Conversion of Tuguegarao Municipality into City

Corporate and general powers

Section 3 endows the City with corporate powers to have continuous succession, sue and be sued, use a corporate seal, and acquire, hold and convey property.
Section 3 authorizes the City to enter into contracts and/or agreements and to exercise other powers subject to limitations in the Charter and other laws.
Section 4 requires the City to have a common seal and allows it to alter the seal at pleasure.
Section 4 grants the City power to levy taxes, close and open roads, streets, alleys, parks or squares, and to appropriate or condemn private property for public use.
Section 4 authorizes the City to take, purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey and dispose of real and personal property for the general interests of the City.
Section 5 makes the City and its officials not exempt from liability for death or injury to persons or damage to property.

Police jurisdiction and court jurisdiction zones

Section 6 provides that the City’s police jurisdiction for police purposes only is coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction.
Section 6 extends City police jurisdiction for water protection over all territory within the drainage area of the City’s water supply, or within one hundred (100) meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct or pumping station used for City water service.
Section 6 grants regional trial courts and city courts of Tuguegarao City concurrent jurisdiction with courts of adjoining municipalities to try crimes and misdemeanors committed within the drainage area or within the one hundred (100) meters space.
Section 6 provides that the court first taking jurisdiction of an offense shall thereafter retain exclusive jurisdiction.
Section 6 requires that any license issued within the covered zone/area is granted by the proper authorities of the concerned city or municipality and that fees accrue to the treasury of that concerned city or municipality.

City officials: composition and appointment

Section 7 establishes City offices including: a city mayor, city vice mayor, sangguniang panlungsod members, secretary to the sangguniang panlungsod, city treasurer (and assistant), city assessor (and assistant), city accountant, city budget officer, city planning and development coordinator, city engineer, city health officer, city civil registrar, city administrator, city legal officer, city veterinarian, city social welfare and development officer, and city general services officer.
Section 7 allows the city mayor to appoint additional officers: a city architect, city information officer, city population officer, city environment and natural resources officer, city agriculturist, and city cooperatives officer.
Section 7 requires the City to establish a city fire station headed by a city fire marshal, a city jail headed by a city jail warden, and a city school division headed by a city school division superintendent.
Section 7 authorizes the City to maintain existing offices not mentioned, create other necessary offices, or consolidate functions for efficiency and economy.
Section 7 provides that, unless otherwise provided, heads of departments and offices are appointed by the city mayor with the concurrence of the majority of all sangguniang panlungsod members, subject to civil service law; the sanggunian must act within fifteen (15) days or the appointment is deemed confirmed.

The city mayor and vice mayor

Section 8(A) makes the city mayor the chief executive and states the city mayor is elected at large by qualified voters of the City.
Section 8(A) requires mayoral eligibility at election time: at least twenty-one (21) years of age, actual City residence for at least one (1) year prior to election, and being a qualified voter.
Section 8(A) sets the mayor’s term at three (3) years, unless sooner removed, and fixes a minimum monthly compensation corresponding to salary grade thirty (30) under Republic Act No. 6758.
Section 8(B) requires the city mayor to exercise the powers and duties provided by the Local Government Code of 1991 and other laws, including governance, policy programming, emergency measures, appointment authority for covered officials, signing authority for City obligations with proper authority, enforcement of laws and ordinances, and execution of approved plans and programs.
Section 8(B) authorizes the city mayor to be entitled to carry necessary firearms within territorial jurisdiction and to function as deputized representative of the National Police Commission, form the peace and order plan, and implement it in accordance with Republic Act No. 6975.
Section 8(B) grants budgetary and revenue-related authorities, including requiring office heads’ appropriation estimates, preparing and submitting budgets for approval, collecting taxes and revenues, and issuing/suspending/revoking licenses and permits pursuant to law and ordinance—explicitly including licenses and permits to gambling operations authorized by law.
Section 8(B) further empowers the city mayor to allow permits for certain charitable or welfare activities without need of national agency approval, excluding prohibited games or shows contrary to law, public policy and morals; and to require owners of illegally constructed structures to obtain permits, make changes, or face demolition/removal within the period prescribed by law or ordinance.
Section 9(A) provides for a city vice mayor elected in the same manner as the mayor, with the same qualifications, term of three (3) years, and monthly compensation corresponding to salary grade twenty-six (26) under Republic Act No. 6758.
Section 9(B) gives the vice mayor duties as presiding officer of the sangguniang panlungsod, signatory for warrants drawn on the city treasury for sanggunian expenditures, appointment of certain officials and employees (subject to civil service rules), and automatic assumption of mayoral office for unexpired term in permanent vacancies or exercise of mayoral powers in temporary vacancies.

Sangguniang panlungsod powers and ordinance process

Section 10 defines the sangguniang panlungsod as the City’s legislative body composed of the city vice mayor as presiding officer, twelve (12) regular sanggunian members, the president of the city chapter of the liga ng mga barangay, the president of the panlungsod na pederasyon ng mga sangguniang kabataan, and sectoral representatives.
Section 10 creates three (3) sectoral representatives: one (1) from women, and the other two selected by the sanggunian within ninety (90) days prior to local elections—one (1) from agricultural or industrial workers, and one (1) from other sectors including urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, or disabled persons.
Section 10 requires regular members and sectoral representatives to be elected in the manner provided by law; elective members must have qualifications under Section 39 of Republic Act No. 7160.
Section 10 empowers the sangguniang panlungsod to approve ordinances and resolutions for efficient city government, including maintaining peace and order, enacting disaster relief measures, and passing ordinances imposing penalties within the limits stated in the Charter.
Section 10(1) requires the sanggunian to impose penalties for ordinance violations and allows city ordinance penalties up to Five thousand pesos (P5,000) fine or up to one (1) year imprisonment, or both at the discretion of the court.
Section 10(1) directs enactment of ordinances to prevent and impose penalties for habitual drunkenness in public places, vagrancy, mendicancy, prostitution and houses of ill-repute, gambling and other prohibited games of chance, fraudulent devices to obtain money/property, drug addiction and drug dens, drug pushing, juvenile delinquency, and obscene/pornographic materials or publications, and other activities inimical to welfare and morals.
Section 10(1) requires environmental protection measures and penalties for acts like dynamite fishing, destructive fishing, illegal logging, smuggling of logs and natural resources products, smuggling of endangered species of flora and fauna, slash-and-burn farming, and activities causing pollution, eutrophication, or ecological imbalance.
Section 10(2)–(6) authorizes the sanggunian to enact budgets and tax measures in coordination with Book II of the Local Government Code of 1991, negotiate or authorize loans and bonds, adopt land use and zoning regulations, regulate markets and development approvals (with a national agency non-action rule of thirty (30) days for approvals), authorize franchises and permits, regulate nuisances and land/building uses, regulate sanitation, wastes, traffic and public places, and establish and support numerous basic services and facilities, including waterworks protection and waste management.
Section 11(A) requires the sangguniang panlungsod to adopt or update its rules of procedure on the first regular session following election and within ninety (90) days thereafter.
Section 11(B)(5) authorizes internal discipline for disorderly behavior and absences without justifiable cause for four (4) consecutive sessions, allowing censure, reprimand, exclusion, suspension up to sixty (60) days, or expulsion.
Section 11(B)(5) requires expulsion or suspension (not more than sixty (60) days) to require concurrence of at least two-thirds (2/3) of all sanggunian members.
Section 11(B)(5) mandates automatic expulsion if the member is convicted by final judgment to imprisonment of at least one (1) year for any crime involving moral turpitude.
Section 12 requires every sangguniang panlungsod member to make a full disclosure of business and financial interests upon assumption to office and to disclose specified conflicts of interest relationships involving ordinances or resolutions under deliberation.
Section 12(B)(1) requires disclosure in writing before participation in deliberations; if the member did not participate, disclosure must be made before voting on second and third readings.
Section 12(B)(2) requires disclosure when a member takes a position or makes a privilege speech on matters affecting the enumerated business, financial, professional, or affinity/consanguinity relationships.
Section 13 governs sessions: regular sessions at least once a week for the sangguniang panlungsod; special sessions may be called by the city mayor or majority of members; sessions are open to the public unless closed-door by affirmative vote of a majority present with quorum.
Section 13(D) requires at least twenty-four (24) hours written notice for special sessions served personally to members’ usual residences; only matters stated in the notice may be considered unless two-thirds (2/3) vote of members present concurs with quorum.
Section 15 sets ordinance approval: the sangguniang panlungsod presents ordinances to the city mayor; if approved, the mayor signs each page; if vetoed, the sanggunian may reconsider and override by two-thirds (2/3) vote of all its members.
Section 15(B) provides that the mayor’s veto must be communicated within ten (10) days; otherwise, the ordinance is deemed approved as if signed.
Section 16 grants mayor veto powers for ultra vires or public welfare prejudice; it also allows item-by-item veto for appropriation items, development plans, public investment programs, and money payment/creating liability items, with non-vetoed items unaffected.
Section 16(C) limits mayor veto to only once, and requires two-thirds (2/3) override to make an ordinance effective even without mayor approval.
Section 17 provides sangguniang panlungsod–sangguniang panlalawigan review: the secretary forwards copies within three (3) days after approval; the sangguniang panlalawigan acts within thirty (30) days, and if no action is taken within thirty (30) days, the ordinance/resolution is presumed consistent with law and valid.
Section 18 governs review of barangay ordinances by the sangguniang panlungsod: barangay furnishes copies within ten (10) days after enactment; if no action within thirty (30) days, the barangay ordinance is deemed approved; if inconsistent, the city sanggunian returns it within thirty (30) days, and the effectivity of the barangay ordinance is suspended until revisions are effected.
Section 19 provides that any attempt to enforce a disapproved ordinance or resolution approving local development plans and public investment programs is ground for suspension or dismissal of the concerned official or employee.
Section 20 provides ordinance/resolution effectivity rules: unless otherwise stated, effectivity occurs after ten (10) days from posting at City Hall entrance bulletin board and at least two (2) other conspicuous places; posting must occur not later than five (5) days after approval, with dissemination/posted text in Filipino or English and the language/dialect understood by the majority.
Section 20(C) requires publication: main features must be published once in a local newspaper of general circulation within the City; if not available, publication is in another local newspaper of general circulation; and the gist of all ordinances with penal sanctions must also be published in a newspaper of general circulation.

Disqualifications and succession for city officers

Section 21 bars these from running for any elective position in the City: final conviction for moral turpitude offenses or offenses punishable by one (1) year or more of imprisonment within two (2) years after serving sentence; removal from office due to an administrative case; final conviction for violating the oath of allegiance; dual citizenship; fugitives from justice in criminal or nonpolitical cases here and abroad; permanent residents in a foreign country or those who acquired the right to reside abroad and continue to avail such right after effectivity of the Local Government Code of 1991; and the insane or feeble-minded.
Section 22(A) provides that a permanent vacancy in the office of the city mayor makes the concerned city vice mayor city mayor; a permanent vacancy in the office of the city vice mayor makes the highest ranking sanggunian member, and if permanently incapacitated, the second highest ranking sanggunian member, become city mayor or city vice mayor.
Section 22(B) resolves ties among highest ranking sanggunian members by drawing of lots.
Section 22(C) limits successors to the unexpired terms of their predecessors.
Section 22 defines permanent vacancy as arising when an elective local official fills a higher vacant office, refuses to assume office, fails to qualify, dies, is removed, voluntarily resigns, or is otherwise permanently incapacitated to discharge functions.
Section 22 defines sanggunian ranking for purposes of succession based on the proportion of votes obtained by each winning candidate to the total number of registered voters in the City immediately preceding the local election.
Section 23(A) provides that permanent sanggunian vacancies not covered by automatic succession are filled by appointments made by the provincial governor and must follow political party nomination and membership certification requirements; appointments without the required nomination and certification are null and void ab initio and are a ground for administrative action against the responsible official.
Section 23(A) requires that if a vacancy is caused by a sanggunian member who does not belong to any political party, the city mayor—upon recommendation of the sangguniang panlungsod—appoints a qualified person to fill the vacancy.
Section 23(A) provides that vacancies in representation of the youth and the barangay in the sanggunian are filled automatically by the next in rank in the concerned organization.
Section 24(A) provides that when the city mayor is temporarily incapacitated for physical or legal reasons (including leave of absence, travel abroad, and suspension), the city vice mayor automatically exercises mayoral powers and functions except the power to appoint, suspend, or dismiss employees, which the vice mayor can exercise only if incapacity exceeds thirty (30) working days.
Section 24(B) provides temporary incapacity terminates upon the city mayor submitting to the sangguniang panlungsod a written declaration that he reported back to office, and if due to legal cause, submitting documents showing the legal cause no longer exists.
Section 24(C) authorizes the city mayor, when traveling within the country outside territorial jurisdiction for up to three (3) consecutive days, to designate in writing an officer-in-charge with specified powers excluding appointing, suspending, or dismissing employees.
Section 24(D) provides that if the city mayor fails or refuses to issue such authorization, the vice mayor assumes powers and functions on the fourth day of absence, subject to the limitation in subsection (c).

Appointive official: secretary of sanggunian

Section 25(A) requires a secretary to the sangguniang panlungsod as a career official with rank and salary equal to a head of a department or office.
Section 25(B) sets qualification requirements: Philippine citizenship, City residency, good moral character, preferably a master’s degree in law, commerce, or public administration, and a first grade civil service eligible or equivalent.
Section 25(D) tasks the secretary to: take charge of the sanggunian office; attend meetings and keep a journal; keep and affix the City seal on ordinances/resolutions and present them for the presiding officer’s signature; forward ordinances for city mayor approval and forward approved ordinances for provincial review; furnish certified public-record copies upon request after payment of fees to the city treasurer as prescribed by ordinance.
Section 25(D) requires the secretary to record and keep open non-confidential records during usual business hours, translate ordinances/resolutions into the dialect used by the majority after approval and ensure publication per the Local Government Code system, and keep custody of local archives (and where applicable, the local library) with annual accounting.
Section 25(D) authorizes the secretary to perform other duties and powers prescribed by law or ordinance relative to the position.