Charter of City of Trece Martires, Cavite

City of Trece Martires: creation and territory

The City of Trece Martires is created as a political subdivision from a territory not exceeding one thousand hectares, located at or near the intersection of the Tanza-Indang Road and the proposed Naic-Dasmarinas Road in the Province of Cavite. (Section 1)
The District Engineer of the Province of Cavite must, within three months after approval of the Act, survey and determine the city’s territory by metes and bounds and indicate avenues, streets, plazas, parks, and lots for public use. (Section 2)
Upon completion of the survey, the Director of Public Works must certify the plan to the President of the Philippines, who then defines the city’s boundaries and limits by executive order. (Section 2)
The Provincial Board of Cavite may purchase, accept gifts or donations, or institute expropriation proceedings for lands within the city territory for the general interests of the city or for public use. (Section 2)
The city exercises powers generally and ordinarily conferred on chartered cities, including corporate existence, corporate seal, suing and being sued, and acquiring and disposing property for city benefit. (Section 1)

Corporate powers and non-liability rule

The city may sue and be sued and may prosecute and defend to final judgment and execution. (Section 1)
The city may take, purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property for the benefit of the city within or without its corporate limits. (Section 1)
The city must carry out its corporate functions through contracts and authorized powers, including executing powers conferred in the charter and those generally granted to chartered cities. (Section 1)
The city is not liable for damages for injuries to persons or property arising from failure of the City Council, City Mayor, or other city officer or employee to enforce the charter or any other law or ordinance, or from negligence by such officials while enforcing or attempting to enforce the charter or other laws. (Section 4)

Police jurisdiction and courts over water protection

The City of Trece Martires’ police jurisdiction for police purposes extends within the city’s territorial limits. (Section 3)
For protecting and insuring the purity and quantity 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, pumping station, or watershed used for the city water service. (Section 3)
The municipal court of the city has concurrent jurisdiction with justice of the peace courts for crimes or offenses committed in the drainage-area territory and within the one hundred meters space. (Section 3)
The court first taking jurisdiction of an offense retains exclusive jurisdiction thereafter. (Section 3)
Fines, forfeitures, fees, and costs arising from offenses committed within the one hundred meters space and within the drainage-area territory accrue to the treasury of the municipality where the space or territory lies, not to the City of Trece Martires. (Section 3)

City government: officials and their powers

The chief officials are: City Mayor, members of the City Council, city engineer, city treasurer-assessor, city fiscal, city health officer, chief of police, judge of the municipal court, and secretary of the City Mayor. (Section 5)
The Provincial Governor and members of the provincial board, the district engineer, provincial treasurer, provincial fiscal, and district health officer of Cavite act ex officio as the city’s City Mayor and other city officials respectively. (Section 5)
The secretary of the Provincial Board of Cavite acts as secretary to the City Mayor and City Council. (Section 5)

City Mayor: enforcement, budgeting, and permits

The City Mayor has immediate control over the city’s executive and administrative functions, subject to the authority and supervision of the Department Head, unless otherwise provided by law. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must enforce laws and ordinances and issue necessary orders for faithful enforcement within the city jurisdiction. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must safeguard city lands, buildings, records, moneys, credits, and other property and rights, and control city property subject to the charter. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must ensure collection of city taxes and other revenues and their application according to appropriations for municipal expenses. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must cause judicial proceedings to recover city property and funds and defend suits against the city. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must ensure executive officers and employees properly discharge their duties and must inspect city records at least once a year and whenever occasion arises, with clerical or other assistance provided by the City Council. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must examine and decide petitions, complaints, and claims concerning administrative or executive matters of the city. (Section 6)
The City Mayor grants or refuses municipal licenses or permits and may revoke them for violations of conditions, for unlawful acts committed under the protection of such licenses or in the licensed premises, or for other good reasons of general interest. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must submit to the City Council at least two months before each fiscal year begins a city budget of receipts and expenditures. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must submit an annual report to the Department Head. (Section 6)
The City Mayor must exempt, with concurrence of the division superintendent of schools, deserving poor pupils from payment of school fees or parts thereof. (Section 6)
The City Mayor may take emergency measures to avoid fires and floods and mitigate storms and other public calamities. (Section 6)

City secretaries and city council records

The Secretary to the City Mayor keeps custody of city records and documents for offices and departments where custody is not otherwise provided, keeps the corporate seal, and affixes the seal to ordinances and resolutions signed by the City Mayor and to other official documents as required by law or ordinance. (Section 7)
The Secretary to the City Mayor must attest executive orders, proclamations, ordinances, and resolutions signed by the City Mayor. (Section 7)
The Secretary to the City Mayor must furnish certified copies upon request for non-confidential records, and must charge fifty centavos for each one hundred words, including the certificate, paid directly to the city treasurer-assessor. (Section 7)
The Secretary of the City Council keeps records of Council proceedings, files Council documents, records ordinances and resolutions and motions directing payment of money or creating liability (with dates of passage and publication of ordinances), and maintains the City Council seal with the inscription “City CouncilaCity of Trece Martires”. (Section 8)
The Secretary of the City Council must cause each ordinance passed to be published as provided, furnish certified copies upon request for public records with a seal, charge fifty centavos for each one hundred words including the certificate, and have fees paid directly to the city treasurer. (Section 8)
The Secretary of the City Council must keep the office and records open to public inspection during usual business hours for non-confidential records. (Section 8)

City Council sessions, voting, quorum, and disapproval

The City Mayor is a member and presiding officer of the City Council. (Section 9)
The City Council holds one ordinary session each week, on days it fixes by resolution, and may hold extraordinary sessions called by the City Mayor, subject to the Department Head’s orders on session matters. (Section 9)
The City Council sits with open doors unless otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of all members. (Section 9)
Two City Council members constitute a quorum for transaction of business. (Section 9)
A smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may compel immediate attendance of any absent member without good cause by ordering arrest and production before the session under penalties previously set by ordinance. (Section 9)
Two affirmative votes are necessary to pass any ordinance, and to pass any resolution or motion directing payment of money or creating liability; other measures prevail by majority of members present at a duly called and held meeting. (Section 9)
The ayes and nays must be taken and recorded for the passage of all ordinances, for all resolutions or motions directing payment of money or creating liability, and upon request of any member for any other resolution or motion. (Section 9)
Every approved ordinance, resolution, or motion must be sealed, signed by the presiding officer and the Secretary, recorded in a book kept for that purpose, and posted by the Secretary at the City Hall main entrance on the day following passage. (Section 9)
The Department Head may disapprove directly, in whole or in part, any ordinance, resolution, or motion if found beyond the City Council’s powers. (Section 9)

City Council legislative powers and police powers

The City Council may levy and collect taxes for general and special purposes in accordance with law. (Section 10)
The City Council may make appropriations for city government expenses, but the appropriation for payment of salaries and wages for any fiscal year may not exceed sixty per cent of expected city revenue for that fiscal year without express authorization of the President of the Philippines. (Section 10)
The City Council may fix the number and salaries of officials and employees with the approval of the Department Head, subject to charter limitations. (Section 10)
The City Council may authorize, with Department Head approval, the free distribution of: medicines to city employees and laborers whose salary or wage does not exceed one hundred and twenty pesos per month or four pesos per day, and evaporated or fresh native milk to indigent mothers residing in the city, and bread and light meals to indigent children ten years or less, with the distribution under direct supervision and control of the City Mayor. (Section 10)
The City Council must fix the tariff of fees and charges for all services rendered by the city or its offices, branches, or officials. (Section 10)
The City Council may provide for erection/maintenance or rental of buildings for city use, and may establish and maintain public schools, fixing reasonable matriculation and/or tuition fees with approval of the Director of Public Schools except as otherwise provided by law. (Section 10)
The City Council may establish or maintain vocational schools and institutions of higher learning conducted by the National Government or its subdivisions and agencies, and may fix reasonable tuition fees with approval of the Director of Public Schools. (Section 10)
The City Council may provide for and maintain an efficient police force and enact necessary police ordinances for confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating city ordinances. (Section 10)
The City Council may provide and maintain an official fire force and all necessary equipment and regulate management and use. (Section 10)
The City Council may establish fire zones; determine kinds of buildings/structures that may be erected; regulate construction/repair; and fix permit fees for construction, repair, or demolition. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate use of lights in stables/shops/other buildings; restrict permits for bonfires and permits for firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes, candles, skyrockets, and other pyrotechnic displays; and fix fees for permits. (Section 10)
The City Council may enact regulations to protect against conflagrations and mitigate famine, floods, storms, and other public calamities and provide relief for victims. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate and fix license fees for a wide range of businesses and occupations and may impose license fees/taxes for certain dealers and establishments under specified classification and categories. (Section 10)
The City Council may impose a sales tax not exceeding one per centum (1%) of the gross value in money of all articles sold, bartered, exchanged or transferred within the city. (Section 10)
The City Council may impose taxes and license fees to regulate: automobile dealers/accessories; match factories and other combustible/explosive materials establishments; alcoholic or malt beverages, wines, and mixed or fermented liquors including tuba, basi, tapuy offered for retail sale. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate the use of steam engines and boilers, require inspection, charge reasonable inspection fees, and regulate and fix fees for engineers’ licenses. (Section 10)
The City Council may suppress disorderly conduct and offenses tied to peace and morality, including riots, affrays, disturbances, disorderly assemblies; houses of ill fame; gaming and fraudulent devices; prostitution and related conduct; and obscene pictures/books/publications. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate fees for keeping dogs, authorize impounding and destruction when running at large contrary to ordinances, and tax and regulate keeping/training of fighting cocks. (Section 10)
The City Council may establish municipal pounds; regulate restrain and prohibit animals running at large; provide distraining/impounding/sale for penalties and proceeding costs; and impose penalties on owners for violations. (Section 10)
The City Council may prohibit and punish cruelty to animals. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate inspection, weighing, and measuring of brick, lumber, coal, and other merchandise. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate and fix license fees for night clubs, dancing schools, dance halls, cabarets, cockpits, and other places of amusement. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate streets and public places, including lighting, cleaning, sprinkling; regulate processions, signs, signposts, awnings, awningposts, banners and placards; prohibit placement/throwing/depositing/leaving obstacles and offensive matter; regulate underground structures and pipelines; regulate crosswalks/curbs/gutters; regulate traffic and sales; abate nuisances; regulate bridges, viaducts, culverts; and regulate ball playing, kite flying, hoop rolling, and amusements that annoy or frighten persons or animals. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate speed of horses, animals, motor/other vehicles, and regulate electric/other railroads in city streets and require track changes and fencing and drainage works for authorized railroads, unless otherwise provided by law. (Section 10)
The City Council may provide for canals and water courses, cleansing and purification, and regulate drainage and filling of private premises when needed for sanitary rules. (Section 10)
The City Council may provide for waterworks for supplying water, purification of sources and passage places, regulate water consumption and use, fix collection of rents subject to the Public Service Law, and regulate construction/repair/use of hydrants, pumps, cisterns, and reservoirs. (Section 10)
The City Council may provide for public drains, sewers, latrines, and cesspools. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate public stables, laundries and baths, and public markets; fix fees for use; and prohibit establishment or operation of public markets by any person/entity/association/corporation other than the city, subject to rules by the Director of Health issued in accordance with law. (Section 10)
The City Council may establish or authorize slaughterhouses, provide for veterinary/sanitary inspection, regulate use, and charge reasonable slaughter fees, with no charge for veterinary/sanitary inspection of meat from large cattle or other domestic animals slaughtered outside the city when inspection was done at the slaughter site. (Section 10)
The City Council may prevent discrimination or exclusion of races in institutions/services open to the public within city limits and regulate charges for services where not fixed by national law, and regulate inspection of gas, electric, telephone, and street-railway conduits/mains/meters/apparatus including condemnation/substitution/removal of defective or dangerous apparatus. (Section 10)
The City Council may declare/prevent/abate nuisances and regulate ringing bells and loud/unusual noises; require owners/agents/tenants to keep premises sanitary and, after sixty days from serving written notice, allow the city health officer to have premises kept sanitary at the owner’s expense up to sixty per centum of the assessed value, creating a lien against the property. (Section 10)
The City Council may enforce Director of Health rules through ordinances prescribing penalties for violations. (Section 10)
The City Council may extend ordinances over waters within the city and over any boat or floating structure thereon and extend over drainage-area territory and within one hundred meters of reservoirs, conduits, canals, aqueducts, or pumping stations used in city water service for water protection and purity. (Section 10)
The City Council may regulate any other business or occupation within the city not specifically mentioned in prior paragraphs and impose a license fee on persons engaged in the business or enjoying privileges in the city. (Section 10)
The City Council may grant fishing and fishery privileges subject to the Fisheries Act. (Section 10)
The City Council may fix the date of a fiesta in the city not oftener than once a year, and alter the date not oftener than once in three years. (Section 10)
The City Council may enact ordinances necessary for sanitation and safety and for prosperity, morality, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, and general welfare, and may fix penalties for ordinance violations not exceeding a two hundred peso fine or six months imprisonment, or both, for a single offense. (Section 10)

City Mayor’s sign removal power

No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard may be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings. (Section 11)
If the City Mayor, after due investigation and giving owners an opportunity to be heard, determines that a sign/signboard/billboard displayed in public view is offensive to sight or otherwise a nuisance, the City Mayor may order its removal. (Section 11)
If the ordered removal is not completed within ten days after issuance of the removal order, the City Mayor may cause removal, and the sign/signboard/billboard becomes forfeited to the city, and the expenses of removal become a lawful charge against the person or property liable for erection or display. (Section 11)

Heads of city offices: controls and certifications

Heads of city offices (including the city engineer, city treasurer-assessor, city fiscal, city health officer, and other office heads) operate under the direction and supervision of the City Mayor. (Section 12)
Each head of office must certify to the correctness of all payrolls and vouchers of that office before payment, unless expressly provided otherwise in the charter. (Section 12)
At least three months before the beginning of each fiscal year, each head of office must prepare and present to the City Mayor an estimate of receipts and the appropriations needed to operate the office during the ensuing fiscal year, including information for comparison as the City Mayor desires. (Section 12)
Each head of office must submit reports to the City Mayor as required covering operations of the office. (Section 12)
If a head of office is absent, sick, or cannot act for any other reason, the officer next in charge must act with authority to sign necessary papers, vouchers, requisitions, and similar documents. (Section 12)

Appointments, removals, and official conflict

The President of the Philippines, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoints the judge and auxiliary judge of the municipal court, the chief of police and fire force, and other heads of offices that may be created. (Section 13)
Officers appointed by the President hold office at the pleasure of the President, except the judge and auxiliary judge of the municipal court. (Section 13)
All other officers and employees whose appointment is not otherwise provided by law are appointed by the City Mayor upon the recommendation of the corresponding head of office, in accordance with the Civil Service Law and are suspended or removed in accordance with law. (Section 13)
It is unlawful for a city officer, directly or indirectly and individually or as part of a firm, to engage in a business transaction with the city or city officials/boards/agents/attorneys whereby money is paid out of city resources to that officer or firm. (Section 14)
City officers are prohibited from purchasing city real estate or other property sold for taxes or assessments, or by virtue of legal process in suit by the city. (Section 14)
City officers are prohibited from acting as surety for any person having a contract with the city or doing business with the city for which security may be required. (Section 14)
City officers are prohibited from acting as surety on the official bond of any city officer. (Section 14)

City Engineer: surveying, works, and enforcement

The City Engineer must oversee all city surveying and engineering work and perform engineering services for public improvements entered upon or proposed by the city or any department. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must ascertain, record, and establish city survey monuments and extend the city survey from them, and locate, establish, and survey city property and private property abutting city property when directed by the City Mayor. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must prepare and submit plans, maps, specifications, and estimates for buildings, streets, bridges, docks, and other public works and supervise construction and repair. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must conduct tests and inspections of engineering materials to protect the city from poor or dangerous quality materials. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must manage public buildings (including markets and slaughterhouses and buildings rented for city purposes) and maintain any city lighting system. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must manage public streets, parks, and bridges, keep them clean, sprinkle them, regulate their use, and collect and dispose of garbage, refuse, closet/vault/cesspool contents, and other offensive or dangerous substances within the city. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must prevent encroachment of private buildings and fences on city streets and public places. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must manage and regulate the public waterworks and sewers system and all sources of water supply, including inspection and regulation of private systems supplying water and private sewer connections. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must supervise laying of gas mains and connections for supplying gas to city inhabitants. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must inspect and report on conditions of public property and public works when required by the City Mayor. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must supervise location and use of engines, boilers, forges, and other manufacturing/heating appliances consistent with law and ordinances and is authorized to charge fees at rates fixed by the City Council with approval of the Department Head for sanitation and transportation services and supplies furnished by the office. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must inspect and supervise construction, repair, removal, and safety of private buildings and regulate house numbering in accordance with city ordinances. (Section 15)
With prior approval of the City Mayor, the City Engineer must order removal of buildings/structures erected in violation of ordinances and order removal of construction/repair materials used in violation, and must cause dangerous buildings/structures to be secured or torn down. (Section 15)
The City Engineer must file and preserve all maps, plans, notes, surveys, and documents pertaining to the office. (Section 15)

Public works procurement and administration

Repairs or construction of public improvements (except parks, boulevards, streets, or alleys) with estimated cost of three thousand pesos or more must be awarded by the City Mayor upon the recommendation of the City Engineer to the lowest responsible bidder after public advertisement by posting notices in conspicuous places in City Hall and other public places (with notices not less than ten), and by publication in the Official Gazette for not less than ten days. (Section 16)
The city engineer may, with approval of the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, execute by administration public works costing three thousand pesos or more. (Section 16)
For public works involving expenditure of less than three thousand pesos, the City Engineer has discretion to proceed by his office or to let the contract to the lowest bidder after appropriate publication and notice as deemed appropriate or prescribed by regulations. (Section 16)

Treasurer-Assessor and fiscal administration

The City Treasurer-Assessor acts as chief fiscal officer and financial adviser and custodian of city funds. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must collect city taxes due, licenses authorized by law or ordinance, rents due for lands/markets and other city property, and further charges fixed by law or ordinance, and must issue receipts for costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures imposed by the municipal court. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must collect, as deputy of the Collector of Internal Revenue, by himself or deputies, taxes and charges imposed by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines upon property or persons in the city, depositing daily the collections in any government depository bank. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must perform duties imposed by the National Internal Revenue Code and other duties imposed by law upon provincial treasurers to the extent not inconsistent with the charter and other duties imposed by law. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must purchase and issue supplies, equipment, or other property required by the city through the Purchasing Agent or as authorized by law. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must be accountable for all city funds and property and must render accounts as prescribed by the Auditor General. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must deposit daily all municipal funds and collections in any bank duly designated as government depository. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must disburse city funds only under duly authorized appropriations supported by properly executed vouchers approved by the chief of the concerned city office. (Section 17)
On or before the twentieth day of each month, the City Treasurer-Assessor must furnish the City Mayor and City Council a statement of appropriations, expenditures, and balances as of the last day of the preceding month. (Section 17)
The City Treasurer-Assessor must annually assess and value real estate for taxation in accordance with Act Numbered Four hundred seventy (the Assessment Law), as amended, and must exercise powers and duties conferred on provincial assessors and municipal treasurers. (Section 17)