of 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 ordinance.
(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 and 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 take 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 10. Secretary to the Mayor. — The Mayor shall appoint the
secretary in accordance with Civil Service Law, rules and regulations,
who shall have the following duties:
(a) To act as chief clerk of the Mayor.
(b) To act as secretary of the City Council, 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.
(c) To have charge of all records and documents of
the city for which provision is not otherwise made.
(d) To keep the corporate seal and affix the same
with his signature to all ordinances and other official acts of the
Mayor or Council.
(e) To record in a book kept for that purpose all
ordinances passed by the City Council, with the dates of passage and
publications of the same.
(f) To post all proposed ordinances of the City
Council, with the exception of emergency ordinances certified by the
Mayor as such, at the main entrance of the city building at least five
days before final action is taken thereon by the Council.
(g) To translate or cause to be translated each
ordinance into the native language generally spoken in the city and
have copies thereof posted at the main entrance of the city building
and in other frequented places of the city and in each barrio, and
shall, on demand, furnish certified copies of all city records and
documents, and collect and receive therefor such fees as the Council
may prescribe, for the use of the city.
(h) To keep a civil register for the city and to
record therein all births, marriages, and deaths with their respective
dates.
(i) To perform such other duties as the Mayor or
Council may direct.
Section 11. 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 Davao, 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 not
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 proper times, be opened 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
accompanied 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 two hundred pesos nor shall exceed ten per centum of
the estimated cost of the improvement or work to be done where said
cost exceeds two thousand pesos. 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 provincial auditor, and the third shall be given to the
contractor.
ARTICLE III
The City Council
Section 12. Constitution and organization of the City Council. — The
City Council shall be the legislative body of the city, and shall be
composed of the Mayor, who shall be its presiding officer, the city
engineer, the city treasurer, and five councilors, two appointed by the
President, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the
National Assembly, and the other three elected by popular vote. Pending
the next general elections, the offices of said three 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, 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 residents of the City of Davao and shall have
the status of provincial officers of a regularly organized province.
The Mayor, the city engineer, and the city treasurer shall serve in the
City Council without additional compensation. The councilors shall
receive, for each day of attendance at the sessions of the Council, a
per diem of from five to ten pesos, as may be authorized by ordinance
approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
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 opened 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 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 Mayor 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 municipal buildings, and
shall take effect and be in force on and after the tenth day following
its passage, 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.
Section 13. Appropriations by Council. — The Council shall make all
appropriations for the expense 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 from year to year, and
shall be renewed and go into effect on the first day of January of each
year, as the appropriation ordinance for that year, until a new
appropriation ordinance is duly enacted.
Section 14. 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 of fees 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 violation any
of the ordinances of the city.
(g) To maintain the court or courts established 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 extinguishment 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, storms, 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, and all other performances and
places of amusement, and the keeping, preparation, and sale of meat,
poultry, fish, game, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, bread, and other
provisions.
(m) To tax, fix the license fee for, regulate the
business, and fix the location of match factories, blacksmith shops,
foundries, steam boilers, lumber yards, ship yards, 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, bond 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 Davao 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 the punishment
cruelty to animals.
(t) To regulate the inspection, weighing, and
measuring of brick, lumber, coal, and other article or 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 license fee for, and prohibit the use of the
same for processions, signs, signposts, awning posts, 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 other
offensive matter or matter 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 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 names
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 regulate 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 and change
the location, grade and crossings of railroads, and to compel any such
railroads to raise or lower their tracks to conform to such provisions
or changes; and to require railroad companies to 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 navigation 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 railways 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 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, 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 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 the
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 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 the 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 15. 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 Offices and Officers
Section 16. 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 be
established by law or ordinance 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 Davao 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 17. 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 works whenever required by the
Mayor; shall have the care and custody 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 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
ordinances of the city; shall have the care of all public streets,
parks, and bridges; 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 18. The Municipal Court. — There shall be a Judge and an
auxiliary Judge of the Municipal Court of 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 Davao shall have
concurrent territorial jurisdiction with the Court of First Instance of
the Province of Davao and the courts of justices of the peace of the
respective municipalities to try crimes and misdemeanors committed
within the zone for police purposes provided for in section six of this
Charter. The court first taking jurisdiction of such an offense shall
thereafter retain exclusive territorial jurisdiction thereof.
Section 19. The City Attorney. — There shall be a city attorney who
shall be the chief legal adviser of the city, and who shall have the
following general 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 required, draw ordinances,
contracts, bonds, leases, and other instruments involving any interests
of the city, and inspect and pass upon any such instruments already
drawn.
(c) He shall give his opinion in writing, when
requested by the Mayor or the Council, upon any question relating to
the city or the rights or duties of any city officer.
(d) He shall, whenever it is brought to his knowledge
that any city officer is guilty of neglect or misconduct in office, or
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 Mayor.
(e) He shall have charge of the prosecution of all
crimes and misdemeanors and violations of city ordinances triable in
the Municipal Court. The provincial fiscal of Davao shall have charge
of all prosecutions of crimes, misdemeanors, and violations of city
ordinances appealed to, or brought before, the Court of First Instance
of Davao.
(f) He shall investigate all charges of crimes,
misdemeanors, and violations of city ordinances and prepare the
necessary informations or make the necessary complaints against the
persons accused, and discharge all other duties in respect to criminal
prosecutions enjoined upon provincial fiscals generally.
(g) He may conduct investigations in respect to
crimes, misdemeanors, and violations of ordinances and for this purpose
may, by subpoena, summon witnesses to appear and testify under oath
before him, and the attendance of an absent or recalcitrant witness may
be enforced by application to the Municipal Court or the Court of First
Instance of the Province of Davao.
(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 causes arose from 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 purposes of such
investigations or autopsies the aid of the city health officer.
(i) He 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.
Section 20. 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 said appointee,
while performing the duties of the city attorney, shall have the
duties, rights, and compensation of the city attorney.
Section 21. 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, the disposition of the city police and
detective 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 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, to 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 22. 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 whomsoever 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 the 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 regular force.
Section 23. 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, and the duties prescribed by the Land
Registration Law for registers of deeds.
(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 prescribe.
Section 24. 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 we 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
all 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
Davao 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 to carefully preserve and record in his office copies of said
notices. On the day fixed in the notice, and forty-five days
thereafter, he shall be present in his office to hear all complaints
filed within that 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 the 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 25. 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 issues
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 ______ 19
_____.
"____________________________"
(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 on 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 26. Exemptions from Taxation. — Lands and buildings owned by the
United States of America, the Government of the Philippines, the City
of Davao, the Province of Davao, and burying grounds, churches and
their adjacent parsonages and convents, and lands or 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 27. 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. If any taxpayer shall fail to pay the
taxes assessed against him on or before the thirtieth day of June he
shall be deemed to be delinquent in such payment, and shall be subject
to an additional tax as penalty for such delinquency graduated as
follows: five per centum of the original amount of the tax, if the tax
remain unpaid after the thirtieth day of June; ten per centum of the
original amount of the tax, if the tax remain unpaid after the
fifteenth day of August following delinquency; and fifteen per centum
of the original amount of the tax, if the tax remain unpaid after the
thirtieth day of September following delinquency. The penalties thus
imposed shall be collected and accounted for by the city treasurer at
the same time and in the same manner as the original tax.
Section 28. Taxes on real estate — Sale of personal property. — In the
event that such tax and penalty shall remain unpaid on or after the
first day of October after the tax has become delinquent, the city
treasurer shall prepare and sign a certified copy of the records of his
office, showing the person delinquent in payment of their 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 records. 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 not 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 up to the time of tender. The costs to be charged in
making such seizure and sale shall only embrace the actual expenses of
seizure and preservation of the property pending the sale, and no
charge shall be imposed for the services of the collecting officer or
his deputy.
Section 29. 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 the 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, on or after the first day of October following 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 30. 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 interest on said
purchase price at the rate of fifteen per centum per annum from the
date of purchase to the date of redemption; and such payment shall
entitle the person paying 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 against which the taxes have been assessed as has been
sold, free from all liens of any kind whatsoever, and the deed shall
succinctly recite all the proceedings upon which the validity of the
sale depends.
Section 31. 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 his 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 32. 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 33. 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 purpose
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, requisitions, and so forth.
Section 34. 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 Judges of the
Municipal Court, the city engineer, the city treasurer, the city
assessor, the city attorney, 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
Judges 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 or 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 such 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 and the city attorney shall receive each three
thousand pesos per annum. The city engineer and the city treasurer,
acting or not as city assessor, shall receive three thousand six
hundred pesos per annum. The chief of police shall receive a
compensation of not more than two thousand four hundred pesos per annum.
The compensation of other officers and employees of the city shall be
determined by ordinance, approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
Section 35. 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 36. 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 accounts and accounting.
Section 37. 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 kind, 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 38. 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 Davao shall have all the powers and duties 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 Davao as are conferred by law on municipal
councils.
Section 39. 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 Davao to the Mayor, and such recommendation 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 40. The City Health Officer. — There shall be a city 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 inspections 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 by 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 41. Allotment 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 Davao shall receive a share equal
to what it would receive if it were a regularly organized province.
Section 42. 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, or 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, water mains, 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 Davao, or the City of
Davao, 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 43. Contents of special assessment
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 44. 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
Davao, 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 45. 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 parcel value of the real estate comprised within
the district especially 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 46. 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 47. 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 Davao.
Section 48. Conduct of elections in Davao. — For the effectuation of the
purposes of the Election Law in the election of public officers for the
City of Davao, the duties which are by said law made incumbent upon
provincial boards and municipal councils shall be performed by the City
Council of Davao, and the duties imposed by said law upon provincial
treasurers and municipal secretaries shall be performed by the
Secretary of the Mayor.
Section 49. Assembly District — Provincial Capital. — Until otherwise
provided by law, the Province of Davao and the City of Davao shall
continue as one Assembly District and the capital of the province, only
for residential purposes of the Provincial Government, shall remain as
heretofore.
Section 50. 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
Davao at a price to be fixed by the Auditor General.
ARTICLE VIII
Effectivity of the Act
Section 51. Effectivity. — This
Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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