Charter establishing Danao City goverce

Territory and corporate character

Section 2 provides that Danao City comprises the present territorial jurisdiction of the Poblacion and the listed barrios of Baliang, Binalew, Cabungahan, Cahumayhumayan, Cambanay, Dumga, Cogon-Cruz, Dunggoan, Guinacot, Guinsay, Ibo Lamac, Lawa-an Langosig, Licos, Looc, Magtagobtob, Masaba, Maslog, Malapoc, Manlayag, Manteja, Nangka, Ogis, Pili (proper, Anislagan, Catulero), Quisol, Sabang, Sacsac, Sandayong Norte, Sandayong Sur, Santa Rosa, Santikan, Sibacan, Suba, Tabok, Togonon, Taytay, Tuburan Sur, Danasan, Bayabas, Cambubho, and all other barrios of the Municipality of Danao, Province of Cebu.
Section 3 establishes Danao City as a political body corporate endowed with perpetual succession and municipal powers.
Section 4 grants the city corporate capacity to have and alter a common seal, acquire and dispose of property, sue and be sued, and contract and prosecute or defend suits involving city interests.

Municipal liabilities and police jurisdiction

Section 5 provides that the city is not liable for damages or injuries arising from the failure of the Mayor, the Municipal Board, or other city officers/employees to enforce this Charter or other laws/ordinances, or from their negligence while enforcing or attempting to enforce provisions of the Charter or laws/ordinances.
Section 5 preserves the right of an aggrieved party to file a personal action against the responsible city official or employee for acts or omissions in the performance of duties.
Section 6 sets the city’s police jurisdiction for police purposes only as co-extensive with the city’s territorial jurisdiction and extending to three miles from the shores of the city.
Section 6 extends police jurisdiction further for water-purity protection to within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct, or pumping station used in connection with the city water service.
Section 6 gives the Municipal Court of Danao City concurrent jurisdiction with the Justice of the Peace Court of the respective municipalities for crimes and misdemeanors committed within the drainage area or within the specified one hundred meter spaces; the court first taking jurisdiction retains exclusive jurisdiction thereafter.

Mayor and Vice-Mayor governance

Section 7 vests the Mayor as chief executive of the city, elected at large by qualified city voters.
Section 7 requires mayoral eligibility: at least twenty-five years of age, resident of the city for at least ten years prior to election, and a qualified voter.
Section 7 fixes the Mayor’s term at four years, unless sooner removed, and provides salary of six thousand pesos per annum.
Section 7 authorizes the Municipal Board to appropriate for a house allowance of the Mayor not to exceed two hundred pesos monthly, or commute it in addition to salary.
Section 8 creates the Vice-Mayor, elected like the Mayor, who performs Mayor duties/powers upon death, sickness, absence, or temporary incapacity of the Mayor, or upon a definite Mayor vacancy until filled in accordance with law.
Section 8 provides an alternate assumption mechanism when both Vice-Mayor functions cannot be performed or Vice-Mayor is vacant: a member of the Municipal Board chosen by a majority of all board members performs Mayor duties and powers; when a board member exercises Vice-Mayor functions, the member ceases to take part in deliberations except to preside.
Section 8 provides that when the offices of Mayor and Vice-Mayor are left vacant by death or permanent disability, vacancies are filled by appointments by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.
Section 8 assigns other duties to the Vice-Mayor as assigned by the Mayor or prescribed by law/ordinance, and sets salary at three thousand pesos per annum.

Mayor’s general powers and duties

Section 9(a) requires the Mayor to comply with, enforce, and issue necessary orders for faithful enforcement/execution of applicable laws and ordinances in the city.
Section 9(b) mandates safeguarding the city’s lands, buildings, records, moneys, credits, other property, and rights, and exercising control/administration of city-owned/operated property subject to the Charter.
Section 9(c) directs the Mayor to ensure taxes and other city revenues are collected and applied according to appropriations for municipal expenses.
Section 9(d) empowers the Mayor to cause judicial proceedings to recover city property and funds and to defend suits against the city to final judgment and execution where applicable.
Section 9(e) requires the Mayor to ensure executive officers and employees properly discharge duties, and authorizes transfers of non–President-appointed officers/employees within the same department without changing compensation, with approval of the Department Head or the National Government first had.
Section 9(f) obligates the Mayor to examine and inspect city officers’/agents’/employees’ books and records at least once a year and whenever occasion arises; the Municipal Court must provide necessary clerical/other assistance for this purpose.
Section 9(h) allows the Mayor to attend Municipal Board sessions in person or by authorized representative and participate in discussions, but not to vote.
Section 9(i) authorizes the Mayor to represent the city in business matters and sign bonds, contracts, and obligations on the city’s behalf in accordance with law and ordinances.

Mayor’s budget, petitions, licensing, and emergency powers

Section 9(j) requires the Mayor to submit to the Municipal Board a budget of receipts and expenditures at least two and a half months before the beginning of the ensuing fiscal year.
Section 9(k) empowers the Mayor to receive, hear, and decide petitions, complaints, and claims concerning municipal matters of an administrative or executive character.
Section 9(l) authorizes the Mayor to grant or refuse municipal licenses or permits, and to revoke them for violation of conditions, for unlawful acts committed under protection of the license, for unlawful operation in licensed premises, or for other good reasons of general interest.
Section 9(m) empowers the Mayor, after consultation with the City Superintendent of Schools, to exempt deserving poor pupils from school fee payment or part thereof.
Section 9(n) empowers the Mayor to take emergency measures to avoid fires, floods, and mitigate effects of storms and other public calamities.
Section 9(g), (q-like) requires the Mayor to provide information and recommend measures he deems advantageous to the city, and to perform other duties/exercise other powers prescribed by law or ordinance.

City secretary and record custody

Section 10 requires the Mayor to appoint one secretary with the rank of a department head.
Section 10 assigns the secretary custody and charge of city records and documents and custody of the corporate seal.
Section 10 requires the secretary to affix the seal with signature to ordinances and resolutions signed by the Mayor and to attest and authenticate executive orders, proclamations, ordinances, and resolutions signed by the Mayor.
Section 10 authorizes furnishing certified copies of non-confidential records upon request and collection of fees prescribed by Municipal Board law/resolution.
Section 10 fixes the secretary’s status within the unclassified civil service, with appointment mechanics tied to classified positions if filled as such, and provides that the secretary holds office during the term of the appointing Mayor and until a qualified successor is appointed, unless sooner separated.
Section 10 sets the secretary’s salary at four thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.
Section 10 directs the secretary to perform duties required of department heads by Section 21 of the Charter.

Municipal Board: composition and voting

Section 11 makes the Municipal Board the city’s legislative body.
Section 11 composes the board of the Vice-Mayor as presiding officer and eight councilors elected at large by qualified city voters.
Section 11 grants the Vice-Mayor no right to vote except in case of a tie.
Section 11 disqualifies the Vice-Mayor or any member running for office from acting with the Board in duties relative to that election; if disqualified members unduly reduce board membership for those matters, the President appoints any disinterested city voter of the same political party to act in the disqualified member’s place for election-related matters.
Section 11 sets councilor salary at one thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.
Section 12 sets qualifications for board members: qualified electors of the city, residents for at least ten years prior to election, and at least twenty-three years of age.

Board suspensions, elections, secretary, and sessions

Section 12 provides that board members may be suspended or removed under the same circumstances, in the same manner, and with the same effect as elective provincial officers, making the provincial suspension/removal laws applicable.
Section 12 requires board member elections on the date of the regular election for provincial and municipal officers, with assumption of office on the first day of January next following election after qualifying, and a term of four years until successors are duly elected and qualified.
Section 12 provides that the eight candidates receiving the greatest number of votes are declared elected.
Section 12 fills a Municipal Board vacancy according to the Revised Election Code.
Section 13 requires the Board to appoint a secretary who serves during the members’ term; the Board fixes the secretary’s compensation by ordinance at not exceeding four thousand one hundred twenty pesos per annum.
Section 13 assigns the secretary to keep Board records, including full proceedings, and to record ordinances and resolutions that direct payments or create liability, including dates of passage and publication.
Section 13 requires the secretary to maintain a seal inscribed “Municipal Board—Danao City” with the city arms and to affix it to ordinances and official acts, and to keep non-confidential records open to public inspection during usual hours.
Section 14 requires two ordinary sessions weekly (days set by resolution) and allows extraordinary sessions called by the Mayor, with sessions open to the public unless otherwise ordered by affirmative vote of a majority of all members.
Section 14 sets a quorum as a majority of all members, while allowing a smaller number to adjourn and compel attendance of absent members by an order of arrest/production under penalties prescribed by ordinance.
Section 14 requires affirmative votes of a majority of all members for passage of any ordinance, and for any resolution or motion directing payment of money or creating liability.
Section 14 requires the ayes and nays to be taken and recorded upon passage of ordinances, and upon resolutions/motions directing payment or creating liability, and upon request of any member for other resolutions/motions.

Legislative enactment, approval, veto, and effect

Section 14 provides that each approved ordinance/resolution/motion is sealed with the Municipal Board seal, recorded in the designated book, posted by the secretary at the City Hall main entrance and at least two other public places on the day following passage, and takes effect and is in force on and after the tenth day following its passage, unless otherwise stated in the ordinance/resolution/motion or vetoed by the Mayor.
Section 14 provides that a vetoed ordinance that is repassed takes effect ten days after the veto is overridden by required votes unless otherwise stated or again disapproved by the Mayor.
Section 14 requires forwarding each ordinance/resolution/motion directing payment/creating liability to the Mayor for approval.
Section 14 provides a ten-day review period: the Mayor must return the ordinance/resolution/motion with approval or veto within ten days; if not returned within that time, it is deemed approved.
Section 14 requires written veto reasons to accompany a vetoed return.
Section 14 authorizes reenactment by a two-thirds vote of all members, followed by forwarding to the Mayor; if the Mayor again vetoes within ten days and the Board does not get final approval, the matter is forwarded forthwith to the President for final approval/disapproval.
Section 14 grants the Mayor itemized veto power over particular items in an appropriation ordinance or other money/payment-liability measure; vetoed items do not take effect, while non-vetoed items take effect as approved.
Section 14 provides that if items in an appropriation ordinance are disapproved by the Mayor, the corresponding items in the previous year’s appropriation ordinance are deemed reenacted.
Section 15(qq) fixes the ordinance penalty ceiling: penalties for ordinance violations must not exceed a PHP 200 fine or six months imprisonment, or both, for a single offense.

Municipal Board legislative powers enumerated

Section 15(a) authorizes the Board to levy and collect taxes for general and special purposes in accordance with law, including a real property tax not to exceed one and one-half per centum ad valorem, provided that this maximum rate is not imposed during the first five years of the Act’s effectivity.
Section 15(b) authorizes fixing with the approval of the Department Head of the National Government the number and salaries of city officials and employees not otherwise provided for in the Charter.
Section 15(c) authorizes free distribution of medicine to city employees and laborers whose salary/wage does not exceed one hundred and twenty pesos per month or four pesos per day, plus evaporated or fresh native milk to indigent mothers, and bread and light meals to indigent children ten years or less within the city, under the direct supervision and control of the Mayor.
Section 15(d) authorizes fixing the tariff of fees and charges for all city services.
Section 15(e) authorizes erection and maintenance or rental of necessary buildings for city use.
Section 15(f) authorizes establishment and maintenance of public schools and, unless otherwise by law, fixing with approval of the Director of Public Schools reasonable matriculation and/or tuition fees for intermediate and secondary instruction; it also authorizes acquiring schoolhouse sites for primary and intermediate classes through purchases or conditional/absolute donation.
Section 15(g) authorizes vocational schools and institutions of higher learning supported by the city and fixes, with approval of the Director of Public Schools, reasonable tuition fees for vocational and higher learning support.
Section 15(h) authorizes an efficient police force and necessary police ordinances for confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating city ordinances.
Section 15(i) authorizes maintaining the municipal court established by law with jurisdiction over criminal cases under city ordinances and other jurisdiction conferred by the Charter or future laws.
Section 15(j) authorizes establishing and maintaining a fire department and related fire-prevention/extinguishment facilities and equipment.
Section 15(k) authorizes fire zones, building/structure regulation, construction/repair/demolition permit fees.
Section 15(l) authorizes regulation of lights in stables, shops, and other buildings/places; restrict issuance of permits for bonfires, rockets, and pyrotechnic displays; and fix permit fees.
Section 15(m) authorizes regulation to protect against conflagrations and prevent/mitigate effects of famine, floods, storms, and public calamities, including relief to victims.
Section 15(n) authorizes taxing, regulating, and fixing license fees for enumerated occupations and a municipal occupation tax not exceeding fifty pesos per annum on specified professions and occupations, with exemption for those who exercise the profession/occupation only as salaried employees and not as independent practitioners.
Section 15(o) authorizes taxing, fixing license fees, and regulating businesses enumerated including hotels, restaurants, clubs, garages, theatres/cinematographs and others; fixes specific condition for theatres/cinematographs requiring the applicant to agree to exhibit Philippines-made pictures amounting to five per centum of annual exhibitions; license revocation applies for violations.
Section 15(p) authorizes taxing and fixing license fees for specified manufacturers and related trades; provides that such manufacturers are not subject to municipal tax/license fee as retail dealers of their own products, and that manufacturing conducted solely by immediate family members at their own home is not subject to municipal tax or license fee.
Section 15(q) authorizes taxing and fixing license fees and regulating dealers in general merchandise, defining classification for retail dealers into four main classes (luxury articles, semi-luxury articles, essential commodities, miscellaneous articles) and permitting only one license when different classes are sold but higher/higherest tax is paid; wholesale dealers pay license tax as provided by ordinance.
Section 15(r) authorizes taxing, fixing license fees, and regulating retail sale of alcoholic or malt beverages, wines, and mixed or fermented liquors including tuba, basi, tapuy.
Section 15(s) authorizes imposing a tax on products/commodities manufactured or produced in the city and removed therefrom.
Section 15(t) authorizes a sales tax not exceeding one per centum of the gross value in money of all articles sold/bartered/exchanged/transferred within the city.
Sections 15(u) to 15(xx) authorize extensive regulatory and suppressive measures covering steam engines/boilers inspections and fees, riots/affrays and disorderly assemblies, houses of ill-fame and disorderly houses, gaming and fraudulent devices, prostitution and vagrancy-related disorders, obscene publications circulation/exhibition/possession/sale, keeping dogs and impounding/destruction, fighting cocks, animal cruelty, municipal pounds, domestic animal impounding/sale and owner penalties, sidewalk construction/repair via special assessment and lien mechanics with installment option, brick/lumber/coal weighing/measuring inspection, street use regulation and traffic rules, navigation on canals/watercourses, docks/wharves/landing places management, waterworks maintenance and rental collection, public drains/sewers/latrines/cesspools, regulation of public markets and prohibition of city limits public market operations by persons/entities other than the city, slaughterhouses and sanitary inspection rules including no slaughter inspection fees for certain off-city slaughter inspections, anti-discrimination regulation in public services and utilities, condemnation/removal of defective apparatus, abatement of nuisances with health-condition rules and assessment up to sixty per centum of assessed value including liens, electric signs/billboards restrictions and display fee/licensing rules, enforcement of health rules and penalty-setting for violations, extension of ordinances over water bodies and drainage areas and within one hundred meters of water-service facilities, regulation of non-enumerated businesses through license fees, motor vehicle traffic rules including lights and bus stops/terminals, fishing and fishery privileges subject to fisheries laws, and city fiesta scheduling not oftener than once a year and date alteration not oftener than once in three years.

Restrictive provisions on signs and billboards

Section 16 prohibits erection or display of commercial signboards/billboards on public lands, premises, or buildings.
Section 16 authorizes the Mayor, after due investigation and providing owners an opportunity to be heard, to order removal of signs deemed offensive or nuisances.
Section 16 provides that if the sign is not removed within ten days after the Mayor’s order, the Mayor may cause removal, and the sign becomes forfeited to the city.
Section 16 makes removal expenses a lawful charge against any person or property liable for erection or display of the sign.

Barrio councils: organization and powers

Section 17 requires each barrio to organize a barrio council composed of: a barrio lieutenant (chairman), sub-barrio lieutenant, and three councilmen for livelihood, education, and health.
Section 17 provides that councilmen look after enforcement of laws/ordinances/resolutions within their offices and promote barrio welfare.
Section 17 requires barrio council election at a meeting attended by at least one-third of all barrio residents who are qualified voters.
Section 17 fixes the decision time annually not earlier than the third Saturday of January and not later than the second Saturday of February.
Section 17 mandates secret ballot election, with the councilor/assigned councilor convening and presiding, and appointing boards of inspectors and canvassers.
Section 17 sets eligibility for barrio council candidacy: resident of the barrio for at least six months immediately prior to election, at least twenty years of age, able to read and write, and possessing necessary training/experience/fitness.
Section 17 authorizes voting by residents age twenty-one years or over who can read and write and have been barrio residents for at least three months prior to election.
Section 17 provides the barrio council holds office for one year or until successors are duly elected and qualified.
Section 17 limits re-election to no more than four consecutive terms, unless two years have elapsed from expiration of last term, after which eligibility returns.
Section 17 states barrio council members receive no compensation or emolument of any kind.
Section 17 empowers barrio councils to promulgate barrio rules consistent with law and Municipal Board ordinances, operative within the barrio subject to Municipal Board approval.
Section 17 gives barrio councils responsibility for planning, budgeting, and spending barrio treasury funds, including powers to represent the barrio when not incompatible with Municipal Board personality, hold a regular monthly session, submit improvement suggestions to the Municipal Board through the councilor concerned, publish laws/ordinances via town crier or other means, organize at least three civic lectures yearly, and cooperate with government measures of general interest.
Section 17 treats the poblacion as a barrio for Charter purposes.
Section 17 provides that barrio councilmen may hold sessions in the public school building when no classes or in a house/lot provided free of charge for the purpose.
Section 17 requires a secretary and treasurer: the secretary prepares minutes and drafts recommendations in official languages or local dialect; the treasurer collects fees/contributions, issues proper receipts, deposits collections with the City Treasurer within one week after receipt, and disburses upon municipal board resolutions supported by vouchers and approvals and subject to availability of barrio treasury funds.
Section 17 allows the barrio council to provide traveling expenses for the barrio lieutenant or council members.

Barrio lieutenant, sub-lieutenant, and barrio police

Section 18 requires the barrio lieutenant to assist the assigned councilor for barrio duties; in absence or incapacity, duties are performed by the sub-barrio lieutenant.
Section 19 establishes a barrio police force whose members are appointed by the Mayor, and states its members and the barrio council are deemed agents of persons in authority.

City departments, heads, and appointments

Section 20 creates city departments under the Mayor’s direct control and supervision: Department of Finance; Department of Engineering and Public Works; Law Department; Department of Health; Police Department; Fire Department; Department of Assessment.
Section 20 authorizes the Municipal Board to readjust department duties when public interest demands, and with President approval, consolidate departments/divisions/offices.
Section 21 requires each department head to control the department under Mayor direction and supervision; each head must certify payrolls/vouchers before payment except where expressly otherwise provided.
Section 21 requires each department head to prepare and present to the Mayor at least four months before the start of each fiscal year an estimate of receipts and appropriations needed for the department’s ensuing fiscal year, including comparison information the Mayor requests.
Section 21 obligates department heads to submit reports to the Mayor as required.
Section 21 provides that in absence/sickness/inability or temporary vacancy of a department head, the next-in-rank officer performs the department head’s duties.
Section 22 provides that the President of the Philippines with consent of the Commission on Appointments appoints: the judge and auxiliary judge, the city treasurer, the city engineer, the city fiscal and assistants, chief of police, city health officer, city assessor, chief of fire department, city superintendent of schools, and other created department heads.
Section 22 provides that such appointed officers are not suspended or removed except as provided by law.
Section 22 provides that subject to the Civil Service Law, the Mayor appoints all other officers and employees paid out of city funds, and suspensions/removals follow law.
Section 23 prohibits city officers from engaging in business transactions with the city or its officers/boards/agents/attorneys where city resources pay them, from purchasing city property sold for taxes/assessments or through legal process in favor of the city, from being surety for persons having city contracts/business, from being surety on a city officer’s bond, and from being financially interested in transactions/contracts where the national government or its subdivisions/instrumentalities are interested parties.

Auditing, schools, and supply coordination

Section 24 requires the Auditor General to receive and audit all city accounts under law; the city auditor is appointed by the Auditor General with salary of four thousand eight hundred pesos per annum paid by the national government.
Section 25 places the Director of Public Schools with the same jurisdiction and powers in the city as elsewhere; the city superintendent has division-superintendent powers over city schools.
Section 25 provides that salaries of the city superintendent, teachers, and operational expenses of primary/intermediate/vocational and other public schools are borne by the national government.
Section 26 assigns the Director of Supply Coordination to purchase and supply supplies/equipment/materials/property of every kind for the city, except real estate for city use; contracts for completed work involving both labor and materials supplied by the contractor are not covered by the real-property purchasing limitation.
Section 27 requires the city superintendent of schools to make a quarterly report to the Mayor on conditions of city schools and school buildings, including recommendations for improvement.

Finance and engineering functions

Section 28 establishes a City Treasurer heading the Department of Finance, acting as chief fiscal officer and financial adviser and custodian of city funds, with salary of four thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.
Section 28(a) requires the City Treasurer to collect city taxes, authorized licenses, rents due for city lands/markets/other city-owned property, and charges fixed by law/ordinance; it also authorizes the treasurer to administer markets and slaughterhouses and to receive and issue receipts for costs/fees/fines/forfeitures imposed by the municipal court.
Section 28(b) requires