Revised Charter of Quezon City 1950

Quezon City as a public corporation

The territory within the Quezon City boundaries is established as Quezon City, designated as the capital of the Philippines and the permanent seat of the National Government.
Quezon City has perpetual succession, may have and use a common seal (and alter it at pleasure), and may sue and be sued and prosecute and defend suits to final judgment and execution.
The city may take, purchase, revive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property for city benefit, and may expropriate private property for public use.
The city may contract and be contracted with, and may execute all powers conferred by the Charter.

Quezon City territorial boundaries

The Act establishes Quezon City’s boundaries and limits with a total area of fifteen thousand three hundred fifty-nine hectares, more or less.
The boundaries are defined by reference points “1” to “19” and include segments following specified bearings and distances, and following features and corridors such as the Novaliches watershed reservation, Marikina River, Arroyo, Culiat Creek, Pasong Tamo River, Pinagpatayan Buaya Creek, Old Rosario Road, Circumferential road (Highway 54), Santolan Road, and creek and city boundary references including the City of Manila boundary.

City liability and election administration

The failure of any city officer to enforce the Charter provisions, or any law or ordinance, or the officer’s negligence while enforcing or attempting to enforce them, does not cause the city to be held liable for damages or injuries to persons or property.
Election duties assigned by the Election Code to provincial boards and municipal councils are performed by the City Council.
Election duties assigned by the Election Code to provincial treasurers and municipal secretaries are performed by the City Treasurer and City Secretary, respectively.

Police jurisdiction and representative districts

Quezon City’s police jurisdiction for police purposes is coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction.
For protecting and insuring 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 in connection with the city water service.
The Court of First Instance and municipal court of Quezon City have concurrent jurisdiction over offenses committed within the drainage area, or within one hundred meters, and the court first taking jurisdiction retains exclusive jurisdiction thereafter.
Until otherwise provided by law, territories of Quezon City that at the approval of the Act belonged to the First and Second Representative Districts of the Province of Rizal remain parts of those districts.

The Mayor: appointment, powers, duties

The Mayor is the chief executive of the city with immediate supervision and control over executive functions of city departments, subject to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior.
The Mayor is appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments and holds office at the pleasure of the President.
The Mayor’s salary is not exceeding nine thousand pesos a year; the City Council may provide a commutable quarter’s allowance of not more than three thousand pesos per annum.
The Mayor must take care that laws of the Philippines, Charter provisions, and city ordinances and resolutions are duly observed and enforced.
The Mayor must ensure that executive officers and employees faithfully discharge duties, and may cause appropriate criminal actions or bring derelictions to the attention of proper superiors.

Vice-Mayor and acting mayor authority

There is a Vice-Mayor who is a member of the City Council.
During the Mayor’s absence from the city or disability, the Vice-Mayor discharges the Mayor’s duties and exercises the Mayor’s powers, except the power of removing any officer from office.
If the Vice-Mayor is temporarily incapacitated or the office is vacant, the City Engineer performs the Mayor’s duties.
The Vice-Mayor is appointed by the President with consent of the Commission on Appointments and holds office at the pleasure of the President.
The Vice-Mayor’s salary is not exceeding three thousand six hundred pesos a year.

City Council: composition, sessions, ordinances

The City Council consists of the Mayor as chairman, the Vice-Mayor, and eight other members.
Regular meetings are held twice in each week; special sessions are held when called by the Mayor.
Meetings are open to the public unless ordered closed by an affirmative vote of a majority of members.
A majority of the Council constitutes a quorum; a smaller number may adjourn from time to time.
The Council keeps a record and determines rules of procedure not set forth in the Charter.
The ayes and nayes are recorded upon passage of all ordinances, upon resolutions or motions directing payment of money or creating liability, and upon request of any member on other motions or resolutions.
The affirmative vote of a majority of all members is required for passage of any ordinance, resolution, or motion directing payment of money or creating liability.
Ordinances must be sealed with the city seal, signed by the Mayor and the city secretary, and recorded in a book for that purpose.
Ordinances are posted by the city secretary at the main entrance on the day of passage and take effect on and after the tenth day following its passage if no date is fixed in the ordinance.

City Council members: appointment and compensation

The eight councilors are appointed by the President of the Philippines with consent of the Commission on Appointments, and hold office at the pleasure of the President.
Councilors who are not receiving fixed compensation or salary from public funds receive a fixed salary of not exceeding three thousand six hundred pesos each per annum.

Council powers and ordinance authority

The City Council enacts powers by ordinance or resolution, including appropriation of city government expenses and establishment/fixing of salaries for officers and employees whose salaries are not otherwise provided, subject to a maximum aligned with a competent authority’s salary schedule.
The Council may levy and collect taxes and other city revenues and apply them to city expenses in accordance with appropriations.
The Council may tax, fix license fees, and regulate enumerated businesses and trades, including hawkers, peddlers (with an exclusion for hucksters or peddlers selling only native vegetable fruits or food personally carried), auctioneers, plumbers, barbers, embalmers, collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, transportation companies and agencies, advertising agents, tattooers, hotels, clubs, restaurants, lodging houses, boarding houses, livery stables, private police detectives, private detective agencies, special police agencies, guard agencies, special watchmen agencies, massage clinics, masseurs/masseuses, chiropodists, hair dressing/beauty parlors, painters, night clubs, dealers in large cattle and hogs, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments for highly combustible or explosive materials, public warehouses, circuses and amusements, public vehicles, horse races, bowling alleys, pawn brokers, dealers in secondhand merchandise, junk dealers, billiard or pool tables, theaters and performances, shooting galleries, slot machines not used for gaming, and other similar amusement devices.
The Council may regulate locations and operations of establishments that endanger public safety, including blacksmith shops, foundries, and similar hazardous facilities, and may regulate storage and sale of enumerated combustible or explosive materials such as gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, coal, oil, gasoline, benzine, turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitroglycerine, petroleum, and products thereof.
The Council may regulate streets and public places for vehicles, garages, stables, and public vehicle stands.
The Council may provide for erection or rental and care of city buildings, and establish and maintain public schools subject to legal limitations.
The Council may establish fire limits and regulate kinds of buildings and construction within those limits.
The Council may erect engine houses, provide fire engines and equipment, and manage and use them.
The Council may regulate lights in stables and shops, and regulate or restrain bonfires and the use of firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes, and pyrotechnic displays.
The Council may provide for public safety against conflagrations and mitigate public calamities and provide relief to persons suffering from them.
The Council may regulate lighting, cleaning, sprinkling of streets and public places, prevent/remove encroachments and obstructions, prohibit placing/depositing/offensive matters, regulate openings for utilities and tunnel/sewer/drain works, regulate crosswalks, curbs, and gutters, name and change street names and regulate house/lot numbering, regulate traffic and sales, abate nuisances, punish authors or owners, construct/maintain bridges, viaducts, and culverts, and prevent amusements that annoy or frighten animals.
The Council may regulate speed of horses and other animals, vehicles, and locomotives within city limits.
The Council has exclusive power, notwithstanding any existing law to the contrary, to provide for inspection, placing, stringing, attaching, installing, repair, and construction of gas, electric telegraph and telephone wires, conduits, meters, and electrical appliances, and may condemn and order correction/removal when dangerous and defective.
The Council may maintain waterworks for inhabitants, purify supply, regulate control and use of water, fix and collect rents, regulate hydrants/pumps/cisterns/reservoirs, prevent waste, protect purity and quantity, and extend its finance to territories within the drainage area and within one hundred meters of relevant water facilities or watershed used for water service.
The Council may establish and maintain a city pound, fix fees for poundage, regulate/restrict/prohibit animals running at large and unlicensed dogs, and provide for distraining/impounding/killing or sale of such animals and impose penalties for owners for ordinance violations; carabaos, horses, mules, asses, and bovine family members are disposed of in accordance with general law.
The Council may regulate keeping and use of animals to protect public health and domestic animal health.
The Council may require cleaning of insanitary lands/buildings at owner/tenant expense, and, upon failure, have the work done and assess the expense on the land or buildings.
The Council may fill up or require filling of lands and premises deemed insanitary based on grades and health or welfare judgment.
The Council may construct and repair public drains, sewers, and cesspools and regulate private water-closets, privies, sewers, drains, and cesspools.
The Council may prohibit burial within the city’s center of population and require burial in proper places and manner determined by the Council, subject to general burial and funeral disposal laws.
The Council may establish or authorize slaughterhouses and markets, and inspect and regulate keeping, preparation, and sale of meat, fruits, poultry, milk, vegetables, and other provisions/articles of food for sale.
The Council may enforce Department of Health regulations by ordinance through fines and penalties for violations, and adopt measures to prevent and spread disease.
The Council may declare, prevent, and abate nuisances.
The Council may provide for recording births, marriages, and deaths.
The Council may establish, maintain, and regulate a police force and prescribe its members’ powers and duties.
The Council may establish and maintain a city prison.
The Council may prohibit and punish cruelty to animals.
The Council may suppress gambling houses, houses of ill fame and other disorderly houses, and prohibit printing/sale/exhibition of immoral pictures, books, or publications.
The Council may prevent and suppress riots, affrays, disturbances, disorderly assemblies; punish and prevent intoxication, fighting, quarreling, and disorderly conduct; and make and enforce ordinances to confine and reform vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating a city ordinance.
The Council may establish, regulate, and maintain city departments and prescribe or readjust their duties.
The Council may construct, erect, establish, acquire, and operate a public light, heat and power supply and installation system, including purchasing/expropriating necessary lands and acquiring machinery, poles, wires, vehicles, supplies, and equipment as provided by law.
The Council may maintain and operate any electric light, heat or power supply system, and may modify/expand/repair/replace equipment as needed.
For system purposes, the Council may enter into contracts for partial or deferred payment, appoint and employ needed officers/clerks/employees/laborers, and appropriate city funds for these purposes.
The Council may enter into contracts to supply residents and businesses with electric light, heat, current, and other services at rates/prices not less than sufficient to maintain and operate the plant/system, cover depreciations, and fund extensions and improvements.
The Council may enter into leases for electric light, heat, or power supply/installation systems to persons or corporations for consideration, subject to the Council’s supervision/control over operation, amount of service delivered, character of services rendered, and rates/charges.
The Council may fix penalties for ordinance violations, with the limit that no single penalty exceeds a fine of two hundred pesos or imprisonment of six months, or both.
For nonpayment of a fine, imprisonment is computed at one day’s imprisonment for each two pesos and fifty centavos of the fine.
Persons undergoing imprisonment for violation of ordinances may be required to labor for the period of imprisonment on works of the city as directed by the City Council.
In cases of imprisonment for nonpayment of a fine, the person is released upon payment of the fine less two pesos and fifty centavos per day for each day confined.
Pending appeal, the defendant remains in custody unless released upon sufficient bail in accordance with general law.
For ordinance violations about building construction, the Council may impose, in addition to penalties, the penalty of removal or demolition of the building/structure by the owner or by the city at the expense of the owner.
The Council may authorize free distribution of medicines to employees/laborers with salary or wage not exceeding one hundred fifty pesos per month or five pesos per day, and free fresh native milk to indigent mothers residing in the city, under direct Mayor supervision and control.
The Council may fix the tariff of fees and charges for all services rendered by the city or its departments/offices.
The Council may establish or aid vocational schools and higher learning institutions conducted by the National Government or its subdivisions/agencies, and with approval of the Director of Public Schools, fix reasonable tuition fees for city-supported vocational schools and educational institutions.
The Council may tax, license, and regulate boxing, bowling, billiards, pools, horse or dog races, cockpits, roller or ice-skating, and sporting/athletic contests, and grant exclusive rights to establishments for this purpose notwithstanding any existing law to the contrary.
The Council may enact additional ordinances and regulations not repugnant to law to carry into effect the Charter powers and to provide for health and safety, prosperity, morals, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, and property protection, and enforce obedience with lawful fines or penalties authorized under the penalty limit rule.

Mayor removal of offensive commercial signs

No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard may be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings.
If the Mayor determines after due investigation and an opportunity to be heard for the owners that any sign/signboard/billboard is offensive to sight or is otherwise a nuisance, the Mayor may order its removal.
If not removed within ten days after the Mayor issues the removal order, the Mayor may cause its removal.
The sign/signboard/billboard is forfeited to the City when removal is ordered and carried out under the ten-day noncompliance rule.
Removal expenses become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for erection or display.

Subdivision plats: city engineer approval

The City Council may, by ordinance approved by the department head, require that no plat or plan of subdivision of a residential estate be presented for approval or verification by the Bureau of Lands or the General Land Registration Office until approved by the city engineer.
The city engineer must approve plats/plans under regulations set by the City Council by ordinance.
These regulations may require street design including design width relative to existing/planned streets, adequate and convenient open spaces for traffic, public services, access for fire-fighting apparatus, recreation, light, and air, and avoidance of population congestion through minimum width and area of lots in districts/sections.
These regulations may include methods for grading, improvement, and installation of water and sewer mains and other public service facilities.
The regulations must require city engineer approval within sixty days after submission to the city engineer.

City Secretary: office, duties, records

A City Secretary exists and is appointed by the President with Commission on Appointments consent and holds office at the pleasure of the President.
The City Secretary’s salary is not exceeding four thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.
The City Secretary acts as secretary of the City Council, the board of tax appeals, and other boards/committees created, and keeps a journal of their proceedings.
The City Secretary records ordinances in a book showing dates of passage and publication.
The City Secretary maintains a circular seal inscribed “Quezon City Council”, affixes it with signature to ordinances and other official acts of the Mayor or Council.
The City Secretary causes each ordinance passed to be published as required by the Charter.
The City Secretary keeps city records/documents and, upon demand, furnishes certified copies and collects fees prescribed by the Council for the city’s use.

City departments and department heads

The city government has the following departments under the Mayor’s direct supervision and control: Department of Engineering, Department of Finance, Law Department, Department of Health, Police Department, Department of Assessment, and Fire Department.
The Council may readjust departmental duties from time to time based on public interest.
Each department head controls the department under the Mayor’s direct supervision, possesses powers prescribed in the Charter or by ordinance, and must certify the correctness of pay rolls and vouchers before payment.
Except as otherwise expressly provided on or before March 1 of each year, each department head must prepare and present to the Mayor for submission to the Council an estimate of receipts and appropriations needed to operate the department during the ensuing year, with comparison information the Mayor desires.
Department heads must submit reports to the Mayor as required.
If a department head is absent, sick, or unable to act, or there is a temporary vacancy, the next officer in rank performs the department head’s duties.
During acting incumbency due to temporary vacancy, the acting officer receives the salary and emoluments of the department head.

Appointments, removals, and officer restrictions

The President appoints with Commission on Appointments consent: the city health officer, city engineer, chief of police, city treasurer, city assessor, city attorney, assistant city attorneys, municipal court judges (and an acting judge for temporary vacancy), and the city superintendent of schools.
The President may appoint to the above offices persons already holding official positions.
If sickness, absence, or inability to serve affects any of the named officials including the Mayor, Vice-Mayor, city secretary, and Council members, the President may make a temporary appointment or designation notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, until the official returns to duty.
The temporarily appointed/designated person has all powers and performs all duties pertaining to the office during the temporary appointment period.
No city officer or employee may be directly or indirectly interested in any city contract work, in any business transaction with the city in which money paid comes from city revenues, in games and amusements licensed by the city, in any business of the city, or in the purchase of any real estate or any property belonging to the city.

General auditing and public schools

The Auditor General receives and audits all accounts of the city according to government accounting and accounts law provisions.
The city auditor is paid from city funds at a rate of not exceeding six thousand pesos per annum.
The Director of Public Schools exercises the same jurisdiction and powers in the city as elsewhere in the Philippines.
The city superintendent of schools holds powers and duties over city schools vested in division superintendents.
City pays for clerical force, assistants, laborers in the city superintendent’s office and office expenses for supplies and materials needed for operating the office.
The City Council may provide additional compensation to the superintendent so the superintendent’s total salary equals that of a city department head of the same importance.
The city superintendent of schools submits a quarterly report on conditions of schools and school buildings to the Mayor, including recommendations on teachers, salaries, new buildings, and other matters, and the amount of city revenues recommended for expending on teachers and improvements.
The care and custody of school buildings by the Department of Engineering and supervision of construction/repair ordered by the Council are subject to public school laws.

City Engineer: powers and public works

A City Engineer heads the Department of Engineering and receives a salary of not exceeding seven thousand two hundred pesos per annum.
The City Engineer oversees surveying and engineering work for city public improvements and projects, and performs services requiring engineering skill and experience.
The City Engineer ascertains, records, and establishes monuments of city surveys; extends city surveys; and locates and surveys city property and private property abutting city property when directed by the Mayor.
The City Engineer tests and inspects engineering materials used in construction and repair as necessary to protect the city from use of poor or dangerous materials.
The City Engineer inspects and reports on the condition of public property and works when required by the Mayor.
The City Engineer has care and custody of public buildings including markets and slaughterhouses, buildings rented for city purposes, and lighting systems established by the city.
The City Engineer prevents encroachment of private buildings and fences onto city streets and public places.
The City Engineer inspects and supervises construction, repair, removal, and safety of private buildings.
The City Engineer regulates and enforces house numbering consistent with city ordinances.
The City Engineer maintains, cleans, sprinkles, and regulates city streets, parks, cemeteries, and bridges for all purposes allowed by law and ordinances.
The City Engineer prepares plans and supervises construction of sewers and water supply systems authorized by the city, and has care and custody of those public systems and controls, maintains, and regulates their use under water/sewer ordinances.
The City Engineer inspects and regulates, subject to Mayor approval, the use of private systems supplying water to the city and its inhabitants, and private sewers and connections with the public sewer system.
The City Engineer prepares plans, maps, specifications, and estimates for public works and supervises construction and repair.
The City Engineer may charge fees at rates approved by the City Council for sanitation and transportation services and supplies furnished by the engineering office.
The City Engineer files and preserves all maps, plans, notes, surveys, and other office papers and documents.
Upon order by or with previous approval of the Mayor in each case, the City Engineer causes removal of buildings/structures erected in violation of law or ordinances and removal of materials used in violating construction/repair.
The City Engineer may, subject to Mayor approval, secure or tear down buildings dangerous to the public.
The City Engineer supervises and regulates the location and use of engines, boilers, forges, and other manufacturing and heating appliances consistent with law and ordinances.
Repairs or construction of public improvements other than parks, boulevards, streets, or alleys involving an estimated cost of three thousand pesos or more must be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after public advertisement by the Mayor upon the City Engineer’s recommendation.
The City Engineer may, with approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, execute by administration public works costing three thousand pesos or more.
For public works below three thousand pesos, the City Engineer has discretion to proceed personally or let the contract to the lowest bidder after appropriate publication and notice or as prescribed by regulation.
The City Engineer is supported by assistant engineers, superintendents, and other employees provided through appropriation ordinances.

City Treasurer: fiscal powers and budgeting

A City Treasurer heads the Department of Finance, acts as chief fiscal officer and financial adviser, and custodian of city funds, with salary not exceeding seven thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.
The City Treasurer collects city taxes and assessments, licenses authorized by law or ordinance, rents for city lands/markets/property, and other charges fixed by law or ordinance.
The City Treasurer administers markets and slaughterhouses and receives and issues receipts for costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures imposed by the Municipal Court.
The City Treasurer receives and safely keeps all city money and disburses it only on lawful warrants and under authorized appropriations.
The City Treasurer collects miscellaneous charges made by the Department of Engineering and other departments, and charges collected by the City Engineer for inspections, permits, licenses, and privy system installation/maintenance/services.
The City Treasurer acts as deputy of the Collector of Internal Revenue to collect all taxes and charges imposed by the National Government upon property or persons in Quezon City.
Unless otherwise specifically provided by law or regulations, the City Treasurer performs duties imposed by law or regulation on provincial treasurers generally, and other succeeding provisions of the same Article.
The City Treasurer purchases and issues supplies, equipment, or other property required by the city as authorized.
The City Treasurer is accountable for all city funds and property and renders accounts as prescribed by the Auditor General.
The City Treasurer deposits daily all city funds and collections with the National Treasury or in a government depository.
On or before April 1 of each year, the City Treasurer submits to the Mayor a certified detailed statement by departments of receipts and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year, and for the current fiscal year through March 31, plus an estimate of receipts and expenditures for the remainder of the current fiscal year.
With the statement, the City Treasurer submits a detailed estimate of revenues/receipts for the ensuing fiscal year.
After receiving the City Treasurer’s statements/estimates and department heads’ estimates required by Section 18, the Mayor must formulate and submit a detailed budget to the City Council before the fifteenth day of May next following.
The City Council must make detailed appropriations covering estimated expenditures and must ensure the aggregate appropriations never exceed the estimated revenues and receipts submitted by the City Treasurer.
Supplemental budgets may be adopted using the same manner when special or unforeseen circumstances require them.
Without further Council action, disbursements may be made by the City Treasurer from authorized appropriations upon properly executed vouchers bearing approval of the chiefs of the concerned departments.
On or before the twenty-fifth day of each month, the City Treasurer provides the Mayor and City Council statements of appropriations, expenditures, and balances of all funds/accounts as of the last day of the preceding month.

City Attorney and law department operations

A City Attorney is the chief of the law department and receives general supervision through the Secretary of Justice; assistant city attorneys discharge duties under that supervision.
The City Attorney’s salary is not exceeding seven thousand two hundred pesos per annum; the first assistant is **not exceeding six thousand pesos