SEC. 29. (a) The municipal council shall prescribe the time and place of holding its meetings. Regular meetings shall be held once in every two weeks and special meetings as often as occasion may demand. Any meeting, regular or special, may, in case the amount of business shall require, be adjourned from day to day until the business is completed.
(b) The president, or any two members of the council, may call a special meeting by giving written notice of it to each member of the council, which notice shall be served personally or left at his usual place of abode.
SEC. 30. The majority of the council elected shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time and may compel the attendance of absentees, under such penalties as may be prescribed by ordinance.
SEC. 31. (a) The regular sessions or meetings of the municipal council shall be public and the person presiding has the authority to exact from all present due respect and proper deportment, to prevent disturbances and disorder, and to order the room cleared of any or all present who give reason for such action by improper behavior.
(b) The council may hold special sessions with closed doors to consider and vote upon appointments submitted to it by the president.
SEC. 32. (a) The municipal council shall determine its own rules of procedure, punish its members for disorderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the members, the council may suspend or expel a member for cause, electing his successor by a majority vote of all the members.
SEC. 33. The council shall keep a journal of its own proceedings. The ayes and nays shall be taken upon the passage of all ordinances, upon all propositions to create any liability against the municipality, and upon any other proposition, upon the request of any member, and they shall be entered upon the journal. The affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the municipal council shall be necessary to the passage of any ordinance or of any proposition creating indebtedness; but oilier measures, except as otherwise specially provided in this Act or by due authority, shall prevail upon the majority vote of the members present at any meeting duly called and held.
SEC. 34. Every ordinance shall go into effect on the tenth day after its passage, unless the ordinance shall provide that it shall take effect at an earlier or a later date. The ordinance on the day after its passage shall be posted by the municipal secretary at the main entrance of the municipal building, he shall certify to the fact of posting and shall spread his certificate upon the minutes of the council, but failure to post an ordinance shall not invalidate the same.
SEC. 35. At the first regular meeting after the election and qualification of a new president, the council shall pass on his nominations to non-elective municipal offices and shall prescribe the duties of all appointed officers and employees when not, determined by the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 36. The council shall definitely fix the limits of the barrios of the municipality, prescribing for them such boundaries that the barrios, taken collectively, shall include the entire territory of the municipality.
SEC. 37. (a) If the number of barrios in a municipality is less than or equal to the number of councilors the council shall put each of its members in immediate charge of a barrio or part of a barrio, so that each barrio shall be under the direction of one or more councilors.
(b) If the number of barrios exceeds the number of councilors, including the vice-president, the council shall group the barrios into as many districts as there are councilors, and shall place each councilor in charge of one such district. Each councilor shall be empowered to appoint one lieutenant in each barrio or part of barrio which comes under his immediate supervision. A lieutenant of barrio shall serve without compensation and shall report directly to the councilor appointing him.
SEC. 38. (a) Each councilor shall keep the people of his barrio or barrios informed as to the acts of the council, or other governmental measures which directly concern them, by means of suitable notices posted in a public and conspicuous place in each barrio. He shall serve in the council as the representative of the people of his barrio or barrios and shall bring their special needs to the attention of that body.
(b) He shall further promptly inform the president of any unusual or untoward event occurring within the barrios assigned to him.
(c) He is authorized to use as a symbol of office a cane with silver head, plated ferule and black cord and tassels.
SEC. 39. The municipal council shall:
(a) Establish and fix the salaries of municipal officers and employees, subject to the limitations expressed in section twenty-two. A list of all salaries authorized by the council shall be posted at the main entrance of the municipal building.
(b) Fill a permanent vacancy in the office of vice-president or of councilor, from among persons having the necessary qualifications, by a majority vote of all its members. A person thus substituted as vice-president or councilor shall serve only for the unexpired portion of the term for which his predecessor was elected and until his successor shall have been chosen and qualified.
(c) Make appropriations for lawful and necessary municipal expenditures.
(d) Manage the property of the municipality.
(e) Erect all needful buildings for the use of the municipality.
(f) Establish fire limits, prescribe the kind of buildings that may be constructed within said limits and issue permits for the erection of the same, but without charging fees for said permits.
(g) Regulate the establishment and provide for the inspection of steam boilers.
(h) Provide for lighting the streets and for sprinkling the same in cases where it is deemed desirable.
(i) Provide for and regulate the numbering of houses and lots.
(j) Regulate the construction, care and use of streets, sidewalks, wharves and piers in the municipality; prevent and remove obstacles and encroachments on the same; and declare and abate nuisances.
(k) Construct and keep in repair bridges and viaducts, and regulate the use of the same.
(l) Prohibit the throwing or depositing of filth, garbage, or other offensive matter in any street, alley, park, or public square; provide for the suitable collection and disposition of such matter and for cleaning and keeping clean the streets, alleys, parks, and other public places of the municipality.
(m) Regulate the keeping and use of animals, in so far as the same affects the public health and the health of domestic animals.
(n) Require any land or building which is in an unsanitary condition to be cleansed at the expense of the owner or tenant, and, upon failure to comply with such an order, have the work done and assess the expense upon the land or buildings.
(o) Construct and keep in repair public drains, sewers, and cesspools, and regulate the construction and use of private water-closets, privies, sewers, drains, and cesspools.
(p) Prohibit the burial of the dead within the centers of population of the municipality and provide for their burial in such proper place and in such manner as the council may determine.
(q) Establish or authorize the establishment of slaughterhouses and markets, and inspect and regulate the use of the same.
(r) Provide for and regulate the inspection of meat, fruits, poultry, milk, fish, vegetables, and all other articles of food.
(s) Adopt such other measures to prevent the introduction and spread of disease as may, from time to time, be deemed desirable or necessary.
(t) Establish, regulate and maintain a police department.
(u) Provide against the evils of gambling, gambling houses, and disorderly houses of whatsoever sort.
(v) Provide for the closing of opium joints and prohibit and punish the keeping or visiting of any place where opium is smoked or sold for the purpose of smoking.
(w) Provide for the punishment of mendicants, common prostitutes, or habitual disturbers of the peace.
(x) Prohibit and punish intoxication, fighting, and all disorderly conduct.
(y) Provide for the arrest, trial, lining, and putting to work on the streets or elsewhere of all persons known to he vagrants, and of persons found within the town without legitimate business or visible means of support.
(z)Restrain riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblages.
(aa) Regulate or prohibit the running at large of domestic animals within the limits of the municipality.
(bb) Prohibit and provide for the punishment of cruelty to animals.
(cc) Provide for inspection of weights and measures and enforce the keeping of proper weights and measures by vendors, but without the power to exact fees for such inspection.
(dd) Fix the penalties for violation of ordinances, but no single penalty shall exceed a fine of two hundred pesos or imprisonment for six months, or both; imprisonment shall be imposed in lieu of unpaid lines at the rate of one days imprisonment for each peso of the fine. An appeal shall lie to the Court of First Instance, next to be held within the province, in all cases where the judgment shall be for a fine exceeding fifteen pesos or for imprisonment exceeding fifteen days; and it shall be the duty of the provincial fiscal to appear for and represent the prosecution in such appeal cases. Pending the appeal the defendant shall remain in custody unless released upon sufficient bail, in accordance with the provisions of law, to await the judgment of the appellate court.
(ee) Establish, maintain and regulate municipal prisons.
(ff) Establish and maintain schools.
(gg) Establish a post-office and provide the collection and delivery of mails; but such regulations must be in harmony with the postal service and rules established by the General Government.
(hh) Provide by ordinance for the levy of taxes for municipal purposes, within the limitations of law, as hereinafter provided in section forty-three.
(ii) license and regulate the selling, giving away or disposing in any manner of any intoxicating, malt, vinous, mixed, or fermented liquors, at retail, in quantities of not more than live gallons, and determine the amount to be paid for such licenses, subject to such limitations of general law as may hereafter be enacted.
(jj) Make such ordinances and regulations, not repugnant to law as may be necessary to carry into effect and discharge the powers and duties conferred by this Act, and such as shall seem necessary and proper to provide for the health and safety, promote the prosperity, improve the morals, peace, good order, comfort, and convenience of the municipality and the inhabitants thereof, and for the protection of property therein; and enforce obedience thereto with such lawful fines or penalties as the municipal council may prescribe under the provisions of paragraph (dd), of this section.
SEC. 40. The municipal council is empowered:
(a) To order the suspension or removal at any time, for cause, of any non-elective officer, provided that a two-thirds vote of all the members shall be required for such removal.
(b) To make such provisions for the care of the poor, the sick, or those of unsound mind as it may deem necessary.
(c) To purchase, receive, hold, sell, lease, convey and dispose of property, real and personal, for the benefit of the municipality, provided that the express authorization of the provincial governor shall be necessary to alienate or constitute any lien upon any real property of the municipality.
(d) To employ a lawyer or lawyers when necessary in order to defend the interests of the municipality; but ordinary legal questions shall be submitted to the provincial fiscal, who shall answer the same in writing free of charge.
(e) To provide for the erection of markets, public stables, public bathing establishments, wharves, and municipal cemeteries and for the establishment of ferries; and to fix reasonable fees for the use of the same.
(f) To provide for the establishment and maintenance of special and professional institutions of learning other than primary schools, and to charge and collect matriculation and tuition fees.
(g) To construct and maintain waterworks for the purpose of, supplying the inhabitants of the town with water, and control the use of said water and of water-courses within the town.
(h) To name streets, avenues, and other public places, or change the names thereof.
(i) To license, tax, regulate or prohibit the keeping of dogs and authorize the killing of the same when at large contrary to ordinance.
(j) To license, tax or prohibit cock-fighting and the keeping or training of fighting cocks and to license, tax or close cock-pits.
(k) To license public carriages, carts, and hearses kept for hire; cafes, restaurants, hotels, inns, and lodging houses; billiard tables, theatrical performances, horse races, and circuses.
SEC. 41. Questions which may arise relative to the constitution or attributes of the municipal government shall be submitted to the provincial fiscal for decision.
Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines — Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
