Section 1. This
Act shall be known as "The Charter
of the City of Zamboanga."
ARTICLE I
General Provisions
Sec.2. Territory of the city. — The City of
Zamboanga, which is hereby created, shall consist of the present
territorial jurisdiction of the municipality of Zamboanga, the
municipality of Bolong, the municipal district of Taluksañgay,
the whole island of Basilan and adjacent islands, i.e., the
municipality of Isabela, the municipal district of Lamitan, and the
municipal district of Maluso.
Sec.3. Corporate character of the City of Zamboanga.
— The City of Zamboanga 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.
Sec.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 herein conferred.
Sec.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 official, to enforce the provisions of this Charter, or
any other law or ordinance, or from negligence of said Mayor, City
Council, or other officials while enforcing or attempting to enforce
said provisions.
Sec.6. Jurisdiction of the city for police purposes.
— The jurisdiction of the City of Zamboanga 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 Zamboanga 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 Zamboanga.
ARTICLE II
The Mayor
Sec.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 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.
Sec.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.
Sec.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 officials 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 officials, 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
law or ordinance, for violation of the conditions upon which they were
granted, or if acts prohibited by law or municipal ordinance 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
officials 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 re-passed 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.
Sec. 10. Secretary to the Mayor. — The Mayor shall
appoint one 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
publication 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.
Sec.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 newspaper of general circulation in the City of
Zamboanga, one in the native language generally spoken in the city, 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
Sec. 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 elected by popular
vote. Pending the next general elections, the offices of said three
elective councilors shall be filled in the same manner as of the
offices of the two appointed 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 member of the council shall discharge said duties without his
assistance, or they may choose some disinterested elector of the city
to act in the Council in such matter in his stead.
The councilors shall be residents of the City of Zamboanga and shall
have the status of provincial officials 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 of the municipal building, 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 two-thirds vote of all the members of
the City Council.
Sec. 13. Appropriations by the Council. — 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 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.
Sec. 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
officials.
(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 houses, 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, sky-rockets, 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 secondhand 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
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, 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 Zamboanga 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 fine 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 of
cruelty to animals.
(t) To regulate the inspection, weighing, and
measuring of brick, lumber, coal, and other articles or
merchandise.
(u) Subject to the provisions of section nineteen
hundred and three of the Administrative Code and amendatory laws
thereof, 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 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 places, and to provide for the collection and disposition
thereof; to provide for the inspection of, fix and 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 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 nuisance 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 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 crossing 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 issued 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 water works 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
establishment and maintenance and fix the fees for the use of, and
regulate public stables, laundries, and baths, and public markets and
slaughter-houses, 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 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 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.
Sec. 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 Officials
Sec. 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 duly enacted 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 Zamboanga 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.
Sec. 17. Powers and duties of 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,
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 public docks, wharves, piers levees, and landing places, when
erected; shall have general supervision and inspection of all private
docks, wharves, pier, 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.
Sec. 18. 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. The Municipal Court of the City of Zamboanga shall have
concurrent territorial jurisdiction with the Court of First Instance of
the Province of Zamboanga 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 section six of this
Charter. The court first taking jurisdiction of such offenses shall
thereafter retain exclusive territorial jurisdiction thereof. The
jurisdiction and powers now exercised by the justice of the peace of
the capital of Zamboanga shall continue to be exercised by the Judge of
the Municipal Court herein provided. The provision of this section
notwithstanding the justice of the peace courts in the Island of
Basilan, and in the municipality of Bolong and the municipal district
of Taluksañgay, shall continue as such justice of the peace
courts as heretofore until otherwise provided by law. All fines,
forfeitures, and fees imposed and collected by the Municipal Court and
justice of the peace courts authorized by this section shall accrue to
the benefit of the city treasury.
Sec. 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 officials.
(d) He shall, whenever it is brought to his knowledge
that any city official 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 law or city ordinance,
triable in the Municipal Court and justice of the peace courts in the
Island of Basilan. The provincial fiscal of Zamboanga shall have charge
of all prosecutions of crimes, misdemeanors, and violations of law or
city ordinance appealed to, or brought before, the Court of First
Instance of Zamboanga.
(f) He shall investigate all charges of crimes,
misdemeanors, and violations of city ordinances and prepare the
necessary information or make the necessary complaints against the
person 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 by taking oral
evidence of reputable witnesses, 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 Zamboanga.
(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, 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.
Sec. 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 attorney. The said
appointee, while performing the duties of the city attorney, shall have
the duties, rights and compensation of the city attorney.
Sec. 21. The chief of police. — There shall be chief
of police who shall have the following genera powers and duties:
(a) He shall have charge of the organization,
government, discipline, and 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 safe-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 or the justice of
the peace courts in the Island of Basilan 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 of the justice of the peace courts in the Island of
Basilan, and shall promptly and faithfully execute all orders of the
Mayor and all writs and processes of the court when placed in his hands
for that purpose.
Sec. 22. Peace officers. — The chief of police, all
city officials, 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 official 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 lives 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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 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
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
Zamboanga 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 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 notices.
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 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 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.
Sec. 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 so 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.
Sec. 26. Exemption from taxation. — Lands or
buildings owned by the United States of America, the Government of the
Philippines, the City of Zamboanga, the Province of Zamboanga, 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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 persons 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 cost 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 cost 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 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 official 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 official or
his deputy.
Sec. 29. Taxes on real estate — Liens — Sale of
realty. — Taxes and penalties assessed against realty 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 of 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 returned, to the owner of the property.
Sec. 30. Taxes on real estate — Redemption of realty.
— 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 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 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.
Sec. 31. Taxes on real estate — Forfeiture of realty.
— 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.
Sec. 32. Taxes — Legal procedures. — (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 officials 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
official 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.
Sec. 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 operations 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 official next
in charge of that department shall be authorized to sign all necessary
papers, such as vouchers, requisitions, and so forth.
Sec. 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 officials, 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 officials and employees of the city whose appointment
is not otherwise provided for by law. The Mayor may suspend and remove
any appointive city official or employee not appointed by the
President, and may recommend the President the suspension or removal of
any city official 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 three thousand
pesos per annum each. The city engineer shall receive three thousand
six hundred pesos per annum. The city treasurer 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 officials and employees of the city shall be
determined by ordinance, approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
Sec. 35. Officials not to engage in certain
transactions or receive favors or advantages. — It shall be unlawful
for any city official, directly or indirectly, individually or as a
member of a firm, to engage in any business transaction with the city,
or with any of its authorized officials, boards, agents, or attorneys,
whereby money is to be paid, directly or indirectly, out of the
resources of the city to such person or firm; or to purchase any real
estate or other property belonging to the city, or which shall be sold
for taxes or assessments, or by virtue of legal process at the suit of
the city; or to be surety for any person having a contract or doing
business with the city, for the performance of which security may be
required; or to 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
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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 Zamboanga 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 must 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 Zamboanga as are conferred by law on
municipal councils.
Sec. 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 Zamboanga 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.
Sec. 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 officers 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 Assessments for Public Improvements
Sec. 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 Zamboanga shall receive a share equal to
what it would receive if it were a regularly organized province.
Sec. 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, to 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 Zamboanga, or the City of
Zamboanga, 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 assessment or its present value, as
fixed by said official 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.
Sec. 43. Contents of special assessment ordinance. —
The ordinance providing for the levying and collection of special
assessment 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
meters 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.
Sec. 44. Publication of the proposed special
assessment ordinance, and public hearing on the same. — The proposed
special assessment ordinance shall be published for the period of one
week in the Official Gazette and in two newspapers of general
circulation in the City of Zamboanga, one in the native language
generally spoken in the locality 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.
Sec. 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 realty 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 cast 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 ratify 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 realty, as the case may
be, and shall notify the persons interested of such rectifications.
Sec. 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 or
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 non-payment of said annual tax.
ARTICLE VII
Transitory Provisions
Sec. 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
Zamboanga.
Sec. 48. Contents of special assessment ordinance. —
For the effectuation of the purposes of the Election Law in the
election of public officers for the City of Zamboanga, the duties which
are by said law made incumbent upon provincial boards and municipal
councils shall be performed by the City Council of Zamboanga, and the
duties imposed by said law upon provincial treasurers and municipal
secretaries shall be performed by the secretary to the Mayor.
Sec. 49. Assembly District — Provincial Capital. —
Until otherwise provided by law, the Province of Zamboanga and the City
of Zamboanga shall continue as one assembly district and the capital of
the province, only for residential purposes of the Provincial
Government, shall remain as heretofore.
Sec. 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 Zamboanga at a price to be fixed by the Auditor General.
ARTICLE VIII
Effectivity of the Act
Sec. 51. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect
upon its approval.
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