Charter of the City of Iriga, Camarines Sur

City jurisdiction, police coverage

Section 6 provides police jurisdiction co-extensive with the city’s territorial jurisdiction.
Section 6 extends police jurisdiction for water-supply protection over all territory within the drainage area of the city water supply or within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct or pumping station used for the city water service.
Section 6 grants the city court concurrent jurisdiction with the municipal court over crimes and misdemeanors committed within the drainage area or within the one-hundred-meter spaces.
Section 6 provides that the court first taking jurisdiction retains exclusive jurisdiction thereafter over the offense.
Section 6 gives the police force of concerned municipalities concurrent jurisdiction with the city police for maintaining good order and enforcing ordinances within the covered zone/area/space.
Section 6 states that licenses issued within the covered zone/area/space are granted by the proper authorities of the municipality concerned, and license fees accrue to that municipality’s treasury, not the city.

Mayor and Vice-Mayor offices

Section 7 designates the Mayor as the city’s chief executive.
Section 7 provides election at large during every general election for provincial, city, and municipal officials under the Revised Election Code.
Section 7 requires mayoral eligibility: at least twenty-five years of age, a resident of the city for at least five years prior to election, and a qualified voter therein.
Section 7 provides the Mayor’s compensation: salary under existing laws and a commutable allowance of not less than one thousand two hundred pesos per annum.
Section 8 creates the office of Vice-Mayor as presiding officer of the City Council, elected at large under the same manner as the Mayor and with the same qualifications.
Section 8 requires the Vice-Mayor to perform the Mayor’s duties and exercise the Mayor’s powers except appointment and removal during the Mayor’s sickness, absence, or temporary incapacity.
Section 8 establishes succession: if the Mayor has a permanent vacancy, the Vice-Mayor becomes Mayor for the rest of the unexpired term; if the Vice-Mayor has a permanent vacancy, the City Council member with the highest number of votes in the last election becomes Vice-Mayor for the unexpired term.
Section 8 provides detailed acting rules: during temporary incapacity of the Vice-Mayor or vacancy, the City Council member with the highest votes serves as acting Mayor; acting Vice-Mayor rules apply when the Vice-Mayor is temporarily incapacitated for Mayor’s duties, and an acting presiding member ceases to act as a Council member except for the defined presiding arrangements.
Section 8 fixes compensation for acting or substitution: the acting Mayor or acting Vice-Mayor receives total compensation equivalent to the salary of the Mayor or Vice-Mayor during the period of service.
Section 8 bars the Vice-Mayor from voting except in case of a tie.

Mayor’s general powers and duties

Section 9 places the Mayor in immediate control of execution and administrative functions of city departments, subject to supervision of the President of the Philippines.
Section 9 requires enforcement: comply with and enforce the Charter and other laws and ordinances effective within the city, issuing necessary orders.
Section 9 mandates safeguarding city property and rights: lands, buildings, records, moneys, credits, and property control subject to the Charter.
Section 9 directs revenue collection and proper application: ensure taxes and city revenues are collected and applied per appropriations for city expenses.
Section 9 authorizes judicial recovery: institute judicial proceedings to recover city property and funds and protect the city’s interests.
Section 9 commands executive supervision: ensure executive officers and employees properly discharge duties, including transferring officers and employees under the Mayor’s executive supervision not appointed by the President, without changing compensation.
Section 9 empowers inspection: examine and inspect books, records, and papers of officers/agents/employees under executive supervision when occasion arises.
Section 9 requires Council support: give information and recommend measures advantageous to the city.
Section 9 allows participation in Council sessions: the Mayor may attend or designate a representative, may participate in discussions, but must not vote.
Section 9 requires official representation and signature authority: represent the city in business matters; sign warrants on the city treasury; sign bonds, contracts, and city obligations made under law and ordinances.
Section 9 requires budget submission: submit to the City Council at least two months before the beginning of the ensuing fiscal year the city budget of receipts and expenditures.
Section 9 provides administrative adjudicatory authority: receive, hear, and decide petitions, complaints, and claims of residents concerning classes of city matters of administrative and executive character.
Section 9 gives licensing power: grant or refuse city licenses and permits of all classes; revoke for violations of conditions; revoke if prohibited acts are committed under the protection of the license; and revoke for other good reasons of general interest.
Section 9 authorizes hardship school fee relief: exempt deserving poor pupils from school fees or parts thereof with concurrence of the superintendent of city schools.
Section 9 mandates emergency measures: take measures needed to avoid fires and floods and mitigate storms and other public calamities.
Section 9 establishes administrative investigation committee: Chair a committee of three for administrative investigations of members of the city police department, with the other two selected by Council members from among themselves.
Section 9 provides veto power: any vetoed ordinance or resolution may be re-passed by affirmative vote of six members of the City Council.
Section 9 vests appointment/removal power subject to Civil Service Law: appoint all city officers and employees except those whose appointments are vested in the President or otherwise by law; suspend or remove those appointed by him in accordance with law.
Section 9 grants confidential employment power: the Mayor appoints employees whose duties are strictly confidential, at pleasure.
Section 9 authorizes assistance request for peace and order: request assistance of the Philippine Constabulary and other police agencies if public interest and safety require.
Section 9 commands performance of other duties: perform other duties and exercise other executive powers prescribed by law or ordinance.

Secretary to the Mayor; certifications and fees

Section 10 requires the Mayor to appoint one Secretary, holding office at the Mayor’s pleasure.
Section 10 grants the Secretary a department-head rank and charge and custody of city records and documents for which no other provision exists.
Section 10 requires the Secretary to keep the corporate seal and affix it, signing, to official city documents required by law or ordinance.
Section 10 requires attestation: the Secretary attests executive orders, proclamations, ordinances, and resolutions signed by the Mayor.
Section 10 sets certified-copy access and fees: upon request, furnish certified copies of non-confidential records; charge twenty centavos for each one hundred words, with fees paid directly to the city treasurer.
Section 10 provides civil service status: the Secretary is within the unclassified civil service, but may be filled like classified positions; if filled as classified, benefits apply, but the office terminates with the appointing Mayor’s term until a successor is appointed and qualified, or sooner separated for or without cause by the Mayor.

City Council structure, members, restrictions

Section 11 makes the City Council the city’s legislative body, composed of the Vice-Mayor as presiding officer and eight councilors elected at large.
Section 11 provides councilors are elected during every election for provincial, city and municipal officials under the Revised Election Code and serve four years.
Section 11 authorizes temporary substitution: the President of the Philippines may appoint a temporary substitute from the same political party for a councilor who is sick, absent, suspended, temporarily disabled, or when needed to maintain quorum; the substitute performs all rights and duties until return to duty.
Section 11 bars Council participation in election matters: if a member is a candidate for office, the member is disqualified to act with the Council relative to election duties.
Section 11 requires handling election duties without the candidate member: other members discharge duties alone or choose a disinterested elector to act in place.
Section 11 sets Council member compensation under existing laws and restricts legal practice: members may engage in their profession, but must not appear as counsel before any court in a civil case where the city or its instrumentality is the adverse party; must not appear in criminal cases where a city officer/employee is accused of an offense committed in relation to office; and must not collect a fee for administrative proceedings in the city.
Section 12 establishes qualifications for councilors: qualified electors of the city, residents for at least two years immediately prior to election, and at least twenty-three years of age.
Section 12 provides removal/suspension: council members may be suspended or removed under the same manner and with the same effect as elective provincial officers, making provincial-officer suspension/removal laws applicable.

City Council election timing and leadership

Section 12 requires that elections for Council members be held on the date of the regular election for provincial and municipal offices.
Section 12 provides assumption of office: elected members assume office on the first day of January next following election after qualifying.
Section 12 provides term length: councilors hold office for four years and until successors are duly elected and qualified.
Section 12 declares election results: the eight candidates receiving the greatest number of votes are declared elected.
Section 8 and Section 11 together make the Vice-Mayor the presiding officer of the City Council.

Secretary of the City Council; records and fees

Section 13 requires the City Council to have a secretary chosen after every election to serve during the Council’s term.
Section 13 provides for temporary filling: a vacancy in the Secretary’s office is filled temporarily for the unexpired term in like manner.
Section 13 mandates custody of Council records and proceedings: keep a full record; file all documents; and record ordinances and resolutions/motions directing payment or creating liability with dates of passage and publication.
Section 13 requires a Council seal, circular in form, inscribed "City Council—City of Iriga" and affixed with the Secretary’s signature to ordinances and other official acts of the Council.
Section 13 requires presentment for signature: present sealed documents to the presiding officer for signature.
Section 13 sets public-record copies and fees: furnish copies of records of public character upon request under the seal of office and charge twenty centavos for each one hundred words including the certificate; fees paid to the city treasurer.
Section 13 requires open public inspection: keep office and all non-confidential records open to public inspection during usual business hours.

Sessions, voting, quorums, ordinances

Section 14 provides the Council holds two regular sessions each week on days fixed by resolution, and may hold special sessions called by the Mayor or upon request of at least four members.
Section 14 requires openness: the Council sits with open doors unless otherwise ordered by affirmative vote of a majority of all members.
Section 14 sets quorum and compels attendance: a majority of all members is quorum; a smaller number may adjourn and may compel attendance of absent members without good cause by ordering arrest and production at the session under penalties previously prescribed by ordinance.
Section 14 sets passage votes: affirmative vote of a majority of all members is required for passage of any ordinance and for resolutions/motions directing payment or creating liability; other measures follow majority vote of members present at a duly called session.
Section 14 requires recorded voting: take and record ayes and nays on passage of ordinances, and on resolutions/motions directing payment or creating liability, and upon request for any other resolution or motion.
Section 14 requires document execution and publication: each approved ordinance/resolution/motion is sealed with the City Council seal, signed by presiding officer and Secretary, recorded in a purpose book, posted by the Secretary the day following passage at the main entrance of city hall and in at least two other public places, and takes effect and is in force on and after the tenth day following passage unless otherwise stated or vetoed.
Section 14 provides repassage timing after veto: a repassed vetoed ordinance takes effect ten days after the veto is overridden by required votes unless otherwise stated or again vetoed within that time.
Section 14 requires forwarding for approval: each ordinance, resolution, or motion directing payment or creating liability must be forwarded to the Mayor within ten days from enactment by the Council; failure to transmit within this period deems it not enacted.
Section 14 creates approval/veto deadlines: the Mayor must return the forwarded measure within ten days with approval or veto; non-return within that time deems approval.
Section 14 establishes veto process: if vetoed, Mayor’s written reason accompanies return; then the Council may re-enact by a two-thirds vote of all members, forward again, and if the Mayor does not again return with veto within ten days, approval is deemed.
Section 14 provides final step on repeated veto: if the Mayor again returns with veto within the time, the matter is forwarded forthwith to the President of the Philippines for final approval or disapproval.
Section 14 authorizes partial veto of appropriation/monetary items: Mayor may veto particular items of an appropriation ordinance or monetary resolution/motion; vetoed items do not take effect; unobjected items take effect as provided.
Section 14 provides reenactment rule if appropriation items are disapproved: if items in an appropriation ordinance are disapproved by the Mayor, the corresponding items from the previous year are deemed reenacted unless expressly directed in the veto.

City Council legislative powers

Section 15 authorizes the City Council to enact ordinances on taxes and local governance subject to law, including levy and collection of taxes for general and special purposes.
Section 15(a) limits real property tax authority: real property tax may be levied up to one and one-half per centum ad valorem, but this maximum shall not be imposed during the first ten years from effectivity of the Act; for machinery (embracing machines, mechanical contrivances, instruments, appliances, and apparatus attached for industrial, agricultural, or manufacturing use), the tax shall not exceed one and one-half per centum ad valorem.
Section 15(b) empowers appropriations: the Council makes appropriations for expenses of the city government.
Section 15(c) fixes official salaries within limits: determine number and salaries of city officials/employees not otherwise provided, but salaries may not exceed the maximum salary in existing salary laws and Presidential orders.
Section 15(d) authorizes free distributions to covered beneficiaries supervised by the Mayor: medicine for employees/laborers whose salary/wages do not exceed one hundred and eighty pesos per month or six pesos per day; evaporated or fresh native milk to indigent mothers residing in the city; and bread and light meals to indigent children ten years or less.
Section 15(e) allows fees and charges schedules for services rendered by the city or departments/officials.
Section 15(f) empowers civic buildings: erect/maintain or rent buildings necessary for city use.
Section 15(g) authorizes education institutions and tuition regulation with approval: establish/maintain vocational schools and higher learning institutions conducted by the National Government or its subdivisions/agencies; with approval of the Director of Public Schools or Director of Vocational Education, fix reasonable tuition fees for higher learning supported by the city.
Section 15(h) empowers police force and ordinances: provide an efficient police force, make necessary police ordinances for confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating city ordinances.
Section 15(i) empowers maintenance of the city court established by law with jurisdiction of criminal cases under city ordinances and further jurisdiction conferred by the Charter or later.
Section 15(j) authorizes fire department and related facilities and regulation.
Section 15(k) empowers fire zones and building height limitations in relation to Civil Aeronautics Administration: establish fire zones, determine allowed building kinds/heights not exceeding Civil Aeronautics Administration limitations, regulate construction/repair, and fix fees for permits for construction, repair, or demolition.
Section 15(l) authorizes regulation of lights in stables/shops/buildings and permits for bonfires/rockets, fireworks, torpedoes, candles, skyrockets, and other pyrotechnic displays, including fixing fees.
Section 15(m) authorizes taxation and regulation of specified businesses and license fees, including hawkers/peddlers (with an exception for those selling only native vegetables, fruits, or foods personally carried), barbers, collecting agencies, manicurists, hair dressers, tattooers, jugglers, acrobats, wrestlers, boxers, pelotaries, jockeys, shooting galleries, slot machines (except jackpot or one armed bandit machines), merry-go-rounds, and other similar riding devices, and the keeping/preparation/sale of meat, poultry, fish, game, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, bread, and other provisions.
Section 15(n) authorizes taxation/regulation of hotels, motels, restaurants, refreshment places, cafes, lodging houses, boarding houses, brewers, distillers, rectifiers, sundries, dyeing/cleaning establishments, beauty parlors, physical/beauty culture and fashion schools, clubs, livery garages, public warehouses, pawnshops, theaters, cinematography, and letting/subletting of lands/buildings, including fixing locations and license fees; it also authorizes taxation and licensing of a broad list of establishments including high-risk activities and materials (including gunpowder and other combustible/explosive materials), and further allows regulation of tanneries/renderies/tallow chandleries/bone factories/soap factories subject to health rules issued by the Department of Health.
Section 15(o) authorizes taxation/regulation of printers/bookbinders, tailor shops, milliners, jewelry embroideries/sail/awnings/rope and many categories of manufacturing and goods, and sets that the listed manufacturers are not subject to city tax or license fee as retail dealers of their own products.
Section 15(p) authorizes taxation and license fees for dealers in general merchandise with classification into wholesale and retail; retail general merchandise is classified into four classes: (1) luxury articles, (2) semi-luxury articles, (3) essential commodities, and (4) miscellaneous articles; separate license is prescribed for each class but where different classes are sold in one establishment, more than one license is not compulsory if the owner pays the higher or highest rate of tax prescribed by ordinance; it authorizes that dealers in general merchandise include poultry and livestock, agricultural products, fish and other allied products.
Section 15(q) authorizes taxation, fixing license fees, and regulation of intoxicating liquors and alcoholic/malt beverages/wines/mixed or fermented liquors including tuba, basi, and tapuy for retail sale.
Section 15(r) authorizes imposing tax on products/commodities manufactured or produced in the city and removed therefrom.
Section 15(s) authorizes a sales tax not exceeding one per centum of the gross value in money of all articles sold, bartered, exchanged, or transferred within the city.
Section 15(t) authorizes regulation of steam engines and boilers (excluding marine steam engines or those belonging to the Government of the Philippines), inspection, inspection fees, and regulation/fees for engineers operating them.
Section 15(u) authorizes prohibition and suppression of riots, affrays, disturbances, disorderly assemblies, houses of ill-fame and other disorderly houses, gaming houses, gambling, fraudulent devices to obtain money/property, prostitution, vagrancy, intoxication, fighting, quarrelling, disorderly conduct, and printing/circulating/exhibiting/possessing/selling obscene pictures, books, or publications, and maintenance/preservation of peace and good morals.
Section 15(v) authorizes prohibition/ regulation of keeping dogs and authorization of impounding and destruction when running at large contrary to ordinances, and authorization to tax/regulate fighting cock keeping/training.
Section 15(w) authorizes city pounds, regulation/restraining/prohibition of domestic animals running at large, and distraining/impounding/sale with costs and penalties for ordinance violations.
Section 15(x) authorizes prohibiting and punishing cruelty to animals.
Section 15(y) authorizes sidewalk construction/repair at property owners’ expense with city engineer specifications and supervision; if owners fail within a specified period after demand, the city engineer shall cause the work to be done and collect cost as a special assessment payable in full or ten equal yearly installments, due like annual real property tax; the special assessment includes lien and priority rules and is subject to the same remedies and penalties for delinquency as annual real estate tax.
Section 15(z) authorizes regulating inspection, weighing, and measuring of brick, lumber, hollow blocks, adobe stones, tiles, coal, and other articles/merchandise.
Section 15(aa) authorizes comprehensive street/public place regulation: laying out, constructing, improving and regulating use of public ways and places; lighting, cleaning, sprinkling; regulating and charging license fees for processions, signs/signposts/awnings/awning posts, carrying/displaying banners/placards/advertisements/handbills, flying signs/flags/banners over/across/from buildings; prohibiting placing/throwing/depositing/leaving obstacles/garbage/refuse/offensive matter liable to cause damage; inspecting and regulating openings for gas/water/sewers/other pipes; regulating tunnels/sewers/drains and structures under streets and erecting poles/stringing wires; regulating crosswalks/curbs/gutters; naming streets; numbering houses; regulating traffic and sales on streets/public places; abating nuisances; maintaining and regulating bridges/viaducts/culverts; prohibiting/regulating amusements that annoy persons or frighten horses/animals; prohibiting/regulating human-powered vehicles and locomotives; regulating lights on vehicles/locomotives; regulating tracks for rail vehicles in city streets; regulating railroad relocation/grade/crossing and requiring railroads to raise/lower tracks; requiring railroads to fence property, provide suitable protection, and construct/repair ditches/drains/sewers/culverts along/under tracks so natural street drainage is not obstructed.
Section 15(bb) empowers canal and water-course construction/maintenance and regulation of navigation, plus cleaning/purification and sanitary drainage and filling of private premises when necessary to enforce sanitary rules.
Section 15(cc) empowers maintaining waterworks for supplying water, purification of sources and passageways, regulation of water consumption and use; it authorizes collecting rents subject to the Public Service Law and regulating hydrants, pumps, cisterns, and reservoirs.
Section 15(dd) authorizes establishing/maintaining and regulating public drains, sewers, latrines, and cesspools.
Section 15(ee) authorizes public stables/laundries/baths: subject to Department of Health rules, establish/maintain them, fix fees for use, regulate them, and prohibit or permit establishment/operation of public markets by persons/entities/associations/corporations other than the city by license on Council-fixed terms.
Section 15(ff) authorizes slaughterhouses: establish/authorize establishment, provide veterinary/sanitary inspection, regulate use, and charge reasonable slaughter fees; it provides no veterinary/sanitary inspection fees for meat from large cattle or other domestic animals slaughtered outside the city where inspection was held at the slaughter place.
Section 15(gg) authorizes regulation/inspection measures preventing discrimination or exclusion of any race in or from public institutions/establishments/services open to the public within the city, including sale/supply of gas/electricity and telephone service; authorizes charging/conforming charges where not fixed by national law; and authorizes condemnation/substitution/removal when defective or dangerous.
Section 15(hh) empowers nuisance abatement and noise regulation; requires owners/agents/tenants to keep premises sanitary; if failure within sixty days after written notice, the city health officer must cause sanitation; the cost is assessed against the owner up to not to exceed sixty per centum of assessed value, constituting a lien on property.
Section 15(ii) authorizes enforcement of Department of Health rules and Health-related rules/regulations by ordinance prescribing penalties for violations.
Section 15(jj) extends water-supply protection coverage: city ordinances extend over drainage area and within one hundred meters of reservoir/conduit/canal/aqueduct/pumping station used for city water service.
Section 15(kk) authorizes licensing for unlisted businesses/occupations and imposes license fees on persons engaged in them or enjoying privileges in the city.
Section 15(ll) authorizes regulation of vehicle size/speed/operation, vehicle lights, establishment of bus stops and terminals, and prohibiting/regulating provincial public utility vehicle entry except those passing through.
Section 15(mm) authorizes setting the city fiesta date: not oftener than once a year and alteration not oftener than once in three years.
Section 15(nn) authorizes all necessary ordinances for sanitation/safety, prosperity, morality, peace/good order/comfort/convenience/general welfare and fixes ordinance penalties not exceeding a two hundred-peso fine, or six months imprisonment, or both for a single offense.
Section 15 authorizes Council to divide city districts by ordinance for administrative and other purposes including property description.

Restrictive sign provisions

Section 16 prohibits erection or display of commercial signs/signboards/billboards on public lands, premises, or buildings.
Section 16 allows the Mayor, after due investigation and opportunity to be heard, to order removal of a