AN ACT TO REVISE THE CHARTER OF QUEZON CITY

• Number: Republic Act No. 537
• Sections: 86

Section 1

SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the Revised Charter of Quezon City.

Section 2

SEC. 2. General powers.-The territory within the boundaries described in the next succeeding section is to be known as Quezon City which shall be the capital of the Philippines and the permanent seat of the National Government; and by that name it shall have perpetual succession; have and use of common seal and alter the same at pleasure; sue and be sued, and prosecute and defend suits to final judgment and execution; take, purchase, revive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real and personal property, within or without its corporate limits, for the benefit of the city and, expropriate private property for public use; contract and be contracted with; and execute all the powers hereinafter conferred.

Section 3

SEC. 3. Boundaries.-The boundaries and limits of the territory of said city, containing the total area of fifteen thousand three hundred fifty-nine hectares, more or less, are established and prescribed as follows: Beginning at a point marked "1", which is the northwestern corner of boundary of Quezon City, thence due north 660.00 m.to point "2"; thence N. 43 deg. 30' E., 3.680.00 m. to point "3"; thence, N. 18 deg. 00' W., 3,200.00 m. to point "4"; thence N. 45 deg. 00' E., 4,100.00 m. to point "5"; thence due east 4,200.00 m. to point "6"; thence following the N. boundary line of the Novaliches watershed reservation to point "7"; thence, S. 68 deg. 00' E., 900.00 m. to point "8", which is the center of Marikina River; thence following the center of the downstream course of Marikina River to point "9", which is the intersection of the Arroyo and Marikina Rivers; thence upstream following Arroyo between Payatas and Marikina estates to point "10", which is 100.00 m. to north of the pipe line and which is the corner of Quezon City; thence following the northern boundary of Quezon City to point of beginning; and the territory described as follows: Beginning at a point marked "l" which is identical to boundary monument No. 1, Piedad Estate; thence to point "2", which is boundary monument No. 2 of Piedad Estate; thence downstream following the Arroyo between Payatas Estate and Marikina Estate to point "3", which is 100 meters North of the water pipe line of the Metropolitan Water District; thence following the ridge southwestward to point "4", where the water pipe line crosses the ravine; thence following the ridge south westward to point "5", which is boundary monument No. 25 of Marikina Estate southward to point "6", which is the junction of the Marikina River and Marikina Estate; thence downstream following the Marikina River to point "7", which is the crossing of Marikina River by the old Rosario Road; thence westward following the old Rosario Road to point "8", which is the intersection of the old Rosario Road with the eastern right of way of the circumferential road (Highway 54) ; thence northwestward following the eastern right of way of the circumferential road to point "9", which is the crossing of the said road by the Santolan Road (northern right of way of the tolan Road) ; thence westward following the northern right of way of the Santolan Road to point "10", which crossing of the said road with the Salapan Creek; thence downstream following the Salapan Creek to point"11",which is the junction of Salapan Creek and Dario River; thence southward following the Salapan Creek to its intersection with the east boundary of the City of Manila to point "12"; thence northwestward following; the east boundary of the City of Manila to point "13", near La Loma Cabaret, which is a corner of the boundary of the City of Manila near the entrance of the North Cemetery; thence northward following the boundary of the City of Manila to point "14", which is the Northeast corner of said city; thence westward along said City of Manila boundary at a distance of 100 meters to point "15"; thence northward paralleling the Novaliches Road to a distance of 100 meters from the property line on the side of said road to point "16", which is at a distance of 100 meters North of the crossing of Samson Street (road connecting Balintawak Monument with Bonifacio Monument) ; thence eastward paralleling Samson Street and the circumferential road at a distance of 100 meters on the North side of said street and road to point "17", which is the center of the Culiat Creek; thence upstream following the Culiat Creek to point "18", which is the junction of Pasong Tamo River and Culiat Creek; thence upstream following Pasong Tamo River to point "19", which is the junction of Pasong Tamo River and Pinagpatayan Buaya Creek; thence to point of beginning."

Section 4

SEC. 4. City not liable for damages.-The failure of any city officer to enforce the provisions of this Act or any law or ordinance, or the negligence of said officer while enforcing or attempting to enforce the same, shall not cause the city to be held liable for damages or injuries to Persons or property.

Section 5

SEC. 5. Conduct of elections.-The duties which are by the Election Code made incumbent upon provincial boards and municipal councils shall be performed by the City Council; and those upon provincial treasurers and municipal secretaries, by the City Treasurer and city secretary, respectively.

Section 6

SEC. 6. Police jurisdiction.-The jurisdiction of Quezon for police purposes shall be coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction only, and for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity of the water supply of the city such police jurisdiction shall extend over all territory within the drainage area of such 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 the municipal court of Quezon City shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the Courts of First Instance and the courts of justices of the peace of the province and municipalities, respectively, to try crimes and misdemeanors committed within said drainage area, or within said spaces of one hundred meters. The court first taking jurisdiction of such an offense shall thereafter retain exclusive jurisdiction thereof.

Section 7

SEC. 7. Representative districts.-Until otherwise provided by law, the corresponding territories of Quezon City belonging at the time of the approval of this Act to the First and Second Representative Districts of the Province of Rizal, shall continue to remain parts of said districts.

Section 8

SEC. 8. The Mayor.-His appointment and compensation.-The Mayor shall be the chief executive of the city, and as such, shall have immediate supervision and control over the executive functions of the different departments subject to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, The Mayor shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the Congress of the Philippines, and shall hold office at the pleasure of the President. He shall receive a salary of not exceeding nine thousand pesos a year. The City Council may provide the Mayor in addition to his salary a commutable quarter's allowance of not more than three thousand pesos per annum.

Section 9

SEC. 9. Vice-Mayor.-There shall be a Vice-Mayor who shall be a member of the City Council, and who shall, during the absence of the Mayor from the city or his disability for any reason, discharge the duties of this office and exercise his powers, except that of removing any officer from office. If, for any reason, the Vice-Mayor is temporarily incapacitated for the performance of the duties of the office of the mayor, or said office of the vice-mayor is vacant, the duties of the Mayor, shall be performed by the City Engineer.

He shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the Congress and shall hold office at the pleasure of the president. He shall receive a salary of not exceeding three thousand six hundred pesos a year.

Section 10

SEC. 10. General duties and powers of the Mayor.-The general duties and powers of the Mayor shall be:

He shall take care that the laws of the Philippines, the provisions of this Act, and the ordinances and resolutions of the city are duly observed and enforced within the jurisdiction of the city.

He shall see that executive officers and employees of the city faithfully discharge their respective duties, and to that end may cause to be instituted any appropriate criminal action, or take proceedings to bring to the attention of the proper superior officer the derelictions of city officials.

He shall give to the City Council from time to timesuch information and recommend such measures as he shall deem advantageous to the city.

He shall preside at all meetings of the City Council;

shall have the right to vote on all ordinances or other matters coming before the Council, shall sign the secretary's record of the proceedings of each meeting at the same meeting at which same is approved by the Council, and shall sign all ordinances and resolutions.

He shall have power to examine and inspect the records, and papers of all officers, agents, or employees of the city.

He shall represent the city in all its business matters, and sign all warrants drawn on the city treasury and all bonds, contracts, and obligations of the city,

He shall appoint, in accordance with the Civil Service Law, all officers or employees of the city, whose appointment is not otherwise provided by law, and at any time, for cause, he may suspend any such officer or employee thus appointed for a period not exceeding fifteen days which suspension may continue for a longer period if approved by the Department Head; and by and with the consent of the Department Head may discharge any such officer or employee.

He shall cause to be instituted judicial proceedings to recover property and funds of the city wherever found or otherwise to protect its interests, and shall cause to be defended all suits against the same.

He shall, as soon as practicable not later than the month of September, prepare and present to the Department Head an annual report covering the operations of the city government during the preceding year.

To safeguard all the lands, buildings, records, moneys, credits, and other property and right of the city, and subject to the provisions of this Charter, have control of all its property.

To see that all taxes and other revenues of the city are collected, and applied in accordance with appropriations to the payment of the city expenses.

To excuse, with the concurrence of the Director of Public Schools, deserving poor pupils from the payment of school fees or any part thereof.

To take such emergency measures as may be necessary to avoid fires, floods, and mitigate the effects of storms and other public calamities.

To grant or refuse municipal license or permit of all classes and to revoke the same for violation of the conditions upon which they are granted, or if acts prohibited by law or municipal ordinance are being committed under the protection of such license or permit or in the premise in which the business for which the same have been granted is carried on, or for any other good reason of general and public interest.

To receive, hear, and decide as he may deem proper the petitions, complaints, and claims of the residents concerning all classes of local matters of an administrative character.

To require owner of houses, buildings or other structures constructed without the necessary permit or in violation of existing law or ordinance to remove or demolish such houses, buildings or structures within thirty days after notice, and upon failure of such owner to remove or demolish such house, building, or structure within thirty days, the mayor may cause its removal or demolition at the expense of the owner,

To perform such other duties and exercise such executive powers as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.

Section 11

SEC. 11. The City Council-Constitution and organization-Compensation of members-Meetings-Ordinances-There shall be a City Council composed of the Mayor as chairman, Vice-Mayor, and eight other members. The Council shall fix the time and places for its regular meetings, which shall be held twice in each week, and shall hold special sessions 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. The meetings of the Council shall be open to the public unless otherwise ordered by affirmative vote of a majority of its members. It 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 nayes 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 any other motion or resolution. The affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the City Council shall be necessary for the passage of any ordinance, resolution, or motion directing the payment of money or creating liability. Each ordinance shall be sealed with the city seal, signed by the Mayor and the city secretary, and recorded in a book for that purpose. Each ordinance shall, on the day its passage, be posted by the city secretary at the main entrance of the municipal building and shall take effect and be in force on and after the tenth day following its passage, if no date is fixed in the ordinance.

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

Section 12

SEC. 12. General powers and duties of the council-The City Council shall have power by ordinance or resolution:

(a)

To make all appropriations for the expenses of the government of the city, and establish and fix the salaries of city officers and employees whose salaries are not otherwise provided in this Charter, provided that the rate thereof shall not exceed those fixed in the schedule of salary established by the competent authority.

(b)

To provide for the levy and collection of taxes and other city revenues and apply the same to the payment of city expenses in accordance with appropriations.

(c)

To tax, fix the license fee, and regulate the business of the following: Hawkers, peddlers, hucksters, not including hucksters or peddlers who sell only native vegetable fruits or food, personally carried by the hucksters peddlers, 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, masseur and masseuse, chiropodists, hair dressing and beauty parlors, painters, clubs, night clubs, boarding stables, dealers in large cattle and hogs, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments for the storage of highly combustible or explosive materials, public warehouses, circus, and other performances and places of amusement, public vehicles, horse races, bowling alleys, pawn brokers, dealers in secondhand merchandise, junk dealers, billiard or pool tables, theaters, theatrical performances and other performances and places of amusement, shooting galleries, slot machines not used for gaming, and other similar riding devices, brewers, distilleries, rectifiers, money changers, real estate and commercial brokers, other stockbrokers, the keeping of, preparation, and sale of meat, poultry, fish, game, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, bread and other provisions, dance halls or schools, physical or beauty culture and fashion schools, blacksmith shops, foundries, lumberyards, the storage and sale of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, coal, oil, gasoline, benzine, turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitroglycerine, 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 conflagration or explosions, soap factories, tailor shops, dress shops, milliners, manufactures of embroideries, native cloths, rope, papers, slippers or sandals or both, harness and valises or bags, furniture of all kinds, including rattan goods, wire brass beds or both, men's shirts, hats, printers or bookbinders or both, dyes, bottles or glasswares or both, salted or dried fish or both, fertilizers, nails, and buttons, dealers in hardwares, glasswares, electrical goods and construction materials, groceries, drugstores, dealers of arms, ammunitions, and sporting goods, and such other business, trades and occupation as may be established or practiced in the city, the selling, giving away, deposing in any manner of any intoxicating liquors, signs, signboards, and billboards, displayed or maintained in any place or places where the profession or business advertised thereby is in whole or in part conducted.

(d)

To make regulations for the conducting of the business to the persons and places named in subsection (c) of this section. To regulate the business and fix the location blacksmith shops, foundries, steam boilers, steam engines, lumberyards, sawmills, and other establishments likely to endanger the public safety by giving rise to conflagrations or explosions; to regulate the storage and sale of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, coal, oil, gasoline, benzine turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitroglycerine, petroleum, or any of the products thereof and of all other highly combustible or explosive materials.

(e)

To regulate the use of streets and public places by vehicles; to regulate garages and stables and the keeping of carriages, carts, and other conveyances for hire; and to designate stands to be occupied by public vehicles when not in use.

(f)

To provide for the erection or rental and care of buildings necessary for the use of the city.

(g)

To establish and maintain public schools, subject to limitations of law.

(h)

To establish fire limits and regulate the kinds of buildings and structures that may be erected within said limits and the manner of constructing and repairing the same.

(i)

To erect engine houses, and provide fire engines, hose carts, hooks and ladders, and other equipment for the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and to provide for the management and use of the same.

(j)

To regulate the use of lights in stables, shops, and other buildings and places, and to regulate or restrain the building of bonfires and the use of firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes, and pyrotechnic displays.

(k)

To make suitable provisions to insure the public safety from conflagrations and mitigate the effects of storms and other public calamities, and to provide relief for persons suffering from the same.

(l)

To provide for the lighting, cleaning, and sprinkling of streets and public places, to prevent and remove encroachments and obstructions upon the same; to regulate or prevent the use of the same for processions, signs, signposts, awning, and awning posts; to prohibit placing, depositing, leaving or throwing of offal, garbage, refuse, or other offensive matter in the same, and to provide for its collection and disposition; to regulate the opening therein for the laying of gas, water sewer, and other pipes therein, the building and repair of tunnels, sewers, and drains, and all structures therein and thereunder, and the erecting of poles and stringing of wires therein; to provide for and regulate crosswalks, curbs, and gutters therein; to name and change the names of all streets and public places and provide for and regulate the numbering of houses and lots fronting thereon; to regulate traffic and sales upon the same; to abate nuisances in the same, and punish the authors or owners thereof; to construct, maintain and regulate the use of bridges, viaducts and culverts; to prevent and regulate amusements having tendency to annoy persons using the streets or public places, or to frighten horses and other animals; to regulate the speed of horses and other animals, vehicles, and locomotives within the limits of the city.

(m)

Notwithstanding the provisions of any existing law to the contrary, the City Council shall have the exclusive power to provide for the inspection, placing, stringing, attaching, installing, repair and construction of all gas, electric telegraph and telephone wires, conduits, meters and other apparatus or electrical appliances, and the condemnation and correction or removal of the same when dangerous and defective.

(n)

To maintain waterworks for the purposes of supplying water to the inhabitants of the city, to purify the source of supply, to regulate the control and use of the water, and to fix and collect rents therefor; to regulate the construction, repair, and use of hydrants, pumps, cisterns, and reservoirs, and to prevent the waste of water and for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity and quantity of the water supply of the city, to extend its finance over all territories within the drainage area of such water supply, and within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct, pumping station, or watershed used in connection with the water service.

(o)

To establish and maintain a city pound and fix the fees for poundage; regulate, restrict, or prohibit the running at large of domestic animals and dogs unlicensed, and provide for the distraining, impounding, and killing or sale of the same for the penalty incurred and the cost of the proceedings; also impose penalties upon the owners of said animals for the violation of any ordinance in relation thereto. But carabaos, horses, mules, asses, and all members of the bovine family shall be disposed of in accordance with general law.

(p)

To regulate the keeping and use of animals, in so far as the same affects the public health and the health of domestic animals.

(q)

To require any land or building which is in an insanitary condition to be cleaned 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.

(r)

To fill up or require to be filled up to a grade necessary for proper sanitation any and all lands and premises which may be declared and duly reported by the City Department of Health as being insanitary by reason of being below such grade or which in the opinion of the Council, the public health or welfare may require.

(s)

To 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.

(t)

To prohibit the burial of the dead within the center of population of the city and provide for their burial in such proper place and in such manner as the Council may determine, subject to the provisions of the general law regulating burial grounds and cemeteries and governing funerals and disposal of the dead.

(u)

To establish or authorize the establishment of slaughterhouses and markets, and inspect and regulate the keeping preparation, and sale of meat, fruits, poultry, milk, vegetables, and other provisions or articles of food one for sale.

(v)

To enforce the regulations of the Department of Health, and by ordinance to provide fines and penalties for violations of such regulations; to adopt such other measures to prevent the introduction and spread of disease as may, from time to time, be deemed desirable or necessary.

(w)

To declare, prevent, and abate nuisances.

(x)

To provide for the recording of births, marriages, and deaths.

(y)

To establish, maintain, and regulate a police force and prescribe the powers and duties of its members.

(z)

To establish, maintain, and regulate a city prison.

(aa)

To prohibit and provide for the punishment of cruelty to animals.

(bb)

To suppress gambling houses, houses of ill fame and other disorderly houses; and to prohibit the printing, sale, or exhibition of immoral pictures, books, or publications of any description.

(cc)

To prevent and suppress riots, affrays, disturbances, and disorderly assemblies; to punish and prevent intoxication, fighting, quarreling, and all disorderly conduct; and to make and enforce all necessary police ordinances, with the view to the confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, and prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating any city ordinance.

(dd)

To establish, regulate, and maintain city departments, and prescribe the powers and duties thereof and readjust the same.

(ee)

To construct, erect, and establish a public light, heat and power supply and installation system, and to the end to purchase, expropriate, or otherwise acquire all lands which may be necessary, and to build, erect, and construct any and all buildings, stations, and other structures, and to purchase any or all such machinery, poles, wires, wagons, trucks, or other vehicles, supplies, and equipment as may low or hereafter be necessary to the successful operation of such system, as may be provided by law.

(ff)

To maintain and operate any electric light, heat or power supply and installation system, however acquired to keep the same in repair, to alter, increase, extend, improve enlarge or modify the same or any part thereof; to replace worn or useless parts, machinery, poles, animals vehicles, trucks, wires, and other equipment; and to operate, control, and manage the same.

(gg)

For any and all the purposes contemplated in the last two preceding subsections, to enter, if necessary into contracts for partial or deferred payment; to appoint and employ such officers, clerks, employees, and laborers as may be necessary; and to appropriate funds of the city for all the purposes aforesaid.

(hh)

To enter into contracts with, and to supply electric light, heat, current, and other services to residents, merchants, businessmen, and manufacturers in and about the city at rates and for prices not less than sufficient properly to maintain and operate any such plant or system and to pay for depreciations in the same and for all extensions, improvements, enlargements, alterations, or changes thereof and therein.

(ii)

To enter into a contract of lease, and to rent or lease any electric light, heat, or power supply or installation system whether erected, constructed, and established by the City Council, or acquired by it through purchase, grant, or conveyance, or in any other manner, to any person or persons, or to any corporation, for proper and sufficient consideration and subject to the right of supervision and control by the City Council over the operation of such system and over the amount of heat, light, power and current delivered, and the character of other services rendered and of the rates and amounts charged therefor.

(jj)

To 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, but imprisonment shall be imposed in lieu of unpaid fines at the rate of 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 upon works of the city in such manner as be directed by the City Council. Whenever a person imprisoned for nonpayment of a fine, he shall be released upon payment of such fines, less two pesos and fifty centavos per day for each day that he has been confined. Pending appeal, the defendant shall remain in custody unless released upon sufficient bail, in accordance with the general provisions of law, to await the judgment of the appellate court.

In case of violation of ordinance about building construction, the City Council, in addition to the penalties authorized in the preceding paragraph, may further impose the penalty of removal or demolition of the building or structure by the owner or by the city at the expense of the owner.

(kk)

To authorize the free distribution of medicines to the employees and laborers whose salary or wage does not exceed one hundred fifty pesos per month or five pesos per day; of fresh native milk to indigent mothers residing in the city, the distribution to be made under the direct supervision and control of the Mayor.

(ll)

To fix the tariff of fees and charges for all services rendered by the city or any of its departments, branches or offices.

(mm)

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 agencies; and, with the approval of the Director of Public Schools, to fix reasonable tuition fees for instruction in the vocational schools and in other educational institutions supported by the city.

(nn)

To tax, license and regulate boxing, bowling, billiards, pools, horse or dog races, cockpits, roller or ice-skating or any sporting or athletic contests, as well as grant exclusive rights to establishments for this purpose, notwithstanding any existing law to the contrary.

(oo)

To make such further 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 it shall deem necessary and proper to provide for the health and safety, promote the prosperity, improve the morals, peace, good order, comfort, and convenience of the city and the inhabitants thereof, and for the protection of property therein; and enforce obedience thereto with such lawful fines or penalties the City Council may prescribe under the provisions of subsection (jj) of this section.

Section 13

SEC. 13. Restrictive provision.-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 of the city shall decide that any sign, signboard, or billboard displayed or exposed to 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 same is not removed within ten days after he has issued such order he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall thereupon be forfeited to the City, and the expenses incident to the removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof.

Section 14

SEC. 14. Power over subdivisions.-The City Council shall have power by ordinance approved by the department head to require that no plat or plan of subdivision of a residential estate within its jurisdiction shall be presented for approval or verification by the Bureau of Lands or the General Land Registration Office until the same shall have been approved by the city engineer under such regulations as may be provided by ordinance. Such regulations may provide for the proper arrangements, design width of streets in relation to other existing or planned streets, for adequate and convenient open spaces for traffic, public services, access of fire-fighting apparatus, recreation, light, and air, and for the avoidance of congestion of population including minimum width and area of lots in the several districts or sections of the city. Such regulations may also include provisions as to the extent to, and methods by, which streets and other ways may be graded, and improved and water and sewer and other public service mains, piping, or other facilities installed. Such regulations shall provide for approval of the plat or plan within sixty days after the submission thereof to the city engineer.

Section 15

SEC. 15. Appointment and compensation.-There shall be city secretary who shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments and shall hold office at the pleasure of the President. He shall receive a salary of not exceeding four thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.

Section 16

SEC. 16. General powers and duties.-The city secretary shall have the following general powers and duties:

He shall act as secretary of the City Council, the board of tax appeals, and such other boards or committees as may hereafter be created, and shall keep a journal of their proceedings.

He shall record in a book kept for that purpose all ordinances passed by the City Council, with the dates of passage and publication of the same.

He shall keep a seal circular in form, with the inscription "Quezon City Council" and affix the same with his signature to all ordinances and other official acts of the Mayor or Council.

He shall cause each ordinance passed to be published as herein provided.

He shall have charge of all records and documents of the city for which provision is not otherwise made and shall, on demand, furnish certified copies of all records and documents, and collect and receive therefor such fees as the council may prescribe, for the use of the city.

He shall perform such other duties as the Mayor Council may direct.

Section 17

SEC. 17. City departments.-There shall be the following city departments over which the Mayor shall have direct supervision and control, any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding:

Department of Engineering

Department of Finance

Law Department

Department of Health

Police Department

Department of Assessment

Fire Department

The Council may from time to time make such readjustments of the duties of the several departments as the public interest may demand.

Section 18

SEC. 18. Powers and duties of heads of departments.-Any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, each head of department of the city government shall be in control of such department, under the direct supervision of the Mayor, and shall possess such powers as may be prescribed herein or by ordinance. He shall certify to the correctness of all pay rolls and vouchers of his department covering the payment of money before payment. Except as herein otherwise expressly provided on or before the first day of March of each year, he shall prepare and present to the Mayor for submission to the Council an estimate of the receipts and appropriation necessary for the operation of his department during the ensuing year, and shall submit therewith such information for purposes of comparison as the Mayor may desire. He shall make to the Mayor as often as required reports covering the operations of his department.

In case of absence or sickness, or inability to act for any other reason, of the head of one of the city departments, or in case of a temporary vacancy, the officer next in rank in that department shall perform the duties of the head of the department concerned. In case of temporary vacancy, the officer next in rank performing the duties of the head of such department shall, during his incumbency in an acting capacity, receive the salary and other emoluments of the latter.

Section 19

SEC. 19. Appointment and removal of officials and employees.-The President of the Philippines shall appoint, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of Congress, the city health officer, the city engineer, the chief of police, the city treasurer, the city assessor, the city attorney, and the assistant city attorneys, the judges of the municipal court, and in case of a temporary vacancy on such court, an acting judge therefor, and the city superintendent of schools. He may appoint to any of the above-named offices persons already holding official positions. In case of sickness, absence, or inability to serve for any reason of any of the aforementioned officials, including the Mayor, Vice-Mayor, city secretary and members of the Council, the President of the Philippines, may make a temporary appointment or designation, the provision of the last paragraph of the preceding section notwithstanding, until the return to duty of such official. During the period of such temporary appointment or designation, the person so appointed or designated shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties pertaining to the office.

Section 20 Officers not to engage in certain transactions.

SEC. 20. Officers not to engage in certain transactions.- No city officer or employee shall be directly or indirectly interested in any city contract work, or in any business transaction with the city whereby money is to be paid directly or indirectly out of the revenues of the city to such person, or in any games and amusements licensed by the city or in any business of the city, or in the purchase of any real estate or any property belonging to the city.

Section 21

SEC. 21. The General Auditing Office.-The Auditor Genial shall receive and audit all accounts of the city, in accordance with the provisions of law relating to government Accounts and accounting. The city auditor shall be paid from the funds of the city at the rate of not exceeding six thousand pesos per annum.

Section 22

SEC. 22. The Bureau of Public Schools.-The Director of Public Schools shall exercise the same jurisdiction and powers in the city as elsewhere in the Philippines, and the city superintendent of schools shall have all the powers and duties in respect to the schools of the city as are vested in division superintendents in respect to the schools their divisions.

The clerical force and assistants and laborers in the office of the city superintendent of schools shall be paid by the city, as well as the office expenses for supplies and materials incident to the operation of said office. The City Council may provide for additional compensation for the superintendent of city schools, so that the latter may have a total salary equal to that of a city department head of the same importance.

Section 23

SEC. 23. Maintenance of schools and school buildings.-The city superintendent of schools shall make a quarterly report of the condition of the schools and school buildings of Quezon City to the Mayor, and such recommendations as seem to him wise in respect to the number of teachers, their salaries, new buildings to be erected, and all other similar matters, together with the amount of city revenues which should be expended in paying teachers, and improving the schools or school buildings of the city.

The care and custody of school buildings by the department of engineering and its supervision of the construction and repair of schoolhouses ordered by the council, shall be subject to the provisions of law governing public schools.

Section 24

SEC. 24. The City Engineer, his powers, duties and compensation.-There shall be a City Engineer who shall b in charge of the department of engineering. He shall receive a salary of not exceeding seven thousand two hundred pesos per annum. He shall have the following powers am duties:

He shall have charge of all the surveying and engineering work of the city, and shall perform such service in connection with public improvements, or any work entered upon or projected by the city, or any department thereof, as may require the skill and experience of engineer.

He shall ascertain, record, and establish monuments of the city surveys and from thence extend the surveys of the city, and locate, establish, and survey all city property and also private property abutting on the same, whenever directed by the Mayor; shall make such tests I inspection of engineering materials used in construction and repair as may be necessary to protect the city 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 required by the Mayor; shall have the care and custody of all public buildings, including markets and slaughterhouses, and all buildings rented for city purposes, and of any system now or hereafter established by the city for lighting the streets, public places, and public buildings of the city; shall prevent the encroachment of private buildings and fences on the streets and public places of the city; shall inspect and supervise the construction, repair, removal, and safety of private buildings; shall regulate and enforce the numbering of houses in accordance with the ordinances of the city; shall have the care of all public streets, parks, cemeteries, bridges; shall maintain, clean, sprinkle, and regulate the use of the same for all purposes as provided by laws and ordinances; shall prepare plans and have charge of the construction of any sewer and water supply system of the city hereafter authorized; shall have the care and custody of any such public system of water-works and sewers, and all sources of water supply, and shall control, maintain, and regulate the use of the same in accordance with the ordinances relating thereto; shall inspect and regulate, subject to the approval of the Mayor, the use of all private systems supplying water to the city and its inhabitants, and all private sewers and their connections with the public sewer system; and shall prepare plans, maps, specifications, and estimates for buildings, streets, parks, bridges, and other public works, and supervise the construction and repair of the same. He is authorized to charge fees at rates to be approved by the City Council for sanitation and transportation services and supplies furnished by his office.

He shall file and preserve all maps, plans, notes surveys, and other papers and documents pertaining to his office.

Upon order by or with previous approval of the Mayor in each case, he shall cause or order the removal of buildings and structures erected in violation of existing law or ordinances, or the removal of the materials employed in the construction or repair of any building or structure made in violation of law or ordinances; 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 manufacturing and heating appliances in accordance with law and ordinances relating thereto.

Section 25 Execution of public works and improvements.

SEC. 25. Execution of public works and improvements.- All repair or construction of any work or public improvements except parks, boulevards, streets, or alleys involving an estimated cost of three thousand pesos or more shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after public advertisement by the Mayor upon the recommendation of the City Engineer: Provided, however, That the City Engineer may, with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, execute by administration any such public works costing three thousand pesos or more.

In case of public works involving an expenditure of less than three thousand pesos, it shall be discretionary with the City Engineer either to proceed with the work himself or let the contract to the lowest bidder after such publication and notice as shall be deemed appropriate or as may be, by regulation, prescribed for the purpose.

Section 26

SEC. 26. Assistants and employees.-To assist the Cit Engineer in the discharge of his official duties, there shall be such assistant engineers, superintendents, and other employees as are from time to time provided for in appropriation ordinances.

Section 27 Powers and, duties of the City Treasurer.

SEC. 27. Powers and, duties of the City Treasurer.- shall be a City Treasurer with a salary of not exceeding seven thousand eight hundred pesos per annum, who shall have charge of the Department of Finance and shall act as chief fiscal officer and financial adviser of the city and custodian of its funds, and shall have the following general powers and duties:

He shall collect all taxes and assessments due the city, all licenses authorized by law or ordinance, and all rents due for lands, markets, and other property owned by the city, all further charges of whatever nature fixed by law or ordinance; shall administer markets and slaughterhouses and shall receive and issue receipts for all costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures imposed by the Municipal Court, from the clerk thereof, and the fees collected by the sheriff or his deputies.

He shall receive and safely keep all money arising from the revenue of the city and shall spend and disburse the same upon the lawful warrants in accordance with the authorized appropriations; collect all miscellaneous charges made by the Department of Engineering and by other departments of the city government, and all charges made by the City Engineer for inspections, permits, licenses, and the installation, maintenance, and services rendered in the operation of the privy system.

He shall collect, as deputy of the Collector of Internal Revenue by himself or deputies, all taxes and charges imposed by the National Government, upon property or persons in Quezon City.

Unless otherwise specifically provided by law or regulations, he shall perform in and for the city the duties imposed by law or regulation upon provincial treasurers generally, as well as the other duties imposed upon him by the succeeding sections of this article.

He shall purchase and issue all supplies, equipment or other property required by the city as may be authorized.

He shall be accountable for all funds and property of the city and shall render such accounts in connection therewith as may be prescribed by the Auditor General.

He shall deposit daily all city funds and collections the National Treasury or in a government depository.

On or before the first day of April of each year, the City Treasurer shall present to the Mayor a certified detailed statement by departments of all receipts and expenditures of the city pertaining to the preceding fiscal year, and to the current fiscal year to and including March thirty-first, together with an estimate of the receipts and expenditures for the remainder of the current fiscal year; and he shall submit with his statement a detailed estimate of the revenues and receipts of the city from all sources for the ensuing fiscal year. Upon receipt of this statement and estimate and the estimates of department heads as required by section eighteen, the Mayor shall formulate and submit to the City Council before the fifteenth day of May next following, a detailed budget covering the estimated necessary expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year; and the City Council shall thereupon make detailed appropriations covering such estimated expenditures: Provided, however, That in no case shall the aggregate amount of such appropriations exceed the estimate of revenues and receipts submitted by the City Treasurer as provided above. Supplemental budgets, formulated in the same manner, may be adopted when special or unforeseen circumstances make such action necessary. Without further action by the City Council, disbursements of city funds may be made by the City Treasurer, out of the authorized appropriations, upon properly executed vouchers bearing the approval of the chiefs of the departments concerned. On or before the twenty-fifth day of each month said City Treasurer shall furnish the Mayor and the City Council for their administrative information a statement of the appropriations, expenditures and balances of all funds and accounts as of the last day of the month preceding.

He shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.

Section 28

SEC. 28. The City Attorney-His assistants-His duties.-There shall be a City Attorney who shall be the chief of the law department of the city, a first assistant city attorney who shall be the assistant chief, a second assistant city attorney, and two third assistant city attorneys, who shall discharge their duties under the general supervision of the Secretary of Justice. The City Attorney shall be the chief legal adviser of the city and all offices and departments thereof and shall have the following general powers and duties:

He shall represent the city in all civil cases wherein the city or any officer thereof in his official capacity is a party.

He shall attend, when required by a resolution of the City Council, meetings of the City Council, draw ordinances, contracts, bonds, leases, and other documents involving any interest of the city, and inspect and pass upon all such documents already drawn.

He shall give his opinion in writing, when requested by the Mayor or Council, upon any question relating to the city, or the rights or duties of any city officer.

He shall, whenever it is brought to his knowledge that any city officer or employee is guilty of neglect or misconduct in office, or that any person, firm, or corporation holding or exercising any franchise or public privilege from the city has failed to comply with any condition, or to pay any consideration mentioned in the grant of such franchise or privilege, investigate the same and report to the Mayor.

He shall, when directed by the Mayor, institute and prosecute in the city's interest a suit on any bond, lease, or other contract, and upon any breach or violation thereof.

He shall prosecute and defend all civil actions related to or connected with any city office or interest.

He shall also have charge of the prosecution of all crimes, misdemeanors, and violations of city ordinances, in the Court of First Instance and the municipal courts of the city, and shall discharge all the duties in respect to the criminal prosecutions enjoined by law upon provincial fiscals.

He shall cause to be investigated all charges of crimes, misderneanors, and violations of ordinances and have the necessary information or complaints prepared or made against the persons accused. He or any of his assistants may conduct such investigations by taking oral evidence of reputable witnesses, and for this purpose may issue subpoena, summon witnesses to appear and testify under oath before him, and the attendance or evidence of an absent or recalcitrant witness may be enforced by application to the municipal court or the Court of First Instance. No witness summoned to testify under this section shall be under obligation to give any testimony which tend to incriminate himself.

He shall cause to be investigated the cause of sudden deaths which have not been satisfactorily explained and when there is suspicion that the cause arose from the unlawful acts or omissions of other persons, or from foul play. For that purpose, he may cause autopsies to be made and shall be entitled to demand and receive for purposes of such investigations or autopsies, subject to the rules and conditions previously established by the Secretary of Justice, the aid of the medico-legal section of the National Bureau of Investigation. In case the City Attorney deems it necessary to have further expert assistance for the satisfactory performance of his duties in relation with medico-legal matters or knowledge, including the giving of medical testimony in the courts of justice, he shall request the same, in the same manner and subject to the same rules and conditions as above-specified, from the medico-legal officer of the said bureau who shall thereupon furnish the assistance required, in accordance with his powers and faculties.

He shall at times render such professional services as the Mayor or City Council may require, and shall have such powers and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.

Section 29

SEC. 29. Compensation of City Attorney and his assistants.-The City Attorney and his assistants shall receive the salaries hereinafter set forth, which shall be paid by Quezon City:

City Attorney, not exceeding seven thousand two hundred pesos per annum.

First assistant city attorney, not exceeding six thousand pesos per annum.

Second assistant city attorney, not exceeding six thousand pesos per annum.

Two third assistant city attorneys, not exceeding four thousand eight hundred pesos per annum each.

Section 30

SEC. 30. The Municipal court.-There shall be a municipal court for Quezon City, with two judges to be known as judges of the first and second branch, respectively.

The municipal court shall have the same jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases and the same incidental powers as are at present conferred by law upon justice of the peace courts except those in conflict with the provisions of this Charter and such other additional jurisdiction and powers as may be conferred upon it by this Charter or by special law.

In case of the absence, sickness or incapacity of the judges of the municipal court of Quezon City and in case of any vacancy in said offices, the Secretary of Justice shall designate any Assistant Attorney of the Solicitor General's Office or Provincial Fiscal to act as judge of the municipal court, and he shall hold the office temporarily with all the powers of a regular judge of said court, until any of the regular incumbents shall have resumed office, or until a judge shall have been appointed in accordance with the provisions of this Act, but such acting judge shall not receive any additional compensation during the time he is acting as judge.

The judges of the municipal court shall receive a salary of not exceeding five thousand four hundred pesos per annum each.

Section 31

SEC. 31. Clerk and employees of the municipal court-There shall be a clerk of the municipal court who shall be appointed by the municipal judge in accordance with the Civil Service laws, rules, and regulations who shall receive a compensation to be fixed by ordinance. He shall keep the seal of the court and affix it to all orders, judgments, certificates, records, and other documents issued by the court. He shall keep a docket of the trials in the court, in which he shall record in a summary manner the names of the parties and the various proceedings in civil cases, and in criminal cases, the name of the defendant the charge against him, the names of the witnesses, the date of the arrest, the appearance of the defendant, together with the fines and costs adjudged or collected in accordance with the judgment. He shall have the power to administer oaths.

The clerk of the municipal court shall at the same time be sheriff of the city and shall as such have the same powers and duties as are assigned by existing law to provincial sheriffs. The City Council may provide for such number of clerks in the office of the clerk of the municipal court as the needs of the service may demand.

Section 32

SEC. 32. Criminal jurisdiction.-The municipal court shall have territorial jurisdiction embracing the entire police jurisdiction of the city, and shall hold a daily session, Sundays and legal holidays alone excepted: Provided, however, That when a legal holiday occurs in two or more successive days or when a Sunday is immediately preceded and/or followed by a holiday, the municipal court may hold night session during said holidays. Said court shall have jurisdiction, exclusive of the other courts sitting in the city, over all criminal cases arising under the penal laws of the Philippines, where the offense is committed within the police jurisdiction of the city and the maximum punishment is by imprisonment for not more than six months, or a line of not more than two hundred pesos, or both. It shall also have concurrent jurisdiction with the Courts of First Instance over all criminal cases arising under the laws relating to gambling and management of lotteries, to assaults where the intent to kill is not charged or evident upon the trial, to larceny, embezzlement and estafa where the amount of money or property stolen, embezzled or otherwise involved does not exceed the sum or value of two hundred pesos, to the sale of intoxicating liquors, to falsely impersonating an officer, to malicious mischief, to trespass on Government or private property, and to threatening to take human life. It may also conduct preliminary examinations for any offense, without regard to the limits of punishment, and may release, or commit and bind over any person charged with such offense to secure his appearance before the proper court.

Section 33

SEC. 33. Incidental powers of municipal court.-The municipal court shall have power to administer oaths and to give certificates thereof; to issue summonses, writs, warrants, executions, and all other processes necessary to enforce its orders and judgments; to compel the attendance of witnesses; to punish contempts of court by fine or imprisonment, or both, within the limitations imposed by the Rules of Court; and to require of any person arrested a bond for good behaviour or to keep the peace, or for the further appearance of such person before a court of competent jurisdiction. But no such bond shall be accepted unless it be executed by the person in whose behalf it is made, with sufficient surety or sureties, to be approved by said court.

Section 34

SEC. 34. Procedure in municipal court in prosecutions for violation of laws and ordinances.-In a prosecution for the violation of any ordinance, the first process shall be a summons; except that a warrant for the arrest of the offender may be issued in the first instance upon the affidavit of any person that such ordinance has been violated, and that the person making the complaint has reasonable grounds to believe that the party charged is guilty thereof which warrant shall conclude: "Against the ordinance of the city in such case made and provided." All proceedings and prosecutions for offenses against the laws of the Philippines shall conform to the rules relating to process, pleading, practice, and procedure for the judiciary of the Philippines and such rules shall govern the municipal court and its officers in all cases in so far as the same may be applicable.

Section 35

SEC. 35. Costs, fees, fines and forfeitures.-There shall be taxed against and collected from the defendant, in case of his conviction in the municipal court, such costs and fees may be prescribed by the Council not exceeding those charged in criminal cases in justices of the courts. All costs, fees, fines and forfeitures shall be collected by the clerk of the court, who shall keep a docket of those imposed and of those collected, and shall pay collections of the same to the City Treasurer for the benefit the city on the next business day after the same are collected, and take receipts therefor. The presiding judge shall examine said docket each day, compare the same with the amount receipted for by the City Treasurer, and satisfy himself that such costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures have been duly accounted for.

Section 36

SEC. 36. Commitment to prison.-No person shall be confined in the city prison by sentence of the municipal court until the officer in charge of the prison shall receive a written commitment showing the offense for which the prisoner was tried, the date of the trial, the exact terms of the judgment or sentence, and the date of the order of commitment. The clerk shall, under seal of the court-issue such a commitment in each case of sentence to imprisonment.

Section 37

SEC. 37. Procedure on appeal from the municipal court to Court of First Instance.-An appeal shall lie to the Court of First Instance next to be within the city, in all cases where fine or imprisonment, or both, is imposed b the municipal court. The party desiring to appeal shall before four o'clock post meridian of the day after the ren- dition and entry of the judgment by the municipal court, file with the clerk of the court a written statement that he appeals to the Court of First Instance. The filing of such statement shall perfect the appeal. The judge of the court from whose decision appeal is taken shall, within five days after the appeal is taken, transmit to the clew the Court of First Instance a certified copy of the records of proceedings and all the original papers and process in the case, and the clerk of Court of First Instance docket the appeal in that court. A perfected appeal shall operate to vacate the judgment of the municipal court, and the action, when duly entered in the Court of First Instance, shall stand for trial de novo upon its merits in accordance with the regular procedure in that court, as though the same had never been tried and had been originally there commenced. Pending an appeal, the defendant shall remain in custody unless released in the discretion of the judge of the municipal court or of the Court of First Instance, upon sufficient bail, in accordance with the rules and regulation now or hereafter in force, to await the judgment of the appellate court.

Appeals in civil cases shall be governed by the ordinary procedure establishment by law for appeals from decisions of justice of the peace courts.

Section 38

SEC. 38. Persons arrested to be promptly brought before a court-Preliminary examinations in City Attorney's office, municipal court and Court of First Instance.-Every person arrested shall, without unnecessary delay, be brought before the City Attorney, the municipal court, or the Court of First Instance for preliminary hearing, release on bail, or trial. In case triable in the municipal court the defendant shall not be entitled as of right to a preliminary examination, except to a summary one to enable the court to fix the bail, in any case where the prosecution announces itself ready for trial within three days, not including Sundays, after the request for an examination is presented. In case triable only in the Court of First Instance the defendant shall not be entitled as of right to preliminary examination in any case where the Fiscal of the city, after a due investigation of the facts, shall have presented an information against him in proper form. But the Court of First Instance may make such summary investigation into the case as it may deem necessary to enable it to fix the bail or to determine whether the offense is bailable.

Section 39

SEC. 39. Compensation of certain expert witnesses in criminal cases.-Out of any sum appropriated for contingent expenses of the law department, the judge of the municipal court, or a judge of the Court of First Instance in the city, as the case may be, may allow compensation to physicians and surgeons, other than officers or employees of the National Government or the city, summoned by the Government as expert witnesses in criminal prosecutions when the attendance of such physicians and surgeons is necessary in the interest of justice. Such compensation shall not in any one case exceed five pesos for the testimony of the physician or surgeon so summoned, and the payment shall be made upon the certification of the judge presiding at the trial that the witness attended and testified, that the case is an exceptional and meritorious one, and that compensation ought to be allowed. The total expenditure under the provisions of this section shall not exceed five hundred pesos a year.

Section 40

SEC. 40. Assessors in the courts in the city.-The aid of assessors in the trial of any civil or criminal action in the municipal court, or the Court of First Instance, within the city, may be invoked, in the manner provided in the Rules of Court. It shall be the duty of the Municipal Council to prepare one list of the names of twenty-five residents of the city best fitted by education, natural ability, and reputation for probity to sit as assessors in the trial of actions in the municipal court and a like list of persons to sit as assessors in the trial of action in the Court of First Instance. The Council may at any time strike any name from the list so prepared, by reason of the death, permanent disability, or unfitness of the person named; and in case names are so stricken out, other names shall be added in their place, to be selected as ii this section provided. Parties desiring to avail themselves of the use of assessors in the municipal court or Court of First Instance shall proceed as provided for by law or Rules of Court; and the method of summoning assessors enforcing their attendance, excusing them from attendance, their compensation, oath, duties and effect of dissent from the opinion of the judge shall be as provided in those laws or rules.

Section 41

SEC. 41. Judicial notice of ordinances.-All courts ting in the city shall take judicial notice of the ordinal passed by the City Council.

Section 42

SEC. 42. Powers and duties of the City Health Officer.-There shall be a City Health Officer, with a salary of not exceeding six thousand pesos per annum, who shall have charge of the health department. He shall have the following general powers and duties:

He shall have general supervision and control over the health and sanitary condition of the city, including the cleaning of crematories, cemeteries, stockyards, slaughter houses, and markets.

He shall execute and enforce all laws, ordinances, and regulations relating to the public health.

He shall recommend to the City Council the passage of ordinances as he may deem necessary for the preservation of public health.

He shall cause to be prosecuted all violations of sanitary laws, ordinances, or regulations.

He shall make sanitary inspections and may be aided therein by such members of the police force of the city or of the Philippine Army as shall be designated as sanitary police by the chief of police or proper Army officer and by such sanitary inspectors as may be authorized by law.

He shall have control and supervision over puericulture centers and social services of the city.

He shall have general supervision and control over the health and sanitary establishments and activities of the city, including garbage collection, sanitary employees of the city markets, city pound, and slaughterhouses, subject to existing law and ordinances.

He shall be the ex-officio civil registrar of the city.

He shall perform such other duties, not repugnant to law, with reference to the health and sanitation of the city as the Director of Health shall direct.

Section 43

SEC. 43. The Chief of Police.-There shall be a chief of lice with a salary of not exceeding eight thousand four hundred pesos per annum who shall have the following general powers and duties:

He shall have charge of the organization, government, discipline, and disposition of the city police and detective force, and notwithstanding any law to the contrary, shall have exclusive charge of the administrative investigation of any member of his department.

He shall quell riots, disorders, disturbances of the peace, and shall arrest and prosecute violators of any law or ordinance; shall exercise police supervision over all land and within the police jurisdiction of the city; shall be charged with the protection of the rights of persons and property wherever found within the jurisdiction of the city, and shall arrest without warrant, 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 duties.

He may take good and sufficient bail for the appearance before the municipal court of any person arrested for violation of any city ordinance.

He shall have authority, within the police limits of the city, to serve and execute criminal processes of any court; shall, either in person or by deputy, attend all sessions of the municipal court; and shall promptly and faithfully execute all orders of the Mayor and all writs and processes of the municipal court when placed in his hands for that purpose.

He shall have general supervision over the city warden, a position which may be created and compensation thereof fixed by the City Council, whose duties, among others to be determined by the Council, shall include the custody and care of the City Hall and the safekeeping of all prisoners until they shall be released from custody, in accordance with law, or delivered to the warden of proper prison or penitentiary.

He shall have such powers and perform such further duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.

Section 44

SEC. 44. Peace officers.-The chief of police, all city officers, and all members of the police force and secret service shall be peace officers; and all peace officers provided for in this Act, or authorized by law or ordinance, are authorized to serve and execute all processes of the municipal court and criminal processes of other courts to whomsoever directed, within the jurisdiction or the police limits of the city, and within the same territory they may pursue and arrest, without warrant any person found in suspicious places or under suspicious circumstances reasonably tending to show that such person has committed or is about to commit any crime or breach of the peace; may arrest or cause to be arrested, without warrant, 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 being stolen; they shall detain such person only until he can be brought before the proper magistrate; and shall have such other powers and perform such other duties as peace officers as may be prescribed by law or ordinance. Whenever the Mayor shall deem it necessary to avert danger or public calamity, or when he has reason to fear any violation of law and order, he shall have power to swear in special police, in such number as the occasion way demand, who shall have the same powers while on duty as members of the regular force.

Section 45

SEC. 45. The City Assessor.-There shall be a City Assessor who shall have charge of the department of assessment. He shall receive a compensation of not exceeding six thousand pesos per annum.

Section 46

SEC. 46. Powers and duties of the City Assessor.-The City Assessor or his duly authorized deputies shall annually assess all lands, buildings and other real properties subject to taxation within the jurisdiction of the city, and for this purpose he is empowered to administer oaths authorized to be administered in the assessment or collection of taxes.

He shall make a list of all taxable real estate in the city and the names of the owners thereof, with, brief description opposite their names of the property owned by them and the cash value thereof. In making this list the City Assessor shall take into consideration any sworn statement made by the owners of the property, but shall not be prevented thereby from considering other evidence on the subject, and exercising his own judgment in respect thereto. For the purpose of completing this list he is authorized to summon witnesses, administer oaths to them and subject them to examination concerning the amount of real estate, its ownership, and cash value. If the City Assessor is unable to discover the owner of any real estate, he shall nevertheless list the same for taxation and charge against an unknown owner, In case of doubt or dispute as to ownership of real estate, the taxes should be levied against the possessor or possessors thereof. Where it shall appear that there are separate owners of the land and the improvements thereon, a separate assessment of the property of each shall be made. If it shall be discovered by the Assessor or brought to his attention that any taxable real estate in the city has escaped listing, it shall be his duty at once to list and value the same and it shall be the duty of the City Treasurer forthwith to charge against the owner thereof the taxes due for the current year and for all other years since the original assessment not exceeding four years and the taxes thus assessed shall be legal and collectible and if they are not paid before the expiration of the tax collection period next ensuing, penalties should be added to the back taxes as if they were assessed at the time when they shall have been assessed.

He shall complete the listing and valuation of all real estate situated within the city on or before the thirty first day of December of each year, and when completed shall authenticate the same by signing the following certificate at the foot of the list:

"I hereby certify that the foregoing list contains a true statement of the piece or pieces of taxable real estate belonging to each person named in the list, and its true cash value, and that no real estate taxable by law in Quezon City has been omitted from the list, according to the best of my knowledge and belief.

"--------------------------------------------

City Assessor"

He shall, when the list is completed, inform the public by notice published for seven days in a newspaper of general circulation in the city, if any, and by notice posted for seven days at the main entrance of the municipal building, that the list is on file in his office, and may be examined by any person interested therein, and that upon the date fixed in the notice, which shall not be later than the tenth day of January, the City Assessor will be in his office for the purpose of hearing complaints as to the accuracy of the listing of the property and the assessed value thereof. It shall be his duty carefully to preserve and record in his office copies of said notices. On the day fixed in the notice, and for five days thereafter, he shall be present in his office to hear all complaints filed within that period by persons against whom taxes have been assessed as owners of real estate, and he shall make his decision forthwith and enter the same in a well-bound book, to be kept by him for that purpose, and if he shall determine that injustice has been done or errors have been committed he is authorized to amend the list in accordance with his findings.

He shall attend all meetings of the Board of Tax Appeals and furnish it with all written evidence in his possession relating to assessment and valuation. He shall likewise furnish the City Treasurer with a list of taxable real estate, the respective assessments thereof and against whom assessed, and such other information as the City measurer may require for the collection of taxes.

He shall issue, upon request of the interested party, certified copies the declarations of real property and of all other records relative to the assessment of said real charging therefor such fee as may be determined by the City Council and the proceeds thereof shall be paid into the city treasury.

Section 47

SEC. 47. Exemption from taxation.-There shall be levied, assessed, and collected an annual ad valorem tax o real property, including land, buildings, machinery and other improvements not hereinafter specifically exempted. The following shall be exempt from taxation:

Property owned by the Republic of the Philippines Quezon City, any province, city, municipality or municipal district.

Cemeteries or burial grounds.

Churches and parsonages or convents appurtenant thereto, and all lands, buildings, and improvements used exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purposes.

When the entire assessed valuation of real property belonging to a single owner is not in excess of one hundred pesos or when the assessed value of a house, used as residence of the owner thereof, together with the lot on which the same is built, does not exceed three hundred pesos and such owner has no other real property, the tax thereon shall not be collected, nor shall the tax be collected on a dwelling house built on the field, nor on an adjacent orchard, if any, as improvement, if the assessed value of each, assessed separately, is not in excess of one hundred pesos, though in any event the property shall be valued for the purposes of assessment and record shall be kept thereof as in other cases.

Machinery, which term shall embrace machines, mechanical contrivances, instruments, appliances, and apparatus attached to the real estate, used for industrial, agricultural or manufacturing purposes, during the ins five years of the operation of the machinery.

The provisions hereof notwithstanding, depreciation allowance shall be made for machinery mentioned

equivalent to an amount not exceeding ten per cent of its value for each year of use.

Section 48

SEC. 48. Declaration by real estate owner.-It shall be the duty of each person who at any time acquires estate in the city, and of each person who constructs or adds to any improvement on real estate owned by him within the city, to prepare and present to the City Assessor, within a period of sixty days next succeeding the acquisition or completion of such construction or addition, a sworn declaration setting forth the value of the real estate acquired or the improvement constructed or addition made by him and containing a description of such property sufficient to enable the City Assessor readily to identify the same. Any person who fails to make and present such declaration of real estate newly acquired by him within the said period of sixty days shall be deemed to have waived his right to notice of the assessment of such property, and the assessment of the same in the name of its former owner shall, in all such cases, be valid and binding on all persons interested, and for all purposes, as though the same had been assessed in the name of its actual owner.

Section 49

SEC. 49. Revision of assessment.-The City Assessor shall, during the first fifteen days of December of each year, add to his list of taxable real estate in the city the value of the improvements placed upon such property during the preceding year, and any property which is taxable and which has therefore escaped taxation. He may during the same period revise and correct the assessed value of any or all parcels of real estate in the city which are not assessed at their true money value, by reducing or increasing the existing assessments as the case may be. He shall give notice by publication for ten days prior to December first in two newspapers of general circulation published in the city, that he will be present in his office for that purpose on said days, and he shall further notify in writing each person the amount of whose tax will be changed agent in the Philippines sometime in the month of changed by such action or such proposed change by delivering or mailing such notification to such person or his authorized agent at the last known address of such owner November.

Section 50

SEC. 50. The Board of Tax Appeals.-There shall be a Board of Tax Appeals which shall be composed of members of the City Council, the Mayor to be chairman thereof.

The members of the Board of Tax Appeals shall, before organizing as such, take the following oath before the municipal judge or some other officer authorized administer oaths.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will well and truly hear and determine all matters and issues between the City Assessor and taxpayer submitted f my decision. So help me God. (In case of affirmation, the last four words to be stricken out.)

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(Signature)

"Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me this______ day of ___________19__

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(Signature and title of officer administering oath)"

The oath of each member shall be recorded by the secretary of the Board in the minutes of its proceedings.