Corporate powers and police jurisdiction
- Article I, Section 3 declares that the City is a political body corporate with perpetual succession and with powers of a municipal corporation, exercised in conformity with the Charter and other laws.
- Article I, Section 3 grants corporate powers including: continuous succession in its corporate name, to sue and be sued, to have and use a corporate seal, to acquire and convey property, and to enter into contracts, and also other corporate powers subject to limits in the Charter and other laws.
- Article I, Section 4 provides the City shall have a common seal and may alter it at pleasure, and it may exercise specified local government powers including levying taxes, closing and opening roads, streets, alleys, parks or squares, and condemning private property for public use.
- Article I, Section 4 authorizes the City to take, purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property for the general interest, and to prosecute and defend suits wherein it is a party.
- Article I, Section 5 requires that the City and its officials shall not be exempt from liability for death or injury to persons or damage to property.
- Article I, Section 6 limits the City’s police jurisdiction for police purposes to be coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction and extends it for water-supply protection to all territory within the drainage area and also within one hundred meters (100 m.) of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct or pumping station used for City water service.
- Article I, Section 6 grants the city court concurrent jurisdiction with city or municipal courts of adjoining municipalities or cities to try crimes and misdemeanors committed within the drainage area or within 100 meters (100 m.); the court first taking cognizance has jurisdiction to the exclusion of others.
- Article I, Section 6 requires that licenses issued within the protected zone be granted by the proper authorities of the City or municipality concerned, and license fees accrue to the treasury of the City or municipality concerned.
City officials: offices, appointments, concurrence
- Article II, Section 7 establishes the following city offices: city mayor, city vice mayor, sangguniang panlungsod members, secretary to the sangguniang panlungsod, city treasurer and assistant city treasurer, city assessor and assistant city assessor, city accountant, city budget officer, city planning and development coordinator, city engineer, city health officer, city civil registrar, city administrator, city legal officer, city veterinarian, city social welfare and development officer, city general services officer, and city agriculturist.
- Article II, Section 7(b) authorizes the city mayor to appoint additional officials: city architect, city information officer, city population officer, city environment and natural resources officer, and city cooperatives officer.
- Article II, Section 7(c) allows the City to: maintain existing offices not mentioned, create other offices necessary for City purposes, or consolidate functions for efficiency and economy.
- Article II, Section 7(d) provides that, unless otherwise provided, appointive city officials are appointed by the city mayor with the concurrence of the majority of all sangguniang panlungsod members, subject to the civil service law.
- Article II, Section 7(d) requires the sangguniang panlungsod to act on appointments within fifteen (15) days from the date of admission, otherwise appointments are deemed confirmed.
City mayor: election, compensation, powers
- Article III, Section 8(a) makes the city mayor the chief executive elected at large by qualified voters of the City.
- Article III, Section 8(a) sets eligibility: a mayor must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age, an actual resident of the City for at least one (1) year prior to election, and a qualified voter.
- Article III, Section 8(a) provides a three (3) years term unless sooner removed, and requires minimum monthly compensation corresponding to salary grade thirty (30) under Republic Act No. 6758 and its implementing guidelines.
- Article III, Section 8(b) requires the city mayor to exercise and perform powers and duties for efficient governance and general welfare, including:
- Setting guidelines of city policies and being responsible to the sangguniang panlungsod for the program of government.
- Directing formulation of the city development plan (with the city development council) and implementing it upon approval by the sangguniang panlungsod.
- Presenting the program of government and proposing policies and projects to the sangguniang panlungsod every calendar year and whenever necessary.
- Initiating and proposing legislative measures and providing information and data for legislative functions.
- Appointing officials and employees whose salaries and wages are wholly or mainly paid out of city funds and whose appointment is not otherwise provided in the Charter, and appointing those the mayor is authorized by law to appoint.
- Representing the City in business transactions and signing bonds, contracts, obligations, and other documents with authority of the sangguniang panlungsod or pursuant to laws/ordinances.
- Conducting emergency measures after man-made and natural disasters and calamities.
- Determining the time, manner and place of payment of salaries and wages in accordance with law or ordinance.
- Allocating office space in city hall and other city buildings for entitled officials and employees.
- Ensuring executive officials discharge duties faithfully and causing administrative or judicial proceedings for offenses in official duties.
- Examining books, records, and documents of City offices and requiring national officials and employees stationed/assigned in the City to make available records, except those classified as confidential by law.
- Furnishing copies of executive orders to council chairmen within seventy-two (72) hours after issuance.
- Visiting component barangays at least once every six (6) months.
- Acting on leave applications and commutation of leave credits in accordance with law.
- Authorizing official trips outside the City for a period not exceeding thirty (30) days.
- Calling upon national officials/employees for advice and coordinating in planning; initiating administrative/judicial action for offenses by national officials in the City.
- Authorizing payment for medical care and related expenses of City officials/employees injured in official duties, subject to available funds.
- Solemnizing marriages notwithstanding contrary law.
- Conducting an annual palarong panlungsod in coordination with Department of Education, Culture and Sports.
- Submitting an annual report to the national provincial governor and the President with City management and development summaries, and supplemental reports for unexpected events, particularly disasters or calamities.
- Article III, Section 8(b) also requires the mayor to enforce laws and ordinances, including ensuring component barangays act within their powers, issuing executive orders, and calling conventions and meetings for local governance.
- Article III, Section 8(b) grants special police-related functions: the mayor is entitled to carry a necessary firearm within territorial jurisdiction; acts as deputized representative of the National Police Commission; formulates the peace and order plan and, upon approval, implements it; and exercises general and operational control and supervision over local police forces in accordance with Republic Act No. 6975.
- Article III, Section 8(b) authorizes the mayor to call appropriate law enforcement agencies to suppress disorder, riot, lawless violence, rebellion or sedition, or apprehend violators when public interest so requires and City police are inadequate.
- Article III, Section 8(b) requires resource generation and application to development plans, including requiring office heads to submit appropriation estimates, preparing and submitting executive and supplemental budgets for approval, ensuring collection of City taxes and revenues, applying City funds to expenses and obligations in accordance with law/ordinance, and issuing and suspending/revoking licenses and permits for violations of conditions.
- Article III, Section 8(b) requires the mayor to issue permits for charitable or welfare activities (excluding prohibited games of chance or shows contrary to law, public policy and public morals) without need of approval from any national agency.
- Article III, Section 8(b) authorizes regulation of illegally constructed houses/buildings/structures: owners must obtain permits subject to fines/penalties under law or ordinance, or make necessary changes, or be subject to demolition/removal within periods prescribed by law or ordinance.
- Article III, Section 8(b) obligates the mayor to adopt measures safeguarding City land, minerals, marine, forest, and other resources; to protect City funds and property; and to institute administrative/judicial proceedings for ordinance violations in tax/fee collection and recovery of funds/property.
- Article III, Section 8(b) requires delivery of basic services: it mandates coordination of road construction/repair funded by the national government with City roads/bridges, coordination with national technical services, and performance of other duties under Republic Act No. 7160 (Local Government Code of 1991) and laws/ordinances.
City vice mayor: election, role, succession duties
- Article III, Section 9(a) creates the city vice mayor elected in the same manner as the city mayor and requiring the same qualifications.
- Article III, Section 9(a) provides a three (3) years term unless sooner removed and minimum monthly compensation corresponding to salary grade twenty-six (26) under Republic Act No. 6758.
- Article III, Section 9(b)(1) makes the vice mayor presiding officer of the sangguniang panlungsod and requiring the vice mayor to sign warrants drawn on the city treasury for expenditures appropriated for sanggunian operations.
- Article III, Section 9(b)(2) requires the vice mayor, subject to civil service laws, to appoint sanggunian officials and employees except those whose appointment is specifically provided by existing laws.
- Article III, Section 9(b)(3) requires the vice mayor to assume the city mayor office for the unexpired term in case of permanent vacancy.
- Article III, Section 9(b)(4) requires the vice mayor to exercise the powers and perform duties of the city mayor in cases of temporary vacancy.
- Article III, Section 9(b)(5) requires performance of other duties and exercise of other powers as provided under Republic Act No. 7160 and prescribed by law/ordinance.
Sangguniang panlungsod: composition and core powers
- Article IV, Section 10(a) establishes the sangguniang panlungsod as the City’s legislative body, composed of: city vice mayor (presiding officer), regular sanggunian members, president of the liga ng mga barangay city chapter, president of the panlungsod na pederasyon ng mga sangguniang kabataan, and sectoral representatives.
- Article IV, Section 10(b) provides for three (3) sectoral representatives: one (1) from women, one (1) from agricultural or industrial workers, and one (1) from other sectors including urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, and disabled persons.
- Article IV, Section 10(b) requires that within ninety (90) days prior to local elections, the sangguniang panlungsod determines the selection for the sectoral seat representing agricultural or industrial workers.
- Article IV, Section 10(c) requires election of regular members and sectoral representatives as provided by law, and requires elective members to possess the same qualifications as the city mayor/vice mayor, except that candidates must be at least eighteen (18) years of age on election day.
- Article IV, Section 10(d) sets minimum monthly compensation for sangguniang panlungsod members at salary grade twenty-five (25) under Republic Act No. 6758.
- Article IV, Section 10(e) requires the sangguniang panlungsod to approve ordinances and pass resolutions to ensure an efficient and effective City government, including the enumerated functions to:
- Review sangguniang barangay ordinances and punong barangay executive orders for consistency with barangay powers and the punong barangay’s authority.
- Maintain peace and order by preventing and suppressing lawlessness, disorder, riot, violence, rebellion or sedition and by imposing penalties for ordinance violations.
- Approve ordinances imposing a fine not exceeding Five thousand pesos (P5,000) or imprisonment not exceeding one (1) year, or both, at the discretion of the court, for violation of a city ordinance.
- Protect inhabitants from disasters and calamities and provide relief and assistance during and after such events, including support for return to productive livelihood.
- Enact ordinances targeting habitual drunkenness in public places, vagrancy, mendicancy, prostitution, houses of ill repute, gambling and other prohibited games of chance, fraudulent devices to obtain money or property, drug addiction and drug dens, drug pushing, juvenile delinquency, and printing/distribution/exhibition of obscene or pornographic materials or publications.
- Protect the environment and impose penalties for endangering acts such as illegal logging, smuggling natural resources products and endangered species, slash and burn farming, pollution, eutrophication acceleration, or ecological imbalance.
- Determine powers and duties of City officials and employees subject to the Local Government Code and pertinent laws.
- Determine positions, salaries, wages, allowances, and benefits for officials and employees paid wholly or mainly from City funds, and fund City programs/projects/services/activities.
- Authorize payment of compensation or honorarium to qualified non-government persons filling temporary vacancies or concurrently designated to fill temporary vacancies at rates authorized by law.
- Provide mechanisms and funds for safety and protection of City government property and public records (including inventory, land ownership, births/marriages/deaths, assessments, taxation, business permits and similar public documents).
- Provide additional allowances and other benefits to judges, prosecutors, and public school teachers and other national officials stationed in the City when City finances allow.
- Provide legal assistance to barangay officials for judicial proceedings they must initiate or defend in official duty contexts.
- Provide group insurance or additional insurance coverage for barangay officials and barangay tanod brigades and other service units when finances allow.
- Article IV, Section 10(e) further requires the sangguniang panlungsod, through budgets and legislation, to maximize resource and revenue use for agro-industrial development and City-wide growth, including:
- Approving annual and supplemental budgets and appropriating funds for City programs/projects/services/activities.
- Enacting ordinances levying taxes, fees and charges and prescribing rates, granting tax exemptions, incentives, or relief under Book II of the Local Government Code.
- Authorizing the City mayor to negotiate and contract loans and other indebtedness under Book II and applicable laws.
- Enacting ordinances authorizing floating bonds or instruments of indebtedness to finance development projects under Book II and applicable laws.
- Appropriating funds for City buildings and authorizing the mayor to lease proprietary-use public buildings to private parties subject to laws/rules/regulations, upon the sangguniang panlungsod’s approval by a majority vote.
- Prescribing reasonable limits and restraints on use of property within the City.
- Adopting a comprehensive land use plan coordinated with the approved provincial comprehensive land use plan.
- Reclassifying land within the City under the Local Government Code.
- Enacting integrated zoning ordinances consistent with the comprehensive land use plan, establishing fire limits/zones and regulating building construction/repair/modification within fire limits/zones according to the Fire Code.
- Processing and approving subdivision plans for residential/commercial/industrial purposes subject to national law, and collecting processing fees and charges accruing entirely to the City; where national agency approval is required, prohibiting withholding for more than thirty (30) days from receipt of the application, with deemed approval upon failure to act within that period.
- Granting tax exemptions, incentives or relief to entities in community growth-inducing industries with concurrence of at least two-thirds (2/3) of all members, subject to the Local Government Code.
- Granting loans or providing grants to other local government units or to national/provincial/city charitable, benevolent or educational institutions operated and maintained within the City.
- Regulating numbering of buildings and regulating inspection, weighing, and measuring of articles of commerce.
- Article IV, Section 10(e) requires the sangguniang panlungsod to enact ordinances on franchises, permits and licenses to promote general welfare and to:
- Fix reasonable fees and charges for services to private persons/entities.
- Regulate or fix license fees for business and professional practice and the conditions for revocation.
- Provide terms and conditions for operating City-owned public utilities and for leasing them to private persons or entities, preferably cooperatives.
- Fix license fees for signs, signboards or billboards.
- Authorize and license establishment/operation/maintenance of cockpits and regulate cockfighting and commercial breeding of gamecocks, without prejudicing existing rights.
- Regulate tricycle operations and grant franchises for them subject to guidelines prescribed by the Department of Transportation and Communications.
- Grant franchises upon majority approval for business operations in the City, establishment/operation/maintenance of ferries, wharves, markets or slaughterhouses, or other allowed City activities, with preference for cooperatives.
- Article IV, Section 10(e) authorizes ordinances regulating land, buildings and structures to promote welfare, including nuisance abatement; sanitation conditions and enforcement; regulation of disposal of clinical and other wastes; regulation of cafes/restaurants/beerhouses/hotels/motels/inns/pension houses/lodging houses and similar establishments and tourist guides and transports; regulation of retail dispensing of intoxicating malt, vino, mixed or fermented liquors; steam boiler/heating device inspections and storage regulation for inflammable and highly combustible materials; regulation/suspension/suppression of entertainment and amusement facilities; impounding stray animals and regulating keeping/slaughter/sale/disposition of animals and adoption of cruelty prevention measures; and regulation of funeral parlors and burial or cremation subject to existing laws/rules.
- Article IV, Section 10(e) requires ordinances ensuring efficient delivery of basic services and facilities, including measures for communal forest and watersheds, markets and slaughterhouses, foodstuff preparation/sale regulation, street/public place use and infrastructure maintenance and lighting/cleaning/sprinkling, traffic regulation and removal of encroachments, waterworks establishment and water purity/quantity protection and water charge collection, regulation of drilling/excavation for utilities and safety against hazards, regulation of gas/electric/telegraph/telephone wiring and apparatus and removal if dangerous/defective, establishment of vocational/technical schools with approved tuition fees for City-supported institutions, scholarship funds, quarantine regulations, solid waste/garbage collection and prohibition of littering, services and facilities for disabled persons, paupers, aged, sick, persons of unsound mind, abandoned minors, juvenile delinquents, drug dependents, and abused children/youth below eighteen (18) years of age, jail/detention center maintenance and jail management programs, and establishment of city councils for culture and the arts and for the elderly.
Process of legislation: rules, disclosure, sessions
- Article V, Section 11(a) requires the sangguniang panlungsod, on the first regular session after member election and within ninety (90) days thereafter, to adopt or update its existing rules of procedure.
- Article V, Section 11(b) requires the rules of procedure to provide for: organization and election of officers and standing committees (including at least appropriations, women and family, human rights, youth and sports development, environmental protection and cooperatives); committee jurisdiction and election of committee chairmen/members; the order and calendar of business; legislative process; parliamentary procedures; discipline for disorderly behavior and absences without justifiable cause for four (4) consecutive sessions.
- Article V, Section 11(b)(5) requires discipline outcomes for four (4) consecutive sessions absences, which may include censure/reprimand/exclusion, suspension for not more than sixty (60) days, or expulsion, with suspension/expulsion requiring concurrence of at least two-thirds (2/3) vote of all sanggunian members.
- Article V, Section 11(b)(5) requires automatic expulsion if a member is convicted by final judgment to imprisonment of at least one (1) year for any crime involving moral turpitude.
- Article V, Section 12(a) mandates full written disclosure by every sangguniang panlungsod member upon assumption to office of business and financial interests and related consanguinity/affinity within the fourth civil degree with persons/entities affected by ordinances or resolutions being considered, where such relationship may result in conflict of interest.
- Article V, Section 12(a) defines conflict of interest as a situation where it may be reasonably deduced that the member may not act in the public interest due to private, pecuniary or other personal considerations affecting judgment to the prejudice of service or public, when no specific constitutional or statutory provision applies.
- Article V, Section 12(b) requires disclosure to be written and submitted to the secretary of the sangguniang or secretary of the relevant committee, to form part of the record of proceedings.
- Article V, Section 12(b)(1)-(2) requires disclosure timing: before participation in deliberations; or if no participation occurs, before voting on second and third readings; and also when a member takes a position or makes a privilege speech on matters affecting the interests described.
Voting, quorum, and ordinance approval rules
- Article V, Section 13(a) requires the sangguniang panlungsod, by resolution on the first day of the session immediately after election, to fix the day, time and place of regular sessions.
- Article V, Section 13(a) requires minimum regular sessions once a week.
- Article V, Section 13(b) allows special sessions when public interest demands, called by the city mayor or by a majority of sanggunian members.
- Article V, Section 13(c) requires all sessions to be open to the public, unless a closed-door session is ordered by affirmative vote of a majority of members present with quorum, for public interest or reasons of security, decency, or morality; it prohibits holding two (2) sessions in a single day.
- Article V, Section 13(d) requires written notice for special sessions served personally to members at their usual residence at least twenty-four (24) hours before the special session; it also limits the special session to matters stated in the notice unless otherwise concurred in by two-thirds (2/3) vote of members present with quorum.
- Article V, Section 13(e) requires the sangguniang panlungsod to keep a journal and record of proceedings, which may be published by resolution.
- Article V, Section 14(a) sets quorum as a majority of all members elected and qualified.
- Article V, Section 14(a) requires the presiding officer to immediately call the roll and announce results if quorum is questioned.
- Article V, Section 14(b) authorizes recess or adjournment for lack of quorum and permits compelling attendance by having the presiding officer designate an absent member’s arrest and presentation through police force assigned in the City’s territorial jurisdiction, assisted by a member or members of the sanggunian.
- Article V, Section 14(c) mandates that if quorum still cannot be constituted, no business is transacted and the presiding officer, upon proper motion approved by members present, must adjourn for lack of quorum.
City mayor approval, veto, and sangguniang overrides
- Article V, Section 15(a) requires each ordinance enacted by the sangguniang panlungsod to be presented to the city mayor; if approved, the mayor signs each page; if not approved, the mayor vetoes it and returns with objections for reconsideration.
- Article V, Section 15(a) allows the sangguniang panlungsod to override a veto by two-thirds (2/3) vote of all its members, making the ordinance effective for legal intents and purposes.
- Article V, Section 15(b) requires the mayor to communicate veto within ten (10) days, otherwise the ordinance is deemed approved as if signed.
- Article V, Section 16(a) authorizes the city mayor to veto an ordinance on the ground it is ultra vires or prejudicial to public welfare, requiring written reasons.
- Article V, Section 16(b) allows itemized veto of appropriations ordinances, ordinances adopting local development plans, public investment programs, or ordinances directing payment or creating liability; the veto does not affect unobjected items, and vetoed items do not take effect unless overridden—otherwise corresponding items in the previous year appropriations ordinance are deemed reenacted.
- Article V, Section 16(c) limits the mayor’s veto power: the mayor may veto an ordinance or resolution only once, and the sangguniang panlungsod may override by two-thirds (2/3) vote even without mayor approval.
Provincial review and barangay ordinance review
- Article V, Section 17(a) requires forwarding of approved ordinances and resolutions approving local development plans and public investment programs by the sangguniang panlungsod secretary to the sangguniang panlalawigan within three (3) days after approval.
- Article V, Section 17(b) requires sangguniang panlalawigan review within thirty (30) days after receipt, including examining documents or transmitting them to the provincial attorney (or provincial prosecutor), for prompt examination.
- Article V, Section 17(b) requires the provincial attorney/prosecutor to inform the sangguniang panlalawigan in writing within ten (10) days from receipt with comments/recommendations for consideration.
- Article V, Section 17(c) requires that if the sangguniang panlalawigan finds an ordinance or resolution beyond sangguniang panlungsod power, it must declare it invalid in whole or in part, enter the action in minutes, and advise City authorities.
- Article V, Section 17(d) provides that if sangguniang panlalawigan takes no action within thirty (30) days, the