Charter of City of Butuan

Territory and corporate character

The City of Butuan comprises the present territorial jurisdiction of the municipality of Butuan in the Province of Agusan (Section 2).
The City is a political body corporate with perpetual succession and municipal corporate powers, exercisable under the charter (Section 3).
The City has a common seal and may alter it (Section 4).
The City may purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property for its general interests, condemn private property for public use, contract, sue and be sued, and prosecute and defend as a party (Section 4).
The City is endowed with “all the powers hereinafter conferred” and general city powers to function for public interests (Section 4).

City liability for enforcement negligence

The City shall not be liable for damages or injuries arising from the failure of the Municipal Board, the Mayor, or any other city officer or employee to enforce the charter or any other law or ordinance (Section 5).
The City likewise is not liable for damages or injuries arising from the negligence of the Municipal Board, Mayor, or other city officers or employees while enforcing or attempting to enforce the charter or laws (Section 5).

Police jurisdiction boundaries

The City’s police jurisdiction for police purposes is coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction and extends three miles from the shore into Butuan Bay (Section 6).
For protecting and ensuring the purity of the city water supply, police jurisdiction extends over all territory within the drainage area of the water supply or within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct, or pumping station used for the city water service (Section 6).
The Mayor and police authority act within these territorial and water-supply protection limits for police purposes (Sections 6 and 26).

Mayor: appointment, pay, executive control

The Mayor is appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, and holds office at the pleasure of the President (Section 7).
The Mayor’s salary is not exceeding four thousand pesos per annum (Section 7).
With the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, the Mayor may receive a non-commutable allowance of not exceeding two thousand pesos per annum (Section 7).
The Mayor exercises immediate control over the executive and administrative functions of city departments, subject to the authority and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, unless otherwise provided by law (Section 9).
The Mayor’s general duties include enforcement of laws and ordinances, safeguarding city property and records, revenue collection, initiating recovery proceedings for city property and funds, and ensuring employees discharge duties (Section 9).

Vice-mayor and acting mayor powers

A vice-mayor performs the Mayor’s duties during the Mayor’s sickness, absence, or temporary incapacity, or during a definitive vacancy until the office is filled according to law (Section 8).
If the vice-mayor is temporarily incapacitated or the vice-mayor office is vacant, the city engineer performs the Mayor’s duties (Section 8).
The acting mayor has the same powers and duties as the Mayor (Section 8).
The vice-mayor performs other duties assigned by the Mayor or prescribed by law or ordinance (Section 8).
The vice-mayor is appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments and receives a salary of not exceeding three thousand pesos per annum (Section 8).

Mayor: key functions and local authority

The Mayor must ensure faithful execution of laws and ordinances within city jurisdiction (Section 9).
The Mayor must safeguard city lands, buildings, records, moneys, credits, and property rights, subject to the charter (Section 9).
The Mayor must ensure city taxes and other revenues are collected and applied according to appropriations for municipal expenses (Section 9).
The Mayor must cause judicial proceedings to recover city property and funds and to defend suits against the city, to protect city interests (Section 9).
The Mayor must examine and inspect city books, records, and papers of officers, agents, and employees under executive supervision at least once a year, and whenever occasion arises, with clerical or other assistance from the Municipal Board (Section 9).
The Mayor must represent the city in business matters and represent it in bonds, contracts, and obligations in accordance with law or ordinance (Section 9).
The Mayor must submit to the Municipal Board at least two month before the beginning of each fiscal year a budget of receipts and expenditures (Section 9).
The Mayor must receive, hear, and decide petitions, complaints, and claims of residents on municipal matters of an administrative or executive character (Section 9).

Mayor: licenses, schools assistance, emergencies, reports

The Mayor may grant or refuse municipal licenses or permits, and may revoke them for violation of conditions or if prohibited acts are committed under protection of the license or in the licensed premises, or for other good reasons of general interest (Section 9).
The Mayor may exempt deserving poor pupils from school fees or part thereof, with the concurrence of the division superintendent of schools (Section 9).
The Mayor must take emergency measures to avoid fires and floods and mitigate the effects of storms and other public calamities (Section 9).
The Mayor must submit an annual report to the Secretary of the Interior (Section 9).
The Mayor performs other duties and exercises other executive powers prescribed by law or ordinances (Section 9).

Mayor’s secretary: custody, seals, certified copies

The Mayor appoints a city secretary who holds office at the pleasure of the Mayor (Section 10).
The secretary’s compensation is fixed by ordinance approved by the Secretary of the Interior, at not exceeding one thousand eight hundred pesos per annum (Section 10).
The secretary has charge and custody of all city records and documents and other office records where not otherwise provided (Section 10).
The secretary keeps the corporate seal and affixes it with the secretary’s signature to ordinances and resolutions signed by the Mayor and to other official documents as required by law or ordinance (Section 10).
The secretary attests all executive orders, proclamations, ordinances, and resolutions signed by the Mayor (Section 10).
The secretary furnishes certified copies of non-confidential city records upon request and charges twenty centavos for each one hundred words, payable directly to the city treasurer (Section 10).

Municipal Board: composition, attendance pay

The Municipal Board is the city’s legislative body (Section 11).
The Municipal Board is composed of the Mayor as presiding officer and eight councilors (Section 11).
Four councilors are elected at large by popular vote during elections for provincial and municipal officials under the Revised Election Code (Section 11).
Four councilors are appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments (Section 11).
The President may appoint a temporary substitute during sickness, absence, suspension, temporary disability, or to maintain a quorum; the substitute has all rights and duties of a board member until the regular incumbent returns (Section 11).
A board member who is a candidate in an election is disqualified from acting with the Board on duties relative to election matters; other members discharge those duties without the member’s assistance, or may choose a disinterested elector of the city to act in his stead (Section 11).
Members receive ten pesos for each day of attendance of board sessions (Section 11).

Board qualifications, suspension, vacancies

Municipal Board members must be qualified electors of the city, residents therein for at least one year, and at least twenty-three years of age (Section 12).
Members-elect assume office on the date fixed in the Revised Election Code and serve until successors are elected and qualified (Section 12).
Suspension or removal of members is governed by the same circumstances, manner, and effect as for elective provincial officers, made effective for Municipal Board members by this charter (Section 12).
Vacancies are filled in accordance with the Revised Election Code (Section 12).

Board secretary and board recordkeeping

The Municipal Board has a secretary appointed by it to serve during the term of office of board members (Section 13).
The secretary’s compensation is fixed by ordinance approved by the Secretary of the Interior at not exceeding one thousand eight hundred pesos per annum (Section 13).
A vacancy in the board secretary office is filled temporarily for the unexpired term in the same manner (Section 13).
The secretary keeps board records, records full proceedings, files documents, and records ordinances and resolutions/motions that direct payments or create liability, including passage dates and publication dates of ordinances (Section 13).
The secretary keeps a seal inscribed “Municipal Board-City of Butuan”, affixes it with signature to ordinances and official acts, and presents acts for signature to the presiding officer (Section 13).
The secretary causes each ordinance to be published as the charter provides (Section 13).
Upon request, the secretary furnishes copies of public records under the seal of office and charges twenty centavos for each one hundred words, payable directly to the city treasurer (Section 13).
The secretary’s office and non-confidential records are open to public inspection during usual business hours (Section 13).

Board meetings, quorum, voting rules

The Municipal Board holds one ordinary session each week for business on a day fixed by resolution, unless the Secretary of the Interior orders otherwise (Section 14).
The Board may hold extraordinary sessions, not exceeding thirty in any one year, called by the Mayor (Section 14).
The Board sits with open doors unless otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of five members (Section 14).
The Board determines its rules of procedure not set forth in the charter (Section 14).
Five members constitute a quorum (Section 14).
If fewer than quorum attend, the smaller number may adjourn and compel immediate attendance by ordering arrest and production at the session under penalties prescribed by ordinance (Section 14).
Five affirmative votes are required for passage of any ordinance and for any resolution or motion directing payment or creating liability (Section 14).
Measures other than ordinances and payment/liability resolutions or motions pass by majority votes of members present at a duly called meeting (Section 14).
The ayes and nays must be taken and recorded for passage of all ordinances and for all payment/liability resolutions or motions, and upon request for other resolutions or motions (Section 14).

Ordinances: sealing, posting, effectivity, veto

Each approved ordinance, resolution, or motion directing payment or creating liability must be sealed with the Board’s seal, signed by the presiding officer and the secretary, and recorded in a book kept for the purpose (Section 14).
On the day following passage, the secretary must post the approved act at the main entrance to the City Hall (Section 14).
Acts take effect and are in force on and after the tenth day following its passage, unless the ordinance/resolution/motion states otherwise or is vetoed by the Mayor (Section 14).
A vetoed ordinance, if repassed, takes effect ten days after the veto is overridden by required votes, unless the ordinance states otherwise or is again disapproved within the stated time (Section 14).
The Municipal Board forwards approved ordinances/resolutions/motions directing payment or creating liability to the Mayor for approval (Section 14).

Mayor’s veto procedure and item veto

Within ten days after receipt, the Mayor must return an ordinance/resolution/motion with approval or veto; failure to return within the period is deemed approval (Section 14).
If returned with veto, the Mayor must send written reasons with the veto (Section 14).
A vetoed act may be again enacted by affirmative votes of six members and forwarded again to the Mayor for approval (Section 14).
If the Mayor again vetoes and returns the act within ten days after receipt, the act is forwarded forthwith to the Secretary of the Interior for final approval or disapproval (Section 14).
The Mayor may veto particular items in an appropriation ordinance or in an ordinance/resolution/motion directing payment or creating liability; the veto affects only the objected items (Section 14).
If an item in an appropriation ordinance is disapproved by the Mayor, the corresponding item from the previous year is deemed restored unless expressly directed in the veto (Section 14).

Secretary of the Interior oversight

The Secretary of the Interior has full power to disapprove directly, in whole or in part, any ordinance/resolution/motion of the Municipal Board if it is found beyond the powers conferred on the Board (Section 14).

Municipal Board powers: taxes and appropriations

The Municipal Board levies and collects taxes for general and special purposes in accordance with law and may levy real property tax not to exceed two per centum ad valorem (Section 15(a)).
The Board makes all appropriations for city government expenses (Section 15(b)).
The Board fixes the number and salaries of officials and employees not otherwise provided for in the charter, subject to approval of the proper department head (Section 15(c)).
The Board authorizes free distribution of medicines to city employees and laborers whose salary or wage does not exceed sixty pesos per month or two pesos and fifty centavos per day, and distributes fresh or evaporated native milk to indigent mothers, and bread and light meals to indigent children of ten years or less, under the Mayor’s direct supervision (Section 15(d)).
The Board fixes the tariff of fees and charges for services rendered by the city or departments and officials (Section 15(e)).

Municipal Board powers: buildings, schools, police, fire

The Board provides for erection/maintenance or rental of necessary city buildings (Section 15(f)).
The Board establishes and maintains schools as provided by law and may fix reasonable tuition fees for instruction with approval of the Director of Public Schools (Section 15(g)).
The Board establishes or aids vocational schools and higher learning institutions supported by the National Government or its subdivisions and agencies, and fixes reasonable tuition fees with approval of the Director of Public Schools (Section 15(h)).
The Board provides for and maintains an efficient police force and enacts police ordinances aimed at confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating city ordinances (Section 15(i)).
The Board maintains an official fire force and provides fire equipment to prevent and extinguish fires, and regulates management and use of the same (Section 15(j)).
The Board establishes fire zones, regulates kinds of buildings/structures and construction/repair, and fixes permit fees for construction, repair, or demolition (Section 15(k)).

Municipal Board powers: utilities, sanitation, regulation

The Board regulates use of lights in stables, shops, and other buildings and restricts permits for bonfires and use of firecrackers, fireworks, skyrockets, and other pyrotechnics, and sets permit fees (Section 15(l)).
The Board enacts regulations to protect the public from conflagration and prevent/mitigate famine, floods, storms, and other public calamities and provides relief (Section 15(m)).
The Board sets and regulates license fees for a broad list of businesses and services, including hawkers/peddlers and many commercial occupations and establishments, and for keeping/preparation/sale of meat, poultry, fish, provisions, and similar food goods (Section 15(n)).
The Board may tax and fix license fees for certain dealers not yet subject to municipal tax, classifying them for taxation into specified retail categories (Section 15(o)).
The Board regulates and taxes businesses and imposes license fees for activities including match factories, blacksmith shops, foundries, steam boilers, lumber mills/yards, shipyards, storage/sale of gunpowder and highly combustible/explosive materials, tanneries, renderies, tallow chandleries, embalmers, funeral parlors, factories, and soap factories, subject to rules by the Director of Health (Section 15(p)).
The Board imposes tax on motor and other vehicles and animals not paying any national tax; automobiles/trucks belonging to the National Government or to provincial/municipal governments, and automobiles and trucks not regularly kept in the city, are exempt (Section 15(q)).
The Board regulates steam engines and boilers and other motive powers other than marine or government-owned, inspects them for a reasonable inspection fee, and sets license fees for engineers operating the same (Section 15(r)).

Municipal Board powers: streets, public works, water

The Board enacts ordinances for laying out, construction, improvement, and regulation of streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, wharves, piers, parks, cemeteries, and public places, including lighting, cleaning, sprinkling, and regulating traffic and sales on streets (Section 15(y)).
The Board may prohibit or regulate signs, signposts, awnings, posters, advertisements, handbills, and banners, including restrictions on placement, throwing, depositing, leaving obstacles/offal/garbage/refuse/offensive matter, and provides for collection and disposition (Section 15(y)).
The Board regulates openings for gas, water, sewer, and other pipes; building/repair of tunnels, sewers, drains, and structures; erecting poles and stringing wires; and regulates cross-walks, curbs, and gutters (Section 15(y)).
The Board can name streets, regulate numbering of houses and lots, abate nuisances and punish authors/owners, regulate bridges/viaducts/culverts, and regulate speed of horses, animals, motor vehicles, cars, and locomotives within city limits (Section 15(y)).
The Board regulates location and construction of railroad tracks in streets or other public places authorized by law, and may change railroads’ location, grade, and crossing, requiring railroads to raise or lower tracks to conform (Section 15(y)).
The Board provides for construction/repair of ditches, drains, sewers, and culverts along/under railroad tracks so natural drainage is not obstructed (Section 15(y)).
The Board constructs and maintains canals and watercourses, regulates navigation, provides clearing and purification, and regulates or provides for public landing places and drainage/filling of private premises when needed for sanitary rule enforcement (Section 15(z)).
Subject to the Public Service Law, the Board fixes charges payable by watercraft landing at or using public wharves/docks/levees/landing places owned or controlled by the city (Section 15(aa)).
The Board provides for maintenance of waterworks to supply water, purification of supply and its passage, regulates water consumption and use, and fixes rent collection for use of waterworks subject to the Public Service Law; it also regulates hydrants, pumps, cisterns, and reservoirs (Section 15(bb)).
The Board establishes and maintains public drains, sewers, latrines, and cesspools and regulates their use (Section 15(cc)).

Municipal Board powers: health facilities, markets, slaughter

Subject to Director of Health rules in accordance with law, the Board establishes, maintains, regulates, and fixes fees for public stables, laundries and baths, and public markets, and prohibits establishment/operation of public markets within city limits by any person/entity/association/corporation other than the city (Section 15(dd)).
The Board may establish or authorize slaughterhouses, provide for veterinary or sanitary inspection, regulate their use, and charge reasonable slaughter fees (Section 15(ee)).
No fees are charged for veterinary or sanitary inspection of meat from large cattle or other domestic animals slaughtered outside the city when inspection is had at the place of slaughter (Section 15(ee)).

Municipal Board powers: morals, nuisances, discrimination limits

The Board prevents discrimination or exclusion of any race or races in or from institutions, establishments, or services open to the public within city limits (Section 15(ff)).
The Board provides for inspection of gas, electric, telephone, and street-railway conduits, mains, meters, and apparatus and provides for condemnation, substitution, or removal when defective or dangerous (Section 15(ff)).
The Board provides for abatement of nuisances, regulates ringing bells and loud/unusual noises, and requires building/premises owners/agents/tenants to keep premises in sanitary condition (Section 15(gg)).
If the sanitary obligation is not complied with after sixty days from service of written notice, the cost may be assessed against the owner up to sixty per centum of the assessed value, and the cost constitutes a lien against the property (Section 15(gg)).
The Board regulates or prohibits, and fixes license fees for, use of property on or near public ways/grounds/places (or elsewhere in the city) for display of electric signs or erection/maintenance of billboards or structures used for posters/signs/pictorial/reading matters, except signs displayed where the advertised business/profession is wholly or partly conducted (Section 15(gg)).
The Board enforces Director of Health rules and prescribes penalties by ordinance for violations of those rules and regulations (Section 15(hh)).

Municipal Board powers: liquor, gambling-like amusements, and more

The Board extends ordinances over waters within the city, including boats/floating structures thereon, and over the drainage area and within one hundred meters of water-service reservoirs and related infrastructure, for protecting and insuring water supply purity (Section 15(ii)).
The Board taxes, fixes license fees, regulates sale/trading/disposal of alcoholic or malt beverages, wines, and mixed or fermented liquors, including tuba, basi, and tapuy, offered for retail sale (Section 15(jj)).
The Board regulates any other business or occupation not specifically mentioned and imposes a license fee on persons engaged in it or enjoying privileges in the city (Section 15(kk)).
The Board grants fishing and fishery privileges subject to the Fisheries Act (Section 15(ll)).
The Board fixes the date of the city fiesta not oftener than once a year and may alter the date not oftener than once in three years (Section 15(mm)).
The Board enacts all ordinances necessary for sanitation, safety, prosperity, promotion of morality, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, and general welfare, and fixes penalties for ordinance violations not exceeding a two hundred-peso fine or six months’ imprisonment, or both, for a single offense (Section 15(nn)).

Restrictive signage and forfeiture

No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard may be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings (Section 16).
If, after due investigation and giving owners an opportunity to be heard, the Mayor decides a displayed sign/signboard/billboard is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, the Mayor orders removal (Section 16).
If the sign/signboard/billboard is not removed within ten days after the Mayor issues the removal order, the Mayor may cause its removal (Section 16).
After such removal, the sign/signboard/billboard is forfeited to the city (Section 16).
Removal expenses become a lawful charge against the person or property liable for the creation or display (Section 16).

City departments and supervision

The city has these departments: finance, engineering, law, health, police, fire, and assessment (Section 17).
The Mayor has general supervisor control over all city departments unless otherwise provided by law (Section 17).
The Municipal Board may readjust departmental duties as demanded by public interest and, with the approval of the President, consolidate departments/divisions/offices (Section 17).

Department heads: reports, payroll certification

Each department head controls the department and has powers prescribed in the charter or by ordinance (Section 18).
Department heads certify payrolls and vouchers for payments before payment, except where expressly provided otherwise (Section 18).
At least four months before each fiscal year begins, each head prepares and presents an estimate of appropriation needed for the department’s operations in the ensuing fiscal year and submits comparative information the Mayor may desire (Section 18).
Department heads submit reports covering their department operations as often as required by the Mayor (Section 18).
When a department head is absent, sick, or unable to act, the officer next in charge acts with authority to sign needed papers, vouchers, requisitions, and similar documents (Section 18).

Appointments: who the President appoints

The President appoints, with consent of the Commission on Appointments: the judge and auxiliary judge of the municipal court, the city treasurer, city engineer, city attorney, city health officer, chief of police, chief of the fire department, and other department heads that may be created (Section 19).
These officers (except the municipal court judge and auxiliary judge) hold office at the pleasure of the President (Section 19).

Conflict-of-interest restrictions for city officers

It is unlawful for any city officer to engage, directly or indirectly and individually or as part of a firm, in a business transaction with the city or its authorized officials/boards/agents/attorneys where money is paid out of city resources to such person or firm (Section 20).
City officers are barred from purchasing city real estate or other property, including property sold for taxes/assessments or sold through legal process at the suit of the city (Section 20).
City officers are barred from being surety for persons having city contracts or doing business with the city, for performance where security may be required (Section 20).
City officers are barred from being surety on the official bond of any city officer (Section 20).

Finance: city treasurer and duties

The city treasurer heads the finance department and serves as chief fiscal officer and financial adviser, and custodian of city funds (Section 21).
The treasurer’s salary is not exceeding three thousand six hundred pesos per annum (Section 21).
The treasurer collects all city taxes, licenses authorized by law or ordinance, rents for city-owned lands/markets/property, and further charges fixed by law or ordinance, and issues receipts for costs/fees/fines and forfeitures imposed by the municipal court (Section 21).
The treasurer collects miscellaneous charges set by the engineering department and other city departments, including charges