Establishment and organization of the council.
SEC. 12. Establishment and organization of the council. - The council of the special municipality of Tablas shall be composed of six elective members, and those of Sibuyan, Romblon, and Maghali, four members each, one of whom shall be elected by the electors of the municipality and shall be the president of the council, and the other members shall be elected by the voters of each one of the districts of each special municipality, as follows:
The special municipality of Tablas shall be divided into five districts: the first district shall constitute the municipality of Badajoz, the second district shall constitute the municipality of Despujols, the third district shall constitute the municipality oi Odiongan, the fourth district shall constitute the municipality of Looc.with the exception of the barrios of Agcogon, Agpjo, Guinbirayan, Lanas, and Santa Fe, which shall constitute the fifth district.
The special municipality of Bomblon shall be divided into three municipal districts: the first district shall be composed of the barrios of Mad, Bagacay, Capaclan, Logbon, Nagoso, and the town of Romblon; the second district shall be composed of the barrios of Agnay, Agiipa, Agpanabat, Ginablan, Lonos, Lunas, Macalas, Mapula, Palgi, and Sawang; and the third district shall be composed of the barrios of Agbaluto, Agbudia, Agnaga, Agtongo, Cajimos, Calabogo, Guinpingan, Ilauran, Lamao, Li-o, Sablayan, and Tanbac.
The special municipality of Sibuyan shall be divided in to three districts: the first district shall constitute the municipality of Magdiwang; the second district shall constitute the municipality of Cajidiocan; and the third district shall constitute the municipality of San Fernando.
The special municipality of Maghali shall be divided into three districts: the first district shall constitute the municipality of Concepcion; the second district shall constitute the municipality of Corcuera; and the third district shall constitute the municipali ty of Jones.
Said special municipalities shall be organized on the first day of July, 1940, and for that purpose, the members of each council shall Le appointed by die President, with the consait of the Commission on Appointmen ts of the National Assembly, and shall hold office until their successors shall have been elected and qualified. The election of the manbers of each council shall be held in the general elections for municipal offices in the month of December, 1940, and successively in each general election for municipal officers and shall assume office on the first day of January of the following year.
With the exception of the members of the council of the special municipality of Bomblon, each member of the council of the other special municipalities, shall have, besides his functions as member of the council of his respective district, the following duties:
He shall be the chairman of the municipal board on large cattle, which shall have the deputy treasurer and the chief or assistant chief of police as manbers.
In the absence of the justice of the peace, he shall conduct investigations of urgent character in cases of serious crimes and adninister oath on the sworn statements of witnesses in criminal cases and issue certificates in the absence of the mayor, of the cattle sought to be shipped to any other island of the Philippines.
To inspect die barrios composing hi s district, and once a month, to call all the barrio lieutenants of his district to a meeting on the date and place he may designate, to consider matters affecting the barrios, and the suggestions and recommendations the meeting may deem wise to transmit to the council through him.
Any member of the council who is a candidate for office in any election,shall not be competent to act with the council in the discharge of its duties, end in such case, the other members of the council shall discharge said duties without his assistance, or they may choose some disinterested elector of the municipality to act in his stead.
The members shall reside in the jurisdiction of their respective municipality, and shall have the status and rank of provincial officers of a regularly organized province.
The chairman of the council shall preside at all sessions in which he is present and shall have the right to vote in all matters submitted to it. In his absence, the member designated by him shall preside at the sessions of the council as acting chairman. The Chairman of the council shall sign the ordinances, resolutions and motions directing the payment of money or creating liability. In case of absence or illness of any member of the council, or if, for any reason, it shall become necessary to have a quorum, the President of the Philippines shall appoint temporarily a substitute, who shall hold the office, have the rights, receive, the compensation and emoluments and discharge all the duties of a member of the council until such absent or sick member returns to duty.
The treasurer-assessor of the special municipality shall be ex-officio member of the municipal council without additional compensation. The other members shall each receive a per diem of not less than five pesos nor more than ten pesos for each day of attendance at the sessions of the council which per diem shall be fixed by the council with the approval of the. Secretary of the Interior. In case of disapproval, the Secretary of the Interior shall fix the per diem which he may deen just or reasonable, but in no case shall it be less than five pesos: Provided, That the chairman of the council shall receive twenty-five per cent more than the per diem fixed for each member.
The council shall fix the times and places for its regular meetings, which shall be held once a week, and shall hold special meetings when called by the mayor. 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.
Meetings shall be open to the public, unless otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members. The council shall keep a record of its proceedings and determine its rules of procedure not herein set forth. A majority of the council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time. The ayes and nays shall be taken and recorded upon the passage of all ordinances, upon all resolutions or motions directing the payment of money or creating liability, and, at the request of any member, upon my other motion or resolution.
The affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the council of each municipality shall be necessary for the passage of any ordinance, or any resolution or motion directing the payment of money or creating liability, but other measures shall be passed by the majority vote of the members present at any meeting duly called aid held.
Each ordinance shall be sealed with the seal of the municipality, signed by the mayor and the secretary of the council, and recorded in a book kept for that purpose. Regarding any ordinance which has been vetoed by the mayor and reapproved by the council, the date of the veto and the date of the reapproval shall be recorded in the book.
Every ordinance shall, on the day following its passage, be posted by the secretary at. the main entrance of the municipal building and the municipal district buildings, and shall take effect and be in force on and after the tenth day following its passage unless otherwise stated in said ordi- nance or resolution or vetoed by the mayor before the expiration of said ten-day period. A vetoed ordinance, if repassed by the council, shall take effect ten days after the veto is overidden by a tvio-third vote of all the members of the council unless another date be fixed in such resolution or ordinance.
Duties of the secretary of the council.
SEC. 13. Duties of the secretary of the council. - The secretary of the council shall take charge of the records of the council. He shall keep a complete record of the proceedings of the council and file all the documents regarding the same, end shall record in a book kept for the purpose, all the ordinances and all the resolutions and motions directing the payment of money or creating liability, with the dates of their approval and the publication of the ordinances; shall keep a seal, circular in ibim, with the inscription: "Council of the Municipal Government of and shall affix the same with his signature to all ordinaices and other official resolutions of the council end shall present the same to the chairman for his signature; shall have every approved ordinance published in the national language, and in the dialect generally used, if the council should deem it necessary, as well as in English or Spanish, according to the language employed at the time of its approval by the council; shall furnish, upon request, certified copies of any record of public character which he may have under his custody, and shall collect and receive for the sane the fees vihich the council may, by resolution, prescribe; and shall have his office and all the records thereof, except those of confidential character, open to public inspection during the ordinary office hours.
Appropriations by the council.
SEC. 14. Appropriations by the council. - The Council shall make all the appropriations for the expenses of the local government, based oi the budget submitted by the mayor on or before May 31, of the current year. It shall fix the salaries of the municipal officers and employees, except those of the public school teachers. Whenever the council fails to approve an appropriation ordinance for any fiscal year, the appropriation ordinance for the previous fiscal year shall be considered reenacted, and shall take effect on the first day of July of the current year as Eppropriation ordinance until a new appropriation ordinance is duly enacted.
Any appropriation ordinance shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of Finance, whose decision shall be final: Provided, That, if the Secretary of Finance shall fail to act on it before it takes effect, such ordinance shall be considered approved. !
Method of transacting business by the council -Veto - Authentication and publication of ordinances.
SEC. 15. Method of transacting business by the council -Veto - Authentication and publication of ordinances. - Unless the ex-officio Governor shall order otherwise, the council shall hold regular session once a week, for the transaction of the business of the council, on days which it shall fix by resolution, and such special sessions, not ex-ceeding ten during any one year as may be called by the mayor. It shall sit wi th open doors, unless otherwise ordered by an affirmative vote of the members present. It shall keep a record of its proceedings and determine its rules of procedure. Any ordinance enacted by the council and every resolution or motion directing the payment of money or creating a li abili ty shall be forwarded to the mayor for his approval. Within ten days after the receipt of the ordinance, resolution or motion, the mayor shall return it with his approval or veto. If tie does not return it within that time, it shall be deemed to be approved. If he returns it with his veto, his reasons therefor in wiiting shall accompany it. Then it may again be enacted by the affirmative vote of two-thirds oi the members of the council.
General powers and duties of the council.
SEC. 16. General powers and duties of the council. - Except as otherwise provided by law, and subject to the conditions and limitations thereof, the council shall have the following legislative powers;
To levy and collect taxes for general and special purposes in accordance with law.
To fix the schedule of fees for services rendered by the municipality or any of its departments, branches or offices.
To provide for the erection, maintenance and rental of the necessary buildings for the use of the special municipality.
To provide for the establishment and maintenance of free public schools, at least, for intermediate instruction.
To establish or aid in the establishment and maintenance of vocational schools and institutions of higher learning conducted by the National Government or any of its subdivisions and branches, and with the approval of the Director erf Education, to fix reasonable tuition fees for instruction in the vocational school.
To provide for the establishment and maintenance of a police force in the municipality and enact the necessary police ordinances, with a view to the confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons,mendicants, and persons convicted for the violation of any of the ordinances of the special municipality.
To establish fire zones,determine the kinds of buildings or structures that may be erected within the limits of said zones, regulate the manner of their construction and repair, and fix the fees for permits for the construction, repair or demolition of buildings aid structures.
To establish aid maintain fire stations,fire engines, hose carts, hooks and ladders and other equipment for the prevention and oxtin guishmen t of fires, to regulate the handling and use of the same and to provide personnel therefor.
To regulate the use of light in stables, shops and other buildings and places, and to regulate and restrict the issuance of peimits for the building of bonfires and the use of firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes, candles, skyrockets, and other pyrotechnic displays, and to fix the fees for such permits.
To issue regulations to protect the public from conflagrations and to prevent and mitigate the effect of fanine, floods, storms and other public calamities, end to provide reliefs for persons suffering from the same.
To regulate and fix the amount of license fees for the following: hawkers, peddlers, hucksters, not including hucksters or peddlers who sell only native vegetables, fruits or goods personally carried by the hucksters or peddlers; auctioneers, plumbers, barbers, onbalmers, collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, shipping and intelligence offices, private detective agencies, advertising agencies, massagists, tattooers, jugglers, acrobats, hotels, clubs, restaurants, cafes, lodging houses, boarding houses, dealers in large cattle, public billiard tables, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, public warehouses, dance halls, cabarets, circus other similar parades, public vehicles, race tracks,horse races, bowling alleys, shooting galleries, slot machines, merry-go-rounds, pawnshops, dealers in second haid merchandise, junk dealers, brewers, distillers, rectifiers, money changers aid brokers, public femes, theaters, theatrical performaices, cinematographs, public exhibitions, circuses, and all other performances and places of amusement, and the keeping, preparation and sale of meat, poultry, fish, game, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, bread and other provisions. To levy taxes and fix the license fees for (a) dealers in new automobiles or accessories thereof, or both; and (b) retail dealers in new merchandise not yet subject to the payment of any municipal tax. For taxation purposes, these retail dealers shall be divided into the following classes: (1) retail dealers engaged exclusively in the sale of (a) textiles, including kni tted wares; (b) hardwares, including glass wares, cooking utensils, electrical goods and construction materials; (c) groceries; (d) drugs, including medicines and perfumery; (e) books, including stationery, paper and office supplies; ( f) jewelry; (g) slippers; (h) aims, munitions and sporting goods.
To tax, fix the license fee for, regulate the business and fix the location of, match factories, blacksmith shops, foundries, steam boilers, lumber-yards, shipyards, the storage and sale of gun powder, tar, pitch, resin, coal, oil, gasoline, benzine, turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitroglicerine, petroleum, or any of the products thereof, and of all other highly combustible or explosive materials, and other establishments likely to endanger the public safety or give rise to conflagrations or explosions, and, subject to the rules and regulations issued by the Bureai of Health, in accordance with law, tanneries, lard factories, tallow chandleries, bone factories and soap factories.
To impose tax on automobiles aid other vehicles, and draft animals not paying any national tax: Provided, That all automobiles and trucks belonging to the National Government or to any provincial or municipal government, shall be exenpt from such tax.
To regulate the method of using stean engines and boilers, and all other motive powers other than marine or not belonging to the Governments of the United States or of the Philippines; to provide for the inspection thereof, and fix a reasonable fee for such inspection and to regulate and fix the fees for the licenses of the engineers engaged in operating the same.
To enact ordinances for the maintenance and preservavation of peace and good morals.
To regulate aid fix the license fees for the keeping of dogs and authorize, their impounding and destruction when running at large contrary to ordinances, and to tax and regulate the keeping or training of fighting cocks.
To establish and maintain municipal pounds; to regulate, restrain and prohibit the running at large of domestic animals, and provide for the distraining, impounding aid sale of the same for the penalty incurred and the costs of the proceedings; aid to impose penalties upon the owners of said animals for the violation of any ordinance in relation thereto.
To prohibit and pit)vide for the punishment of cruelty to animals.
To regulate the inspection, weighing and measuring of brick, lumber, coal and other articles of merchandise.
To provide for the laying out, construction and improvement and to regulate the use of streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, wharves, piers, parks, cemeteries end other public places; to provide for lighting, cleaning and sprinkling of streets aid public places; to regulate and fix the license fees for setting signs, signposts, awning posts, the carrying or displaying of banners, placards, advertisements or handbills,or the flying of signs, flags or banners, whether along, across, over or from buildings, or along the same; to prohibit the placing, throwing, depositing or leaving of obstacles of any kind, offal, garbage, refuse or other matters liable to cause damage in the streets and other public places; aid to provide for the collection and disposition thereof; to provide for the inspection of, fix the license fees for, and regulate the opening in the same for the laying of gas, water, sewer, end other pipes, the building and repair of tunnels, sewers and drains and all structures in and under the sane, and the erecting of poles and the stringing of wires therein; to provide for and regulate crosswalks, curbs and gjtters therein; to name streets without a name and provide for aid regulate the numbering of houses and lots fronting thereon or in the interior of the Wocks; to regulate traffic aid sales upon the streets and other public places, to provide for the abatenent of nuisaices in the same and punish the authors or owners thereof; to provide for the construction and maintenance and regulate the use of bridges, viaducts and culverts; to prohibit or regulate ball playing, kite flying, hoop rolling and other amusements which may annoy persons using the streets and public places, or frighten horses or other animals within the limits of the special municipality; to regulate the lights used on vehicles, cars and locomotives; to regulate the locating, constructing and laying of the track of horse, electric, and other forms of railroad in the streets and other public places of the municipality authorized by law; to provide for and change the location, grade and crossings of railroads and to compel any such railroad to raise or lower its tracks to conform to such provisions or changes; and to require railroad companies to fence their property, or any part thereof, to provide suitable protection against injury to persons or property, and to construct and repair ditches, drains, sewers and culverts along and under their tracks so that the natural drainage of the streets and adjacent property shall not be obstructed.
To provide for the construction and maintenance of canals and regulate die navigation on water courses within the municipality end provide for the clearing and purification of the same; to provide for the construction and maintenance, and regulate the use, of public landing places, wharves, piers, docks and levees, and of those of private ownership; and to provide for and regulate the drainage and filling of private pranises whai necessary in the enforcement of sanitary ordinances approved in accordance with law.
To fix the charges to be paid by all water craft landing at or using public wharves, docks, levees, or landing places.
To provide for the maintenance of waterworks for the purpose of supplying water to the inhabitants of the special municipality, and for the purification of the source of supply and the places through which the sane passes, and to regulate the consumption and use of the water; to fix and provide for the collection of the rents or charges therefor, and to regulate the construction, repair and use of hydrants, pumps, cisterns and reservoirs.
To provide for the establishment and maintenance and to reflate the use of public drains, sewers, latrines and cesspools.
Subject to the rules and regulations issued by the Bureau of Health in accordance with law, to provide for the establishment and maintenance, fix the fees for the use of and regulate, public stables, laundries and baths, aid public markets and slaughterhouses, and prohibit the establishment or operation within the limits of the municipality of public markets and slaughterhouses by aiy person, eitity, association or corporation other than the municipality.
(aa) To regulate, inspect and provide measures preventing any discrimination or the exclusion of any race or races in or from any institution, establishmmt or service open to the public within the special municipality or in the sale or supply of gas, electricity or in the telephone and street railway service; to fix and regulate the rates thereof when they have not been so fixed and regulated by Acts of the National Asseubly; to reflate and provide for the inspection of oil gas, electric, telephone, and street railway conduits, mans, meters, and other apparatus and equipment, and provide for the condemnation, substitution or removal of the same when defective or dangerous.
(bb) To declare, prevait and provide for the abatoiioit of nuisances; to regulate the ringing of bells and making of loud or unusual noises; to provide that owners, agents or tenants of buildings or premises keep and maintain the same in solitary condition, and that, in case of failure to do so after sixty days from the date of serving a written notice, the cost thereof to be assessed to the owner to the extent of not to exceed sixty per centum of the assessed value, which cost shall constitute a lien against the property; aid to regulate or prohibit or fix the license fees for the use of property on or near public ways, grounds or place, or elsewhere within the municipality, for a display of electric signs or the erection or maintenance of billboards or structures of whatever material, erected, maintained or used for the display of posters, sigis or other pictorial or reading matter, except signs displayed at the place or places where the profession or business advertised thereby is in whole or in part conducted.
(cc) To provide for the enforcement of the rules and regulations of the Bureau of Health, and by ordinance, to prescribe penalties for violations of such rules and regulations.
(dd) To extend its ordinances over all water courses within the special municipality, and three miles into the sea from the limits of said municipality, over any boat or other floating structures over its waters and, for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity of the water supply of the municipality, over all territory within the drainage area of such water supply and within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct, or pumping station used in connection with the water service of the municipality.
(ee) To regulate and levy taxes on cock fighting within the special municipality including the prohibition of admission into the establishments or places where cockfightings are held of minor children under the age of eighteen years: Provided, That no establishment for cockfighting shall be allowed to be built or constructed within the radius of two kilometers from the seat of the municipal government: Provided, further, That in the old municipalities now forming the four special municipalities of the Province of Romblon, cockfighting for three consecutive days shall be allowed to be held during the days of the celebration of their patron saints.
(ff) To enact all ordinances it may deem necessary and proper for the sanitation and safety, the furth erance o f the prosperity and the promotion of the morality, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, and general welfare of the municipality and its inhabitants, and such others as may be necessary to carry into effect and discharge the powers and duties conferred by this Charter, and to fix the penalties for the violation of ordinances, which shall not exceed a fine of two hundred pesos or six months imprisonment, or both such fine and imprisonment, for a single of tense.
Restrictive provisions.
SEC. 17. Restrictive provisions. - No commercial sign, signboard or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public lands, premises or buildings. If after due investigation and having given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the mayor shall decide that any sigi, signboard or billboard displayed or exposed to the public view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order the removal of such sign, signboard or billboard, and if sane is not removed within ten days after lie has given such order, he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, sign-board or billboard shall thereupon be forfeited to the municipality, and the expenses incident to the removal thereof, I shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof.
Other offices and their officers.
SEC. 18. Other offices and their officers. - The existing justice of the peace courts shall be maintained and until provided by law, the judges presiding the same shall receive the sane compensation they are now receiving. There shall be a department of finance in charge of the municipal treasurer, who shall appoint his deputy treasurers end their respective personnel for the municipal districts, which were the old municipalities, including the ibnner municipality of Santa Fe, and in other places where the council may decide to establish; and a police department in charge of the chief of police, as well as other departments which may be established from time to time by law or ordinance duly enacted and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. While such departments have not been organized, the present officers of the municipal governments shall continue to discharge their respective duties and to receive their present compensation.
Powers and duties of the engineer of the Province of Bomblon.
SEC. 19. Powers and duties of the engineer of the Province of Bomblon. - The engineer of the Province of Bomblon shall have charge of the department of engineering and public works of each special municipality. He shall have charge of all the surveying and engineering work of each special municipality and shall perfbim such services in connection with the national aid municipal public improvements in the province and special municipalities, or in connection with any work entered upon or projected by the special muncipality.or my department thereof, as may recjnre die skill and experience of a civil engineer. He shall ascertain, record, and establish the monuments for the survey of the municipality, and from these as s tarting point, he shall establish the boundaries and survey all the property of the municipality and also private property abutting on the same, whenever directed by the mayor; shall prepare and submit plans, maps, specifications and estimates for buildings, streets, bridges, docks and other public works, and supervise the construction and repair of the same; shall make such tests and inspection of engineering materials used in the construction and repair, as may be necessary to protect the municipality from the use of materials of a poor or dangerous quality; shall inspect and report upon the condition of public property and public works whenever reqiired by the mayor; shall have the care and custody of all public buildings viien erected, including markets and slaughterhouses and all buildings rented for the use of the municipality, and of any system now or hereafter established for lighting the streets, public places and public buildings of the municipality; shall prevent the encroachment of private buildings and fences on the streets and public places of the municipality; shall inspect and supervise the construction, repair, removal and safety of private buildings, and regulate and enforce the. numbering of houses in accordance with the ordinance of the municipality; shall have the care of all public streets, parks, and bridges; their maintenance, cleaning and sprinkling, and regulate the use of the same for all purposes as provided by ordinance; shall collect and dispose of all garbage, refuse, the contents of closets, vaults and cesspools and all other offensive and dangerous substances within the municipality; shall have the care and custody of all public docks, wharves, piers, levees and lending places when erected; shall have general supervision and inspection of all private cbeks, wharves, piers, levees and landing places and other property bordering on the harbor, rivers, creeks and waterways of the municipality, and shall issue permits for the construction, repair and removal of the same and enforce all ordinances relating thereto; shall have the care and custody of the public system of waterworks, sewers and all sources of water supply of the municipality, and shall maintain and regulate the use of the same in accordance with the ordinances relating thereto; shall inspect end regulate, subject to the approval of the mayor, the use of all private systems for supplying water to the municipality and its inhabitants, and all private sewers and their connections with the public sewer system. He shall file and preserve all maps, plans, notes of surveys and other papers and documents pertaining to his office. He shall have power, subject to the approval of the mayor, to cause buildings dangerous to the public to be made secure or torn down, and shall supervise and regulate the location and use of engines, boilers, forges and other maiufacturing end heating appliances in accordance with the law and ordinance relating thereto. He is authorized to charge at rates to be fixed by the council, with the approval of the Department Head, for sanitation and transportation services and supplies famished by his department.
With the previous approval of the mayor in each case, he may order the removal of buildings and structures erected in violation of the ordinances, or the removal of die materials employed in the construction or repair of any building or structure made in violation of said ordinances.
He shall supervise and direct for the account of die National Government the maintenance and repair works of the present national roads and those which may, from time to time, be declared as such by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications and die construction of other new roads.
The chief of police.
SEC. 20. The chief of police. - There shall be in each special municipality a chief of police, who shall have the following general powers and duties:
He shall have charge of the organization, gavemmait, discipline and command of the police force aid that of the detective, if any.
He shall quell riots, disorders, disturbances of the peace, and shall arrest and prosecute violators of any law or ordinance; shall exercise poli ce supervi sion over all land and water within the jurisdiction of the municipality; shall have charge of the protection of the rights of persons and property wherever found within the jurisdiction of the municipality, and shall arrest when necessary to prevent the escape of the offender, violators of any law or ordinance, and all who obstruct or interfere with him in the discharge of his duty; shall have charge of the prison of the municipality and municipal districts, and be responsible for the safekeeping of all prisoners until they are released from custody in accordance with law, or delivered to the warden of the province.
He may take good and sufficient bail for the appearance before the justice of the peace of any person arrested for the violation of any municipal ordinance.
He shall have authority within the limits of the municipality to serve and execute criminal processes of any court; shall attend all sessions of the justice of the peace court,and shall, promptly and faithfully, execute all orders of the mayor and writs and processes of the justice of the peace court when placed in his hands for that purpose.
Assistant chiefs. - The special municipality of Tables shall have four assistant chiefs; that of Sibuyan, two, and that of Maghali,. These assistant chiefs may be delegated to perform the duties specified in the preceding paragraphs by the chief of police when the latter is in the performancei of his duties in the municipal districts.
eace officers.
SEC. 21- Peace officers. - The chief of police, assistant chiefs, all the municipal officers and all the members of the police force and the secret service shall be peace officers and all are authorized to serve and execute all processes of court to whomsoever directed within the jurisdiction or police limits of each municipality; and within the same territory, they may pursue and arrest any person found in suspicious places or under suspicious circumstances reasonably tending to show that such person has conraitted, or is about to commit, any crime or breach of peace; may arrest or cause to be arrested any offender when the offense is committed in the presence of a peace officer or within his view, and, in such pursuit or arrest, may enter any building or take into custody any person therein suspected of being concerned in such crime or breach of the peace, and any property suspected of having been stolen; they shall detain such person only until he can be brought before the proper court, and shall have such other powers and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by lew or ordinance.
Whenever the mayor shall deem it necessary, to avert danger or to protect life and property, in case of riot, disturbance, or public calamity, or when he has reason to fear any violation of law and order, he shall have power to swear in a special police, in such numbers as the occasion may demand. Such special police shall have the same powers, while on dity, as menbers of the regular force.
he treasurer-assessor of the special municipality.
SEC. 22- The treasurer-assessor of the special municipality. - There shall be a treasurer-assessor of the municipality, who shall have the following general powers and duties:
He shall collect all taxes due the municipality, all licenses authorized by law or ordinance,all rents for lands, markets and other property owned by the municipality, all further charges of whatever nature fixed by law or ordinance, and shall receive for the Governmmt of the Commonwealth and issued receipts for all fines, forfeitures, fees and costs imposed by the justice of the peace court.
He shall receive and safely keep all moneys derived from the revenues of the'municipality and shall expand and disburse the sane upon lawful warrants. ,
He shall perform in the municipality the duties prescribed by the Internal heveiue Law and such further duties prescribed by law for provincial treasurers as are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter.
He shall discharge his dities in accordance with the provisions of law relating to Government accounts and accounting. ;
He shall render his accounts in such manner as the Auditor General may prescribe.
He shall annually assess and value for taxation the real estate of the municipality in accordance with Act No. 470 of the Cortm on wealth, known as the Assessment Act and shall exercise and perfonn the powers and duties conferred by said Act to provincial assessors and municipal treasurers.
He shall appoint his deputy treasurers and the clerical staff of his office and those of his deputies.
Deputy treasurers.
SEC. 23. Deputy treasurers. - There shall be in each special municipality as many deputy treasurers as there are old municipalities forming each speci al municipality, including the fifth municipal district of Tablas, Which for merly was the municipality of Santa p'e, and those that the municipal councils may organize by ordinance, with the approval of the ex-officio Governor. They shall exercise and perform the powers and duties that may be assigned to them by the treasurer-assessor.
The board of tax appeals.
SEC. 24. The board of tax appeals. - There shall be a board of tax appeals to be composed of the members of the municipal council, with the mayor as its chairman.
(a) The menbers of the board, before organizing as such, shall take the following oath before the justice of the peace or some other officer authorized to administer oaths:
"I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will well and truly hear and determine all matters and issues between the assessor of the municipality and the taxpayers submitted for my decision. So help me Cod. (In case of affirmation, the last four words are to be stricken out.)
(Signature)
Subscribed and swo rn to (or affirmed) beforemethis
---day of---------, 19-_.
(Signature of officer administering oath)
(b) The board of tax appeals shall meet beginning the first Monday after the fifteenth of June of each year, and shall hear all appeals duly transmitted to i t by the filing of a written notice, and shall decide the same forthwith. It shall have authority to cause to be amended the listing and valuation of the property in respect to which any complaint is made in an order signed by the board or the majority thereof, and transmit it to the assessor of the municipality, who shall amend the tax list in conformity with said order.
Exemptions from taxation.
SEC. 25. Exemptions from taxation. - Lands and buildings omed by the United States of America, the Government of the Philippines, the special municipalities of the Province of Romblon, and burying grounds, churches, end their: adjacent parsonages and convents, and lands or buildings used exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific or education purposes, and not for profit, shall be exempt from taxation; but such exemption shall not extend to lands or buildings held for investment, though the income therefrom be devoted to religious, charitable, scientific or educational purposes.
SEC. 26- Taxes on real estate. -A tax shall be levied annually on the assessed value of all the real estate subject to the provisions of Act No. 470 of the Commonwealth and other existing laws on the subject and the same shall be collected in the same form and manner prescribed in such laws. The powers and oilier functions as well as the duties imposed by the said Act No. 470 to provincial boards, shall be, performed by the respective councils of the special municipalities: Provided, That the provisions of Act No. 470 of the Commonwealth, regarding the general assessment of properties, are hereby postponed until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and forty-one, which may be done by the same personnel of the office of the treasurer-assessor and his deputy treasurers, and if they were not sufficient to do the work, he shall appoint others, whose compensation shall be determined by the respective municipal council.
Appointment and removal of officers and employees - Compensation.
SEC. 27. Appointment and removal of officers and employees - Compensation. - The. President shall appoint, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly, the justices of the peace, the treasurer-assessor of the municipality, the chief of police and the other chiefs of departments of the municipality which may be created from time to time, and the President may remove at his discretion any of said appointive officers with the exception of the justices of the peace, who may be removed only according to law.
Subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Law, the mayor shall appoint all other officers and employees of the municipality whose appointments are not otherwise provided by law. The mayor may suspend and remove any appointive officer or employee of the municipality not appointed by the President and may recommend to the President the suspension or removal of any officer or employee of the municipality appointed by him. Any suspension or removal by the mayor shall be appealable to the Secretary of the Interior, whose determination on the matter shall be final.
The treasurer-assessor of the special municipality of Tablas shall receive a compensation not to exceed one thousand six hundred pesos a year; those of SLbuyan, Romblon and Maghali, not to exceed one thousand and eighty pesos a year each. The chief of police of the special municipality of Tablas shall receive a compensation not to exceed one thousand two hundred pesos, and the chiefs of police of the special municipalities of Silxiyan, Romblon, and Maghali, not to exceed nine hundred and sixty pesos a year each. The assistant chiefs of police shall receive an annual compensation not exceeding six hundred pesos each: Provided, however, That the municipal council shall determine and fix by ordinance the compensation of such officers and the salaries of other officers and employees of the municipality.
The officers shall not engage in certain transactions nor receive favors or benefits.
SEC. 28. The officers shall not engage in certain transactions nor receive favors or benefits. - It shall be unlawful for any officer of the municipality, directly or indirectly, individually or as a member of a firm, to engage in any business transaction with the municipality or with any of its authorized officers, boards, agents or attorneys, whereby money is to be paid, directly or indirectly out of the resources of the municipality to such person or firm; or to purchase any real estate or other property belonging to the special municipality, or which shall be sold for taxes or assessment or by virtue of legal process at the suit of the municipality or to be surety for any person having a contract with the municipality.
Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines — Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
