Charter of the City of BiAan, Laguna

Territorial police jurisdiction and local courts

Section 6 gives the City police jurisdiction coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction for police purposes only.
Section 6 extends police jurisdiction for water purity to the drainage area of the City’s water supply and to areas within one hundred meters (100 m.) of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct, or pumping station used for the City water service.
Section 6 grants the City Court of BiAan concurrent jurisdiction with the city or municipal court of adjoining municipalities or cities to try crimes and misdemeanors committed within the drainage area or within 100 m. of water-related installations.
Section 6 provides that the court first taking cognizance has jurisdiction to the exclusion of others.
Section 6 gives municipal and city police forces concurrent jurisdiction with the City police forces for enforcing ordinances within the same drainage/100 m. zone.
Section 6 requires that any license issued within the zone is granted by the proper authorities of the city or municipality concerned, and fees accrue to that local treasury, not to the City.

City government officers and offices

Section 7 lists the City’s core officials: 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 officer, city engineer, city health officer, city civil registrar, city administrator, city legal officer, city social welfare and development officer, city veterinarian, and city general services officer.
Section 7 authorizes the city mayor to appoint additional officers including: city environment and natural resources officer, city architect, city information officer, city cooperatives officer, city population officer, city business permits and licensing officer, international and business relations officer, youth and sports development officer, education officer, public safety officer, city tourism and cultural affairs officer, city agriculturist, city human resource development officer, and city building official.
Section 7 requires establishment of: a city fire station headed by a city fire marshal, a city jail headed by a city jail warden, and a city schools division headed by a superintendent.
Section 7 allows the City to maintain existing offices not mentioned, create other necessary offices, or consolidate functions for efficiency and economy.
Section 7 provides that appointive officials are appointed by the city mayor with the concurrence of the majority of all sangguniang panlungsod members, subject to civil service law; the sangguniang panlungsod must act within fifteen (15) days, or the appointment is deemed confirmed.

Powers and duties of mayor and vice mayor

Section 8 makes the city mayor the chief executive of the City, elected at large by qualified voters of the City.
Section 8 sets mayor qualifications: at least twenty-one (21) years old, resident of the City for at least one (1) year prior to election, and a qualified voter.
Section 8 fixes the mayor’s term at three (3) years unless sooner removed, and sets a minimum monthly compensation corresponding to Salary Grade 30 under Republic Act No. 6758.
Section 8 requires the mayor to exercise express, implied, and incidental powers for efficient and economical governance, including responsibility for the program of government, direction of the city development plan with assistance from the city development council, and presentation of the program to the sangguniang panlungsod at the opening of the regular session every calendar year and as needed.
Section 8 commands key executive actions, including: submitting legislative measures and information, appointing officials not otherwise provided for, representing and signing on behalf of the City, carrying out emergency measures during disasters, determining salary/wage payment time and manner, examining city books and requiring records from national officials and employees assigned to the City (except legally confidential records), furnishing copies of executive orders within seventy-two (72) hours, conducting barangay visits at least once every six (6) months, acting on leave and commutation, authorizing official trips not exceeding thirty (30) days (with longer/abroad trips under the Local Government Code of 1991), and solemnizing marriages notwithstanding contrary law.
Section 8 provides that the mayor must: enforce city laws and ordinances and implement approved city policies and projects; ensure barangay acts are within powers; issue executive orders; be entitled to carry necessary firearms within territorial jurisdiction; act as deputized representative of the National Police Commission and formulate and implement the City peace and order plan under Republic Act No. 6975; and call law enforcement agencies to suppress disorder, riot, lawless violence, rebellion, or sedition, or apprehend violators when city police forces are inadequate.
Section 8 authorizes the mayor’s resource and revenue maximization duties, including requiring departmental estimates for ensuing calendar year budgets consistent with Republic Act No. 7160 (Local Government Code of 1991), preparing and submitting executive and supplemental city budgets, ensuring proper collection and lawful application of city funds, issuing licenses/permits and suspending or revoking for violations, issuing permits for charitable/welfare activities excluding prohibited games of chance or unlawful shows, requiring permits or compliance/demolition action for illegally constructed structures, adopting measures to conserve resources, and instituting proceedings for ordinance violations relating to taxes/fees/charges and recovery of city property.
Section 8 requires basic services delivery, including coordinating technical services from national offices and ensuring, as far as practicable, that national road projects are carried out in a spatially contiguous manner and in coordination with City roads and bridges.
Section 8 requires the mayor to hold office in the city hall during incumbency.
Section 9 makes the city vice mayor the presiding officer of the sangguniang panlungsod, elected like the mayor, with the same qualifications, for three (3) years, and sets a minimum monthly compensation corresponding to Salary Grade 26 under Republic Act No. 6758.
Section 9 requires the vice mayor to: preside and sign warrants drawn on the city treasury for sangguniang panlungsod expenditures; appoint sangguniang panlungsod officials/employees subject to civil service rules (except those whose appointment is specifically provided elsewhere); assume mayor’s office for unexpired term in permanent vacancy; exercise mayor powers in temporary vacancy; and perform other duties under the Local Government Code of 1991 and ordinances/law.

Sangguniang panlungsod composition and authority

Section 10 establishes the sangguniang panlungsod as the City’s legislative body composed of: the city vice mayor (presiding officer), ten (10) regular sanggunian members elected at large, the president of the city chapter of the liga ng mga barangay, the president of the panlungsod na pederasyon ng mga sangguniang kabataan, and the sectoral representatives.
Section 10 provides for three (3) sectoral representatives: one from women, one from agricultural or industrial workers chosen by the sangguniang panlungsod within ninety (90) days prior to local elections, and one from other sectors, including urban poor or disabled persons.
Section 10 provides that regular members and sectoral representatives are elected in the manner provided by law.
Section 11 requires the sangguniang panlungsod to enact ordinances, approve resolutions, and appropriate funds for the general welfare under Section 16 of the Local Government Code of 1991.
Section 11 directs its legislative functions to include: approving ordinances and resolutions for efficient city government and reviewing barangay ordinances and executive orders for consistency within barangay/punong barangay powers.
Section 11 authorizes the sangguniang panlungsod to maintain peace and order by enacting measures to prevent and suppress lawlessness, disorder, riot, violence, rebellion, or sedition, and impose penalties.
Section 11 authorizes city ordinance penalties of a fine not exceeding Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) and/or imprisonment not exceeding one (1) year, at the discretion of the court, for violation of a city ordinance.
Section 11 requires the sangguniang panlungsod to enact ordinances to prevent and impose penalties for a wide range of conduct including habitual drunkenness in public places, vagrancy, mendicancy, prostitution, house of ill-repute, gambling and other prohibited games of chance, fraudulent devices and ways to obtain money or property, drug addiction, maintenance of drug dens, drug pushing, juvenile delinquency, and obscene/pornographic materials or publications, among other inimical activities.
Section 11 mandates environmental protection and permits setting aside at least ten percent (10%) of development funds for maintaining and enhancing ecological balance; it also authorizes penalties for acts endangering the environment including illegal logging, smuggling of logs, smuggling of natural resource products and endangered species, and slash-and-burn farming and other pollution/siltation/imbalance-causing activities.
Section 11 sets legislative budget and staffing powers, including determining positions and compensation of officials and employees paid wholly or mainly from city funds.
Section 11 authorizes compensation and honoraria for temporary vacancy fillers at the rate authorized by law and requires mechanisms and funds for safety and protection of key city records and public documents.
Section 11 allows, when finances allow, additional allowances and benefits for judges, prosecutors, public elementary and high school teachers, and other national employees stationed/assigned in the City.
Section 11 authorizes legal assistance to barangay officials for legal proceedings in performance of duties and provides for group insurance for barangay officials (including members of barangay tanod brigades and service units) when finances allow.
Section 11 empowers the sangguniang panlungsod, when finances allow, to generate and maximize resources with priority to agro-industrial development and citywide growth.
Section 11 requires approval of the annual and supplemental city budgets and appropriations for specific programs/projects/services/activities and authorizes tax measures by ordinance, including granting tax exemptions/incentives/reliefs under the Local Government Code of 1991, upon conditions stated there and subject to majority vote of all members for tax and budget-related authorizations.
Section 11 allows, upon majority vote of all members, ordinances authorizing: the city mayor to negotiate and contract loans and other indebtedness; and the floating of bonds or other indebtedness instruments for development projects.
Section 11 authorizes: appropriations for construction/maintenance/rental of buildings for City use and, upon majority vote, authorization for the mayor to lease proprietary public buildings to private parties subject to law; prescribing reasonable limits and restraints on property use; adopting a comprehensive land-use plan in coordination with the approved provincial plan; reclassifying lands; adopting integrated zoning ordinances; and establishing fire limits/zones.
Section 11 provides procedural certainty for subdivision approvals: where national agency approval is required, it shall not be withheld for more than thirty (30) days from receipt of application; failure to act within that period is deemed approval.
Section 11 requires zoning-related regulation of building construction/repair/modification within fire limits in accordance with the Fire Code of the Philippines.
Section 11 provides for preference in franchise grants to cooperatives.
Section 11 authorizes a broad range of regulatory ordinances for public welfare including: nuisance abatement; sanitary maintenance and penalties and expense remedies; clinical and other wastes disposal regulation; regulation of restaurants, beerhouses, hotels, motels, inns, pension houses, lodging houses and similar establishments including tourist guides and transport; regulation of dispensing/sale of intoxicating malt/vino/mixes of fermented liquors at retail outlets; steam boiler inspection and storage regulation of inflammables/highly combustible materials; regulation/suppression/prohibition of entertainment/amusement facilities and certain amusement/entertainment activities; impounding and animal cruelty measures including regulating keeping of animals; and regulating funeral parlors and burial/cremation subject to existing law.
Section 11 authorizes ordinances ensuring efficient delivery of basic services and facilities, including tree parks and greenbelts, markets/slaughterhouses/animal corrals, private market regulation, and marine productivity structures such as ferries and wharves; it also covers waterworks system provisions, solid waste/garbage and littering prohibitions, quarantine regulations, and care/services for designated vulnerable groups and detainees/jail management funding.
Section 11 authorizes establishment of cultural councils and elderly/senior citizens councils and, when finances allow, appropriation for cultural support and mutual-benefit programs for elderly.
Section 11 fixes a minimum monthly compensation for sangguniang panlungsod members at Salary Grade 25 under Republic Act No. 6758.

Internal rules, disclosure, sessions, and voting

Section 12 requires the sangguniang panlungsod to adopt or update internal rules of procedure on the first regular session following members’ election and within ninety (90) days thereafter.
Section 12 requires the rules to provide for organization, officer election, creation of standing committees (including appropriations, revenues, engineering and public works, education and health, women and family, human rights, youth and sports development, environmental protection, peace and order and traffic, and cooperatives), and committee jurisdiction and chair/member election.
Section 12 requires rules for: order and calendar of business, legislative process, parliamentary procedures, discipline of members for disorderly behavior and absences without justifiable cause for four (4) consecutive sessions with censure/reprimand/exclusion, and suspension for not more than sixty (60) days or expulsion.
Section 12 requires that suspension or expulsion needs two-thirds (2/3) vote of all sanggunian members.
Section 12 mandates automatic expulsion if a member is convicted by final judgment to imprisonment of at least one (1) year for any crime involving moral turpitude.
Section 13 requires every sangguniang panlungsod member to make full written disclosure of business and financial interests upon assumption to office.
Section 13 requires disclosure of any conflict-of-interest relationship within the fourth civil degree of affinity or consanguinity with any person/firm/entity affected by an ordinance or resolution under deliberation, including stock/capital/investment and contracts/agreements.
Section 13 requires written disclosure to be submitted to the secretary of the sangguniang panlungsod or the secretary of the committee and to form part of the record.
Section 13 requires timing: disclosure must be made before the member participates in deliberations; if the member does not participate, disclosure must be made before voting on second and third readings; disclosure must also be made when the member takes a position or makes a privilege speech on matters affecting the described business/financial/professional interests.
Section 14 requires the sangguniang panlungsod to, by resolution, fix the day, time, and place of sessions on the first day of the session immediately following the election and requires a minimum of once a week regular sessions for the sangguniang panlungsod.
Section 14 requires special sessions when public interest demands, callable by the city mayor or by a majority of sangguniang panlungsod members.
Section 14 mandates open-to-public sessions unless a closed-door session is ordered by affirmative vote of the majority of members present with quorum for public interest or reasons of security, decency, or morality.
Section 14 prohibits holding two (2) sessions (regular or special) on a single day.
Section 14 requires written notice to members served personally at their usual residence at least twenty-four (24) hours before special sessions.
Section 14 prohibits considering other matters in a special session unless stated in the notice, unless two-thirds (2/3) vote of members present with quorum.
Section 15 sets quorum at a majority of all members elected and qualified; it requires roll-call if quorum is questioned and gives authority to recess/adjourn.
Section 15 allows compelling immediate attendance of absent members without justifiable cause through designation of a member assisted by police to arrest and present the absent member.
Section 15 mandates that if no quorum persists, no business may be transacted and the presiding officer must adjourn for lack of quorum on proper motion approved by members present.
Section 16 requires ordinance presentation to the city mayor; approval requires signature on every page; disapproval requires veto with written objections and return to sangguniang panlungsod for reconsideration.
Section 16 allows override by two-thirds (2/3) vote of all members to make an ordinance or resolution effective.
Section 16 requires mayor communication of veto within ten (10) days; otherwise the ordinance is deemed approved as if signed.
Section 17 authorizes mayor veto of ordinances on grounds of ultra vires or prejudicial to the public welfare, requiring written reasons.
Section 17 authorizes itemized veto of particular items in an appropriations ordinance, local development plan/public investment program adoption, and ordinances directing payment of money or creating liability; vetoed items do not affect non-vetoed items.
Section 17 provides that vetoed items do not take effect unless overridden; otherwise, appropriations ordinance items from the previous year corresponding to vetoed items are deemed enacted.
Section 17 limits mayor veto to only once per ordinance; override requires two-thirds (2/3) vote of all members.
Section 18 requires review of approved city ordinances by the sangguniang panlalawigan: within three (3) days after approval, the secretary must forward copies; within thirty (30) days after receipt, sangguniang panlalawigan must examine or transmit to provincial attorney/prosecutor.
Section 18 requires provincial attorney/prosecutor comments within ten (10) days after receipt; it requires sangguniang panlalawigan to declare invalid ordinances/resolutions beyond the sangguniang panlungsod’s power, in whole or in part, and to enter action in minutes and advise city authorities.
Section 18 provides that if the sangguniang panlalawigan takes no action within thirty (30) days, the ordinance/resolution is presumed consistent with law and valid.
Section 19 requires review of barangay ordinances: within ten (10) days after enactment, sangguniang barangay must furnish copies to the sangguniang panlungsod; if the sangguniang panlungsod fails to act within thirty (30) days, the barangay ordinance is deemed approved.
Section 19 requires return within thirty (30) days with comments/recommendations if inconsistent with law/city ordinances; it suspends effectivity until revision is effected.
Section 20 provides that any attempt to enforce an ordinance or resolution approving local development plan/public investment program after disapproval is sufficient ground for suspension or dismissal of the official or employee concerned.
Section 21 sets effectivity rules: unless otherwise stated, ordinances/resolutions take effect after ten (10) days from posting on a bulletin board at the entrance of City Hall of BiAan and in at least two (2) other conspicuous places within not later than five (5) days after approval.
Section 21 requires the sangguniang panlungsod secretary to cause posting and record in a book stating approval and posting dates, and requires dissemination/posting of the text in Filipino or English.
Section 21 requires publication: the main features must be published once in a local newspaper of general circulation within the City; if not available, publication occurs in any newspaper of general circulation.
Section 21 requires that the gist of all ordinances with penal sanctions must be published in a newspaper of general circulation.

Disqualification and succession of elective officials

Section 22 disqualifies from running for any elective position in the City: those sentenced by final judgment for an offense involving moral turpitude or an offense punishable by one (1) year or more of imprisonment within two (2) years after serving sentence.
Section 22 disqualifies those removed from office due to an administrative case; those convicted by final judgment for violating the oath of allegiance; those with dual citizenship; and fugitives from justice in criminal or nonpolitical cases here and abroad.
Section 22 disqualifies permanent residents in a foreign country or those who acquired the right to reside abroad and continue to avail of that right after effectivity of the Local Government Code of 1991, and also disqualifies the insane or feeble-minded.
Section 23 provides that in permanent vacancy of the city mayor, the city vice mayor becomes mayor; in permanent vacancy of the city vice mayor, the highest ranking sangguniang panlungsod member becomes mayor or vice mayor as the case may be (and if incapacitated, the next highest).
Section 23 resolves ties by drawing of lots among highest ranking sanggunian members.
Section 23 limits successors to serving only the unexpired term.
Section 23 defines permanent vacancy: when an elective local official fills in a higher vacant office, refuses to assume, fails to qualify, dies, is removed, voluntarily resigns, or is otherwise permanently incapacitated.
Section 23 requires that ranking in the sanggunian be determined by the proportion of votes obtained by each winning candidate to the total number of registered voters in the City in the immediately preceding local election.
Section 24 fills permanent vacancies in the sangguniang panlungsod (where automatic succession does not apply) by appointments made by the provincial governor.
Section 24 requires the appointed successor to come from the same political party under which the vacant member was elected and serve the unexpired term.
Section 24 makes a nomination and certificate of membership from the highest official of the political party conditions sine qua non; an appointment without them is null and void ab initio and grounds administrative action against the responsible official.
Section 24 directs: if vacancy is caused by a sangguniang panlungsod member who belongs to no political party, the city mayor, upon recommendation of the sangguniang panlungsod, appoints a qualified person.
Section 24 provides that vacancy in representation of the youth and the barangay is filled automatically by the next-in-rank official of the concerned organization.
Section 25 provides for temporary mayor vacancy/incapacity: the city vice mayor or highest ranking sangguniang panlungsod member automatically exercises mayor powers/functions when the mayor is temporarily incapacitated for physical/legal reasons such as leave, travel abroad, or suspension.
Section 25 limits the acting authority: the power to appoint, suspend, or dismiss employees may be exercised only if temporary incapacity exceeds thirty (30) working days.
Section 25 terminates temporary incapacity upon written declaration by the city mayor that he has reported back to office; if due to legal cause, submission of documents showing the legal cause no longer exists is required.
Section 25 allows the mayor, when traveling within the country but outside territorial jurisdiction for not more than three (3) consecutive days, to designate an officer-in-charge in writing, specifying powers/functions, excluding appoint/suspend/dismiss.
Section 25 gives fallback authority: if the mayor fails/refuses such authorization, the vice mayor or highest ranking member assumes powers on the fourth (4th) day of absence, subject to the same limitations.
Section 25 restricts other designations: the mayor may authorize assumption only by the vice mayor or the highest ranking sangguniang panlungsod member—no other local official may assume mayor functions.

Appointive officials: secretary and treasurer

Section 26 establishes a secretary to the sangguniang panlungsod as a career official with rank/salary equal to a head of a department or office.
Section 26 sets secretary qualifications: Philippine citizen, resident of the City of BiAan, good moral character, preferably a college degree in law, commerce, or public administration from a recognized college/university, and a first grade civil service eligible (or equivalent).
Section 26 assigns secretary functions including attending sanggunian meetings and keeping a journal; keeping and affixing the City seal to ordinances/resolutions and official acts; forwarding enacted ordinances to the mayor for approval; and forwarding approved appropriations ordinances to DBM under Section 326, Book II of the Local Government Code of 1991.
Section 26 requires the secretary to forward approved ordinances to the sangguniang panlalawigan under Sections 56 and 57 of the Local Government Code of 1991; furnish certified records upon request upon payment of fees prescribed by ordinance; and record ordinances/resolutions with dates of passage and publication.
Section 26 requires opening nonconfidential records to the public during usual business hours; translation of ordinances/resolutions into the dialect used by the majority of inhabitants after approval and publication of both the translation and original version in the manner under the Local Government Code of 1991; custody