Powers and Duties.
Section 149
SEC. 149. Powers and Duties.— (1) The sangguniang bayan shall: (a) Enact such ordinances and issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out and discharge the responsibilities conferred upon it by law, and such as shall be necessary and proper to provide for the health, safety, comfort and convenience, maintain peace and order, improve public morals, promote the prosperity and general welfare of the municipality and the inhabitants thereof, and insure the protection of property therein; (b) Prescribe reasonable limits and restraints on the use of property; (c) For violation of municipal ordinances, provide for the imposition of a fine not exceeding one thousand pesos or six months imprisonment, or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court; (d) Levy taxes for general and specific purposes and fix the rates in accordance with the provisions of this Code and other laws; (e) Impose and fix reasonable fees and charges for all services rendered by the municipality to private parties; (f) Provide for the establishment and maintenance of public markets, ferries, wharves, abattoirs or slaughterhouses, pounds and cemeteries; (g) Upon the majority vote of all the members, authorize the municipal mayor to negotiate and contract loans and other forms of indebtedness subject to existing laws and regulations; (h) Grant the exclusive privilege of constructing fish corrals, or taking or catching fish or fry of any species for propagation within any definite portion or area of the municipal waters, in accordance with law; (i) Grant loans or aids to other local government units or to national, provincial and municipal institutions of a charitable, benevolent or educational character: Provided, That said funds for aids shall only be granted to institutions if they are operated and maintained within the municipality; (j) Upon recommendation of the municipal mayor, appropriate money for the promotion of the general welfare of the municipality and its inhabitants; (k) Fix in accordance with law the number and rates of salaries of officials and employees of the municipality paid from municipal funds and provide for such expenditures as are necessary for the proper conduct of the activities of the municipal government; (l) Provide funds for the construction and maintenance or rental of buildings for the use of the municipality; (m) Upon the majority vote of all the members, authorize the municipal mayor to lease to private parties municipal public buildings held in a proprietary capacity, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations; (n) Provide names of streets and buildings owned by the municipality and, for justifiable reasons, change not oftener than once every ten years, the names of streets and public buildings located within the boundaries of the municipality, and regulate the numbering of houses and buildings; (o) Provide for the maintenance of a waterworks system or district for supplying water to its inhabitants and for the purification of the source of supply and places through which the same passes; regulate the consumption and use of water and fix and collect charges therefor; provide for the construction, repair and use of hydrants, pumps, cisterns and reservoirs; (p) Review all ordinances approved by the sangguniang barangay to determine whether they are in conformity with law or municipal ordinances; (q) Upon recommendation of the mayor, and in accordance with the provisions of this Code and other laws, create, consolidate, and reorganize municipal offices when deemed necessary in the interest of efficiency and economy; (r) Regulate any business subject to municipal license tax or fees and prescribe the conditions under which a municipal license may be revoked; (s) Charge a reasonable fee upon any person engaged in any business or occupation in the municipality before issuing a municipal permit therefor, and provide conditions upon which the business or occupation may be conducted; (t) Regulate and fix the license fees for signs, signboards, and billboards displayed or maintained in any place exposed to public view, except those displayed at the place or places where the profession or business advertised thereby is in whole or in part conducted; (u) Upon the majority vote of all the members, grant franchises to any person or corporation to do business within the municipality, to establish, construct, operate and maintain a ferry, wharf, market or slaughterhouse, or undertake such other activities as may be allowed by existing laws; (v) Regulate the inspection, weighing and measuring of articles of commerce; (w) Authorize the payment of compensation or additional compensation, as the case may be, to any officer or employee, or to a person not in government service to temporarily fill a vacancy at a rate equal to that actually received by the regular incumbent; (x) Adopt zoning and subdivision ordinances or regulations, subject to the provisions of existing laws; (y) Provide for the care of the poor, the aged, the sick, or persons of unsound mind, delinquent and abandoned minors, as well as adult offenders and other disabled or handicapped persons; (z) Provide for the construction, improvement, repair and maintenance of municipal streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, bridges, parks and other public places, and regulate the use thereof, and prohibit the construction or placing of obstacles or encroachments on them; (aa) Provide for the lighting, cleaning and sprinkling of streets and public places, prohibit littering thereon, and provide for the collection and disposal of garbage; (bb) Regulate the drilling and excavation of the ground for the laying of gas, water, sewer, and other pipes; the building and repair of tunnels, sewers, drains and other similar structures; erecting of poles and the use of crosswalks, curbs and gutters therein, and adopt measures to ensure public safety against open canals, manholes, live wires and other similar hazards to life and property, and provide just compensation or relief for persons suffering from them; (cc) Provide for the establishment, maintainance, and regulation of the use of public drains, sewers and public baths; (dd) Regulate the selling, giving away or dispensing of intoxicating malt, vinous, mixed or fermented liquors at retail outlets; (ee) Provide for the abatement of nuisance; (ff) Penalize habitual drunkenness in public places, vagrancy, mendicancy, prostitution, the establishment and maintenance of houses of ill repute, gambling and all fraudulent devices for the purpose of obtaining money or property, or the printing, circulation, exhibition or sale of obscene articles, pictures, books or publications; (gg) Provide for the suppression of riots, vandalism, tumultuous affrays, disturbances and disorderly assemblies; (hh) Provide for the impounding of stray animals; (ii) Adopt measures to prevent and penalize cruelty to animals; (jj) Adopt measures and regulations to protect the public from fires, floods, conflagration, typhoons, droughts, earthquakes, and other public calamities, and provide relief for persons suffering from them; (kk) Require owners, administrators, or tenants of buildings and premises to keep and maintain them in a sanitary condition and, should they fail to do so, cause them to be cleared and kept in a sanitary condition and the cost thereof to be assessed against the owner, administrator or tenant, as the case may be, which cost shall constitute a lien against the property; (ll) Provide for the regulation and inspection of meat, fruits, poultry, milk, fish, vegetables and other foodstuffs for public consumption; (mm) Adopt quarantine regulations as are desirable or necessary to prevent the introduction and spread of diseases; (nn) Establish fire limits in populous centers and prescribe the kinds of buildings that may be constructed or repaired within them; (oo) Regulate cockpits, cockfighting and the keeping or training of gamecocks, subject to existing guidelines promulgated by the Philippine Gamefowl Commission; (pp) Regulate garages and the keeping of conveyances for hire and designate stands to be occupied by public vehicles when not in use; (qq) Regulate the construction and operation of private markets, talipapa, or other similar buildings and physical structures; (rr) Regulate cafes, restaurants, beer-houses, hotels, motels, inns, pension houses and lodging houses, except travel agencies, tourist guides, tourist transports, hotels, resorts, de luxe restaurants, and tourist inns of international standards which shall remain under the licensing and regulatory power of the Ministry of Tourism which shall exercise such authority without infringing on the taxing or regulatory powers of the municipality; (ss) Regulate public dancing schools, public dance halls and sauna baths or massage parlors; (tt) Regulate the establishment and operation of billiard pools, theatrical performances, circuses and other forms of entertainment; (uu) Regulate the establishment and provide for the inspection of steam boilers and storage of inflammable and combustible materials within the municipality; (vv) Establish a scholarship fund for poor but deserving students for the payment of tuition and other school fees, subject to such terms and conditions as may be determined by ordinance; (ww) Define boundaries, and change the names of barangays within the municipality; and (xx) Exercise such other powers and perform such other duties and functions as may be prescribed by law or ordinance. (2) Public utilities owned by the municipality may be operated by the municipality or may be leased to private parties under such terms and conditions that may be imposed by the sangguniang bayan. (3) When any ferry, market, or slaughterhouse belonging to a municipality is to be leased to a private party, it shall be awarded to the highest bidder for a period of not less than one year but not exceeding five years. The lease may be renewed for a period not exceeding the original lease and under such terms as the sangguniang bayan may impose.