REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4088 - AN ACT AMENDING CERTAIN SECTIONS OF COMMONWEALTH ACT NUMBERED THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF BACOLOD

Section 1.    The last paragraph of Section eight of Commonwealth Act Numbered Three hundred twenty-six is amended to read as follows:

"He shall receive a salary of ten thousand pesos a year. The mayor may receive, in addition to his salary, an allowance to be fixed by the city council, which he may disburse for any lawful purpose incident to his duties as mayor."

Sec. 2.    The second paragraph of Section nine of the same Act is hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.    The last paragraph of Section thirteen of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"The vice-mayor shall receive a salary of six thousand six hundred pesos per annum, and the members of the city council shall each receive a salary of four thousand eight hundred pesos per annum."

Sec. 4.    The first paragraph of Section fourteen of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 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 the 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 less than four thousand two hundred pesos a year."

Sec. 5.    Subsections (l) and (m) of Section seventeen of the same Act are amended to read as follows:

"(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, and the keeping, preparation, and sale of meat, poultry, fish, game, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, bread and other provisions. To regulate, tax and fix the license fees of: (a) theaters, theatrical performances, cinematographs, public exhibitions, circuses, and all other performances and places of amusements; and (b) sugar centrals and rice mills. To tax and fix the licenses 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 purposes 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, regulate the business and fix the location of match factories, blacksmith shops, foundries, steam boilers, lumber yards and lumber dealers, 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 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 Services in accordance with law, tanneries, renderies, tallow chandleries, embalming, and funeral parlors, bone factories and soap factories."

Sec. 6.    The last paragraph of Section nineteen of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"There shall be a City Court for which two judges shall be appointed."

Sec. 7.    Section twenty-one of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 21.    The City Court. — There shall be two judges and two auxiliary judges of the City Court for the city who shall have the same powers, duties and jurisdiction as municipal judges and auxiliary municipal judges 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 treasurer. The City 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 municipal courts 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 thereafter retain exclusive territorial jurisdiction thereof."

Sec. 8.    The same Act is amended by inserting between Section s twenty-one and twenty-two thereof a new section to read as follows:

"Sec. 21-A.    The clerk of the City Court. — There shall be a clerk of the City Court who shall be appointed by the City Judge in accordance with the Civil Service laws, rules and regulations who shall receive a compensation of not exceeding three thousand pesos per annum. He shall keep the seal of the court and affix it to all orders, judgments, certificates, records, and other documents issued by the court. He shall keep a docket of the trials in the court, in which he shall record in a summary manner the names of the parties and the various proceedings in civil cases, and in criminal cases, the name of the defendant, the charge against him, the names of the witnesses, the date of the arrest, the appearance of the defendant, together with the fines and costs adjudged or collected in accordance with the judgment. He shall have the power to administer oaths.

"The clerk of the City Court shall at the same time be sheriff of the city and shall as such have the same powers and duties as are assigned by existing law to provincial sheriffs. The city council may provide for such number of clerks in the office of the clerk of the City Court as the needs of the service may demand."

Sec. 9.    The first paragraph of Section twenty-two of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 22.    The city attorney — His assistants — His duties. — The law department shall consist of the city attorney and seven assistants, 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 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 the same 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 ordinance in the Court of First Instance and the City Court of the city, and shall discharge all the duties in respect to criminal prosecutions enjoined by law upon provincial fiscals."

SECTION 10.    Section twenty-three of the same Act is hereby repealed.

SECTION 11.    The last paragraph of Section thirty-seven of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"The City judge, the city health officer, the city attorney, the city engineer, and the city treasurer, shall each receive a salary of seven thousand two hundred pesos per annum; the city auditor, the city assessor and the chief of police shall each receive a salary of six thousand six hundred pesos per annum; and the secretary (b) the second to the mayor shall receive a salary of four thousand two hundred pesos per annum. The assistant city attorneys shall each receive compensation in accordance with the following scale: (a) the third assistant city attorney, six thousand six hundred pesos per annum; (b) the second assistant city attorney, six thousand pesos per annum; (c) the third assistant city attorney, five thousand four hundred pesos per annum; (d) the fourth assistant city attorney, three thousand six hundred pesos per annum; and (g) the seventh assistant city attorney, 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, with the approval of the head of the Department of the National Government to whose administrative supervision such officers and employees of the city are subject: and, provided, further, that in case of failure to make an appropriation for such salaries, the salaries so fixed in the preceding fiscal year shall be paid without the necessity of further appropriation therefor."

SECTION 12.    The provisions of Commonwealth Acts Numbered Four hundred nine and Four hundred twenty-four to the contrary notwithstanding, the City of Bacolod shall have its own city attorney and city engineer in accordance with its Charter.

SECTION 13.    This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 19, 1964