Uniform Publication of Official Gazette

Territorial jurisdiction and police coverage

The City of Ozamiz comprises the present territorial jurisdiction of the municipality of Misamis, in the Province of Misamis Occidental (Section 2).
The President of the Philippines may increase the City’s territory by adding contiguous barrios or municipalities via executive order when necessary and desirable in the public interest (Section 2).
The City’s police jurisdiction for police purposes is coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction and extends three miles from the shore into the Panguil Bay (Section 6).
For protecting the purity of the 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 city water service (Section 6).

City liability limitation for damages

The City is not liable for damages or injuries arising from the failure of the Municipal Board, the Mayor, or any city officer or employee to enforce the Charter or other laws/ordinances, or from negligence of such officials while enforcing or attempting to enforce the Charter (Section 5).

Mayor as chief executive

The Mayor is the Chief Executive of the City (Section 7).
The Mayor is elected by qualified city electors every four years, following the Election Law, while the incumbent officials continue until successors are elected and qualified (Section 7).
The Mayor’s salary is not exceeding four thousand pesos a year; with 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).
In cases of sickness, absence, or other temporary incapacity, or a vacancy, the City Treasurer performs the Mayor’s duties; if not feasible, the City Engineer performs; if neither can perform, the President appoints or designates someone (Section 8).
The Acting Mayor has the same powers and duties as the Mayor; if the Acting Mayor is not a government official, the Acting Mayor receives the same compensation (Section 8).

Mayor’s executive powers and duties

The Mayor exercises immediate control over executive and administrative functions of city departments unless otherwise provided by law, and remains subject to the Secretary of the Interior’s authority and supervision (Section 9).
The Mayor must enforce laws and ordinances in the city, with necessary orders for faithful execution (Section 9(a)).
The Mayor safeguards all city lands, buildings, records, moneys, credits, and other property and rights, and has control of city property subject to the Charter (Section 9(b)).
The Mayor ensures collection of all city taxes and revenues and applies them according to appropriations for municipal expenses (Section 9(c)).
The Mayor institutes actions to recover city property and funds, defends suits against the city, and protects city interests (Section 9(d)).
The Mayor ensures executive officers and employees properly discharge their duties (Section 9(e)).
The Mayor must examine and inspect the books, records, and papers of city officers/employees under his executive supervision at least once a year and whenever occasion arises; the Municipal Board must provide necessary clerical/other assistance (Section 9(f)).
The Mayor may inform and recommend measures to the Municipal Board that are advantageous to the city (Section 9(g)).
The Mayor represents the city in business matters and signs bonds, contracts, and obligations made in accordance with law or ordinance (Section 9(h)).
The Mayor must submit a city budget of receipts and expenditures at least two months before the start of each fiscal year (Section 9(i)).
The Mayor must receive, hear, and decide petitions, complaints, and claims of an administrative/executive character concerning municipal matters (Section 9(j)).
The Mayor grants or refuses municipal licenses and permits, and revokes them for violation of their conditions, where prohibited acts are committed under license protection, or for other good reasons of general interest (Section 9(k)).
The Mayor may exempt, with the concurrence of the division superintendent of schools, deserving poor pupils from school fees or part of them (Section 9(l)).
The Mayor takes emergency measures to avoid fires, floods, storms, and other public calamities (Section 9(m)).
The Mayor submits an annual report to the Secretary of the Interior (Section 9(n)).
The Mayor performs other duties and exercises other executive powers prescribed by law or ordinances (Section 9(o)).

Mayor’s secretary and records function

The Mayor appoints one secretary who holds office at the pleasure of the Mayor and receives compensation 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 city records and documents for which other provisions do not exist (Section 10).
The secretary keeps the corporate seal and affixes it with the secretary’s signature to ordinances/resolutions signed by the Mayor and to other official documents required by law/ordinance (Section 10).
The secretary attests executive orders, proclamations, ordinances, and resolutions signed by the Mayor (Section 10).
The secretary furnishes certified copies of city records and documents not of a confidential character upon request and charges twenty centavos for each one hundred words including the certificate; fees are paid directly to the City Treasurer (Section 10).

Municipal Board: composition and session rules

The Municipal Board is the City’s legislative body (Section 11).
The Board consists of the Mayor as presiding officer, the city treasurer, the city engineer, and five councilors elected at large by popular vote during elections for provincial and municipal officials under the Election Code (Section 11).
Temporary substitutes may be appointed by the President of the Philippines during sickness, absence, suspension, temporary disability, or when needed to maintain quorum; substitutes possess full rights and perform Board duties until the regular member returns (Section 11).
If a Board member is a candidate in any election, the member is disqualified from acting with the Board in duties relating to election matters; the other members discharge election duties without the candidate member or choose a disinterested elector to act in the candidate’s place (Section 11).
Board members receive ten pesos for each day of attendance in Board sessions (Section 11).

Members’ qualifications, elections, suspension, removal

Board members are qualified electors of the City, must be residents for at least one year, and must be at least twenty-three years of age (Section 12).
Members-elect assume office on the date fixed in the Election Code until successors are elected and qualified (Section 12).
If the election fails or fails to elect one or more members, the President issues a proclamation calling a special election as soon as practicable (Section 12).
If a member-elect dies before assumption, if the President does not confirm election for disloyalty, or if the member-elect fails to qualify, the President may call a special election or fill the office by appointment in discretion (Section 12).
Vacancies occurring after assumption are filled by President appointment of a suitable person belonging to the political party of the officer being replaced (Section 12).
Board members may be suspended or removed under the same circumstances, in the same manner, and with the same effect as elective provincial officers, and the laws for suspension/removal of those officers apply (Section 12).

Board secretary: ordinances and public access

The Board has a secretary appointed by it to serve during the term of the Board members; 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 by appointment in the same manner (Section 13).
The Board secretary keeps records of proceedings and files documents relating to Board actions (Section 13).
The secretary records in a book all ordinances and all resolutions/motions directing payment of money or creating liability, including dates of passage and dates for publication of ordinances (Section 13).
The secretary keeps and affixes a seal inscribed “Municipal boardaCity of Ozamiz” with signature to ordinances and other official acts and presents them for signature to the presiding officer (Section 13).
The secretary clauses each ordinance for publication as provided in the Charter and supplies copies of public records under the office seal upon request, charging twenty centavos for each one hundred words including the certificate; fees are paid directly to the City Treasurer (Section 13).
The secretary keeps the office and non-confidential records open to public inspection during usual business hours (Section 13).

Board sessions, quorum, voting, and ordinances

The Board holds one ordinary session every week on a day it fixes by resolution, and extraordinary sessions not exceeding thirty during any one year, may be called by the Mayor unless the Secretary of the Interior orders otherwise (Section 14).
Board sessions are open to the public unless otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of five members (Section 14).
The quorum is five members for transaction of business (Section 14).
A smaller number may adjourn from day to day and can compel immediate attendance of absent members without good cause by ordering arrest and production under penalties prescribed by ordinance (Section 14).
Five affirmative votes are required to pass any ordinance, and also any resolution or motion directing payment of money or creating liability; other measures pass by the majority vote of members present at a duly called meeting (Section 14).
The Board records the ayes and nays upon passage of all ordinances and all money/payment/liability resolutions or motions, and upon request for other resolutions or motions (Section 14).
Approved ordinances/resolutions/motions are sealed with the Board seal, signed by the presiding officer and secretary, and recorded; on the day following passage, the secretary posts them at the main entrance of city hall (Section 14).
Ordinances/resolutions/motions take effect and are enforceable on and after the tenth day following passage, unless otherwise stated in the ordinance/resolution/motion, or vetoed by the Mayor (Section 14).
A vetoed ordinance, if repassed, takes effect ten days after the veto is overridden by required votes unless otherwise stated or again disapproved by the Mayor within the time allowed (Section 14).

Mayor’s veto and final approval

The Board forwards each ordinance and each resolution/motion directing payment of money or creating liability to the Mayor for approval (Section 14).
Within ten days after receipt, the Mayor must return the item with approval or veto; if the Mayor fails to return within ten days, it is deemed approved (Section 14).
If vetoed, the Mayor’s written reasons must accompany the veto return (Section 14).
The Board may again enact the vetoed matter by affirmative votes of six members, forward it to the Mayor again, and if the Mayor again fails to return the item within ten days, it is deemed approved (Section 14).
If the Mayor again vetoes, the item is forwarded forthwith to the Secretary of the Interior for final approval/disapproval (Section 14).
The Mayor may veto particular items of an appropriation ordinance or particular items in ordinances/resolutions/motions directing payment or creating liability without affecting unobjected items (Section 14).
Vetoed items do not take effect except under the same manner and voting framework for ordinances and veto returns (Section 14).
If an item in an appropriation ordinance is disapproved by the Mayor, the corresponding item in the previous year’s appropriation ordinance is deemed restored unless expressly directed otherwise in the veto (Section 14).
The Secretary of the Interior may disapprove any ordinance, resolution, or motion of the Municipal Board directly, in whole or in part, if it is found beyond the Board’s powers conferred by law (Section 14).

Legislative powers and taxation limits

The Municipal Board may levy and collect taxes for general and special purposes in accordance with law and specifically may levy real property tax not to exceed two per centum (2%) ad valorem (Section 15(a)).
The Board makes appropriations for city government expenses (Section 15(b)).
The Board fixes the number and salaries of city officials/employees not otherwise provided by the Act, with approval of the Department Head (Section 15(c)).
With approval of the Department Head, the Board authorizes free distribution of medicines to city employees and laborers earning not more than sixty pesos per month or two pesos and fifty centavos per day; it also authorizes free distribution of fresh/evaporated native milk to indigent mothers, and bread and light meals to indigent children ten years or less, under the Mayor’s direct supervision and control (Section 15(d)).
The Board fixes tariffs of fees and charges for services rendered by the city and its departments, branches, or officials (Section 15(e)).
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, with approval of the Director of Public Schools, and fixes reasonable tuition fees (Section 15(g)).
The Board establishes or aids vocational schools and higher institutions conducted by the National Government or its subdivisions/agencies and, with approval of the Director of Public Schools, fixes reasonable tuition fees for city-supported vocational and higher institutions (Section 15(h)).
The Board establishes and maintains an efficient police force and enacts police ordinances for confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating city ordinances (Section 15(i)).

Police, fire, streets, sanitation powers

The Board establishes and maintains an official fire force and provides firefighting equipment (Section 15(j)).
The Board establishes fire zones, determines allowable building kinds, regulates construction and repairs, and fixes fees for permits for construction, repair, or demolition (Section 15(k)).
The Board regulates lighting in stables/shops/buildings, restricts issuance of permits for bonfires and fireworks/pyrotechnics, and fixes related permit fees (Section 15(l)).
The Board regulates to protect the public from conflagration and prevent/mitigate famine, floods, storms, and public calamities, and provides relief (Section 15(m)).
The Board sets license fees for many enumerated businesses and services, including hawkers/peddlers and hucksters (with a stated carve-out for those selling only native vegetables, fruits, or foods personally carried), auctioneers, plumbers, barbers, collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, shipping and intelligence offices, private detective agencies, advertising agencies, beauty parlors, tattooers, hotels and restaurants, and many other categories listed in Section 15(n).
The Board taxes and sets license fees on dealers in new automobiles/accessories and on retail dealers in new merchandise not yet subject to municipal tax, with classification into retail dealer categories (A) general merchandise and (B) specific exclusive sale categories listed in Section 15(o) (including textiles, hardwares, groceries, drugs, books, jewelry, slippers, arms/ammunition/sporting goods).
The Board taxes and regulates businesses related to match factories, blacksmith shops, foundries, steam boilers, lumberyards, shipyards, storage/sale of gunpowder and highly combustible/explosive materials, and other dangerous establishments, and it also regulates tanneries, renderies, tallow chandleries, embalmers, funeral parlors, bone factories, and soap factories subject to health rules (Section 15(p)).
The Board imposes tax on motor and other vehicles and draft animals not paying national tax, exempting (i) automobiles/trucks of the National Government or any provincial/municipal government and (ii) automobiles/trucks not regularly kept in the city (Section 15(q)).

Additional governance, nuisances, and franchises

The Board enacts ordinances for peace and good morals (Section 15(s)).
The Board regulates keeping of dogs, authorizes impounding and destruction when running at large contrary to ordinances, and taxes/regulates keeping or training fighting cocks (Section 15(t)).
The Board establishes municipal pounds and regulates restraining, prohibiting running at large of domestic animals, and provides for distraining/impounding/sale and penalties on owners, including costs of proceedings (Section 15(u)).
The Board prohibits and provides punishment for cruelty to animals (Section 15(v)).
The Board regulates inspection, weighing, and measuring of brick, lumber, coal, and other merchandise (Section 15(w)).
The Board prohibits establishment or operation of dance halls, cabarets, and cockpits (Section 15(x)).
The Board regulates streets, public places, traffic and sales, abatement of nuisances, and public works like bridges/viaducts/culverts, including naming streets, numbering houses/lots, and regulating speed and amusements that annoy or frighten animals (Section 15(y)).
The Board regulates navigation on canals and watercourses within the city and clearing/purification of canals; it also provides for regulation of public landing places and drainage/filling of private premises when necessary for sanitary enforcement (Section 15(z)).
The Board may fix charges for watercraft landing at or using public wharves/docks/levees/landing places owned, operated, managed, or controlled by the city, subject to the Public Service Law (Section 15(aa)).
The Board provides for maintenance of waterworks, purification, regulation of consumption and use, rents subject to the Public Service Law, and regulation of hydrants/pumps/cisterns/reservoirs (Section 15(bb)).
The Board provides for establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public drains, sewers, latrines, and cesspools (Section 15(cc)).

Markets, slaughterhouses, and health-related ordinances

The Board regulates public stables, laundries and baths, and public markets, with health director rules, and prohibits 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, regulate veterinary/sanitary inspection and use, and charge reasonable slaughter fees; no fees are charged for veterinary or sanitary inspection of meat from large cattle or other domestic animals slaughtered outside the city when such inspection was had at the slaughter place (Section 15(ee)).

Discrimination prevention and abatement rules

The Board regulates to prevent discrimination or exclusion of any race in any public institution/establishment/service within city limits, and regulates inspection of gas/electric/telephone/street-railway conduits and related apparatus, and may condemn/substitute/remove defective or dangerous apparatus (Section 15(ff)).
The Board provides for abatement of nuisances, regulates ringing of bells and loud/noisy/unusual noises, and requires building owners/agents/tenants to keep premises in sanitary condition; if they fail after sixty days from written notice, the cost is assessed against the owner up to sixty per centum (60%) of the assessed value and becomes a lien against the property (Section 15(gg)).
The Board regulates or prohibits the use or licensing of property on or near public ways/grounds/places or elsewhere in the city for displaying electric signs or erecting/maintaining billboards/structures for posters, signs, or reading matter, except signs displayed at the place where the profession/business advertised is conducted in whole or in part (Section 15(gg)).
The Board enforces Director of Health rules and city ordinances, and prescribes penalties for violations of those health rules and regulations (Section 15(hh)).

Franchise and alcohol regulation powers

The Board extends ordinances over waters within the city, over any boat or floating structures on them, and for water purity enforcement extends to drainage area and within one hundred meters of reservoir/conduit/canal/aqueduct/pumping station used for city water service (Section 15(ii)).
The Board taxes, fixes license fees for, and regulates sale/trading/disposal of alcoholic or malt beverages, wines, and mixed or fermented liquor, including tuba, basi, and tapuy, offered for retail sale (Section 15(jj)).
The Board regulates any other business or occupation not specifically mentioned earlier 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 holding a fiesta in the city not oftener than once a year and may alter the date not oftener than once in three years (Section 15(mm)).

Ordinance penalties and sign restrictions

The Board enacts ordinances 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)).
The City prohibits erection or display of any commercial sign, signboard, or billboard on public lands, premises, or buildings (Section 16).
If, after due investigation and giving owners an opportunity to be heard, the Mayor decides a sign/signboard/billboard is offensive to sight or otherwise a nuisance, the Mayor orders its removal (Section 16).
If not removed within ten days after the Mayor’s order, the Mayor may cause removal and the sign/signboard/billboard is forfeited to the City; removal expenses become a lawful charge against the person or property liable for the creation or display (Section 16).

City departments and appointed officials

The city departments are the finance department, engineering department, law department, police department, and fire department (Section 17).
The Mayor exercises general supervisory control over all city departments unless otherwise provided by law (Section 17).
The Municipal Board may readjust the duties of departments for the public interest and, with Presidential approval, may consolidate departments/divisions/offices (Section 17).
Department heads control their departments, certify payrolls and vouchers for payment, and must present estimated appropriations at least four months before the start of each fiscal year; they submit required operational reports to the Mayor (Section 18).
In the absence/sickness/inability of a department head, the officer next in charge acts and may sign necessary papers, vouchers, requisitions, and similar documents (Section 18).

Appointments and officer conflict prohibitions

The President of the Philippines, with consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoints the judge and auxiliary judge of the municipal court, the city treasurer, city engineer, city attorney, chief of police, chief of fire department, and other heads of city departments that may be created (Section 19).
Except for the judge and auxiliary judge of the municipal court, those officers hold office at the pleasure of the President (Section 19).
Other city officers and employees appointed not otherwise provided by law are appointed by the Mayor upon recommendation of the corresponding department head, following the Civil Service Law, and are suspended/removed under that law (Section 19).
It is unlawful for any city officer, directly or indirectly, individually or as part of a firm, to engage in business transactions with the city that require money to be paid out of city resources to that person/firm; to purchase city real estate or other property sold for taxes/assessments or by legal process in the suit of the city; to become surety for a person having a contract with the city requiring security; or to be surety on a city officer’s official bond (Section 20).

Finance department: city treasurer powers

The City Treasurer heads the finance department, acts as chief fiscal officer and financial adviser, and is custodian of city funds (Section 21).
The City Treasurer salary is not exceeding three thousand six hundred pesos per annum (Section 21).
The City Treasurer collects city taxes, authorized licenses, rents due for lands/markets/other city property, and other charges fixed by law/ordinance; the Treasurer issues receipts for costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures imposed by the municipal court (Section 21(a)).
The Treasurer collects miscellaneous charges by the engineering department and other departments and charges by the city engineer for inspections, permits, licenses, and installations/maintenance/services for operation of private systems (Section 21(b)).
The Treasurer collects as deputy of the Collector of Internal Revenue certain national taxes and charges on property/persons in the city depositing daily in a government depository bank (Section 21(c)).
Unless otherwise specifically provided by law or resolution, the Treasurer performs in the city duties imposed by law/resolution on provincial treasurers generally and other duties imposed by law (Section 21(d)).
The Treasurer purchases and issues supplies/equipment/property required by the city through the Purchasing Agent or as authorized, subject to general law provisions (Section 21(e)).
The Treasurer is accountable for city funds/property and renders accounts as prescribed by the Auditor-General (Section 21(f)).
The Treasurer deposits daily all municipal funds and collections in a bank designated as a government depository (Section 21(g)).
The Treasurer disburses city funds according to authorized appropriations and properly executed vouchers approved by the head of the department concerned; by on or before the twentieth day of each month, the Treasurer furnishes the Mayor and Municipal Board a statement of appropriations, expenditures, and balances as of the last day of the preceding month (Section 21(h)).

Engineering department: city engineer powers

The City Engineer heads the engineering/public works department (Section 22).
The City Engineer salary is not exceeding three thousand pesos per annum (Section 22).
The City Engineer manages surveying and engineering work and provides civil engineering services for public improvements or city-entered works (Section 22(a)).
The Engineer establishes city survey monuments and extends city survey, and locates/surveys city property and private property abutting city property when directed by the Mayor (Section 22(b)).
The Engineer prepares and submits plans, maps, specifications, and estimates for buildings, streets, bridges, docks, and public works, and supervises construction and repair (Section 22(c)).
The Engineer conducts tests and inspections of engineering materials to prevent use of poor/dangerous quality materials (Section 22(d)).
The Engineer has custody/care of public buildings including markets and slaughterhouses and city-rented buildings,