Legislative powers.
Section 18
SEC. 18. Legislative powers.—The Municipal Board shall have the following legislative powers: (a) To provide for the levy and collection of taxes for general and special purposes in accordance with law. (b) To fix the tariff of fees and charges for all services rendered by the city or any of its departments, branches, or officials. (c) To provide for the erection and maintenance or the rental, in case of need, of the necessary buildings for the of the city. (d) To provide for the establishment and maintenance of free public schools for intermediate instruction and to acquire sites for school houses for primary and intermediate classes through purchases or conditional or absolute donation. (e) To establish secondary, and professional schools; and with the approval of the Director of Public Schools, to fix reasonable tuition fees for instruction therein. (f) To provide for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient police force for the maintenance of law and order in the city, and make all necessary police ordinances, with a view to the confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons, mendicants, and prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating any of the ordinances of the city. (g) To maintain the municipal courts established by law which shall have jurisdiction of all criminal cases under the ordinances of the city, and such further jurisdiction as may be herein or hereafter conferred. (h) To establish fire limits, determine the kinds of buildings or structures that may be erected within said limits, regulate the manner of constructing and repairing the same, and fix the fees for permits for the construction, repair, or demolition of buildings and structures. (i) To establish and maintain engine houses, fire engines, hose carts, hooks and ladders, and other equipment for the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and to regulate 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 and restrict the issuance of permits for the building of bonfires and the use of firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes, candles, skyrockets, and other pyrotechnic displays, and to fix the fees for s permits. (k) To make regulations to protect the public from conflagrations and to prevent and mitigate the effects of famine, flood, storms, and other public calamities, and provide relief for persons suffering from the same. (l) To regulate and fix the amount of the license fees for the following: hawkers, peddlers, hucksters, not including hucksters or peddlers who sell only native vegetables, fruits, or foods, personally carried by the hucksters or peddlers; barbers, collecting agencies, manicurists, hair dressers, tattooers, jugglers, acrobats, wrestlers, boxers, pelotaris and jockeys; shooting galleries, slot machines, merry-go-rounds and other similar riding devices, and the keeping, preparation, and sale of meat, poultry, fish, game, butter, cheese, lard, vegetable, bread, and other provisions; and to impose a municipal occupation tax, not to exceed fifty pesos per annum, on lawyers, medical practitioners, land surveyors, architects, public accountants, civil, electrical, chemical, mechanical, or mining engineers, radio engineers or technicians, veterinarians, dental surgeons, opticians and optometrists, insurance agents and sub-agents, business agents and business consultants, professional appraisers or connoisseur of tobacco or other domestic or foreign products, music teachers, piano tuners, nurses and midwives, auctioneers, plumbers, electrical contractors, building contractors, massagists, physical culture instructors, chiropodists, money changers, real estate, commercial and other brokers, and persons engaged in the transportation of passengers or freight by hire, including common carriers and transportation contractors: Provided, That persons exercising their profession or occupation only as salaried employees and not as independent practitioners shall be exempt from the municipal occupation tax herein prescribed. (m) To tax, fix the license fee and regulate the business of hotels, restaurants, refreshment places, cafes, lodging houses, boarding houses, brewers, distillers, rectifiers, laundries, dyeing and cleaning establishment, beauty parlors, physical or beauty culture and fashion schools, clubs, livery garages, public warehouses, pawnshops, theaters, cinematographs, and the letting or subletting of lands and buildings, whether used for commercial, industrial or residential purposes; and further to fix the location of, and to tax, fix the license fee on, and regulate the business of, livery stables, boarding stables, embalmers, public billiard tables, public pool tables, bowling alleys, dance halls, public dancing halls cabarets, circus and other similar parades, public vehicles, public ferries, race tracks, horse races, dog races, cockpits, dealers in second-hand merchandise, junk dealers, theatrical performances, boxing contests, public exhibitions, blacksmith shops, foundries, steam boilers, lumber yards, ship. yards, the storage and sale of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin coal, oil, gasoline, benzine, turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitroglycerin, 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 provisions of ordinances issued by the Bureau of Health in accordance with law, tanneries, renderies, tallow chandleries, bone factories, and soap factories: Provided, That no license shall be granted to any theater or cinematograph unless the applicant for said license agrees to exhibit pictures made in the Philippines to the extent of ten per centum of their annual exhibitions: And provided, further, That any violation of this condition shall cause the revocation of said license. (n) To tax and fix the license fees on printers or bookbinders or both, tailor shops, milliners, manufactures of jewelry, embroideries, sail or awnings or both, rope, paper, leather goods including shoes, slippers, sandals, harnesses and valises or bags, sporting goods, rubber goods, plastics and celluloid products, hardware including tinware, ceramic, and cement product, hardware including glasswares, cooking utensils, electrical goods and construction materials, chemical products including drugs, perfumes, toilet articles, paints, dyes and inks, textiles, shell lamps or lamp shades or both, statuettes or tombstone or both, sacks, furniture of all kinds, including rattan goods, wire brass beds or both, clothing, hats, eyeglasses or optical goods or both, fertilizers and buttons. Manufacturers above mentioned shall not be subject to the payment of any municipal tax or license fee as retail dealers of their own products: Provided, That any manufacturing conducted solely by the immediate members of a family at their own home shall not be subject to any tax or license fee. (o) To tax and fix the license fee on dealers in general merchandise, including importers and indentors, except those dealers who may be expressly subject to the payment of some other municipal tax under the provisions of this section. Dealers in general merchandise shall be classified as (a) wholesale dealers and (b) retail dealers. For purposes of the tax on retail dealers, general merchandise shall be classified into four main classes; namely, (1) luxury articles, (2) semi-luxury articles, (3) essential commodities, and (4) miscellaneous articles. A separate license shall be prescribed for each class but where commodities of different classes are sold in the same establishment, it shall not be compulsory for the owner to secure more than one license if he pays the higher or highest rate of tax prescribed by ordinance. Wholesale dealers shall pay the license tax as such, as may be provided by ordinance. For purposes of this section, the term "General merchandise" shall include poultry and livestock, agricultural products, fish and other allied products. (p) To tax, fix the license fees on, and regulate, the sale of intoxicating liquors, whether imported or locally manufactured. To tax motor and other vehicles operating within the City of Manila the provisions of any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, 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 exempt from such tax. (q) To regulate the method of using steam engines and boilers, other than marine or belonging to the National Government; to provide for the inspection thereof, and for a reasonable fee for such inspection, and to regulate and fix the fees for the licenses of the engineers engaged in operating the same. (r) To provide for the prohibition and suppression of riots, affrays, disturbances, and disorderly assembles; houses of ill fame and other disorderly houses; gaming houses, gambling and all fraudulent devices for the purposes of obtaining money or property; prostitution, vagrancy, intoxication, fighting, quarrelling, and all disorderly conduct; the printing, circulation, exhibition or sale of obscene pictures, books, or publications, and for the maintenance and preservation of peace and good morals. (s) To prohibit, or regulate and fix the license fees for the keeping of dogs, and to authorize their impounding and destruction when running at large contrary to ordinances and to tax and regulate the keeping or training of fighting cocks. (t) To establish and maintain municipal pounds; to regulate, restrain, and prohibit the running at large of domestic animals, and provide for the distraining, impounding, and sale of the same for the penalty incurred, and the cost of the proceedings; and to impose penalties upon the owners of said animals for the violation of any ordinance in relation thereto. (u) To prohibit and provide for the punishment of cruelty to animals. (v) To require property owners by ordinance to construct or repair, at their expense, sidewalks along the street or streets adjacent to their lots in accordance with the specifications of the city engineer as to quality, width and grade, and subject to his supervision and approval, providing that, in case of failure or inability of the property owners to comply with the requirement within a specified period of time after demand, the city engineer shall cause the work to be done and the cost thereof collected as a special assessment from such owners, who may choose to pay the same in full, or in ten equal yearly installments which shall be due and payable to the city of Manila in the same manner as the annual tax levied on real estate, and shall be made subject to the same penalties for delinquency, and enforceable by the same remedies, as such annual tax; and all said sums and amounts, shall from day in which they were assessed constitute liens on the property against which the same were assessed and shall take precedence over any and all other liens which may exist upon such property excepting only such as may have been attached as a result of the non-payment of said annual tax. (w) To regulate the inspection, weighing, and measuring of brick, lumber, coal and other articles of merchandise. (x) Subject to the provisions of existing law to provide for the laying out, construction and improvement, and to regulate the use of streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, wharves, piers, parks, cemeteries, and other public places; to provide for lighting, cleaning, and sprinkling of streets and public places; to regulate, fix license fees for and prohibit the use of the same for processions, signs, signposts, awnings, awning posts, and the carrying or displaying of banners, placards, advertisements, or hand bills, or the flying of signs, flags or banners whether along, across, over or from buildings along the same; to prohibit the placing, throwing, depositing, or leaving of obstacles of any kind, garbage, refuse, or other offensive matter or matter liable to cause damage, in the street and other public places and to provide for the collection and disposition thereof; to provide for the inspection of, fix the license fees for and regulate the openings in the same for the laying of gas, water, sewer and other pipes, the building and repair of tunnels, sewers, and drains, and all structures in and under the same and the erecting of poles and the stringing of wives therein; to provide for and regulate cross-walks, curbs, and gutters therein; to name streets without a name and provide for and regulate the numbering of houses and lots fronting thereon or in the interior of the blocks; to regulate traffic and sales upon the streets and other public places; to provide for the abatement of nuisances in the and punish the authors or owners thereof; to provide r the construction and maintenance, and regulate the use, bridges, viaducts, and culverts; to prohibit and regulate ball playing, kite-flying, hoop rolling, and other amusements may annoy persons using the streets and public places, or frighten horses or other animals; to regulate the speed of horses and other animals, motor and other vehicles cars, and locomotives within the limits of the city; to regulate the lights used on all such 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 or other public places of the city authorized by law; to provide for and change the location, grade and, crossings of railroads, and 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. (y) To provide for the construction and maintenance of, and regulate, the navigation on canals and water courses within the city and provide for the cleansing 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 or regulate the drainage and filling of private premises when necessary in the enforcement of sanitary ordinances issued in accordance with law. (z) To fix the charges to be paid by all water craft landing at or using public wharves, docks, levees, or landing places: Provided, That the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to the public wharves, docks, levees, or landing places constructed within the breakwater, on the banks of the canal connecting the Pasig River with the inner basin, and on both sides of said river below the Jones Bridge. (aa) To provide for the maintenance of waterworks for the purpose of supplying water to the inhabitants of the city, and for the purifications of the source of supply the places through which the same passes, and to regulate the consumption and use of the water; to fix and provide for the collection of rents therefor; and to regulate the construction, repair, and use of hydrants, pumps, cisterns, and reservoirs. (bb) To provide for the establishment and maintenance and regulate the use, of public drains, sewers, latrines, and cesspools. (cc) Subject to the provisions of ordinances issued by the Department of Health in accordance with law, to provide for the establishment and maintenance and fix the fees for the use of, and regulate public stables, laundries, and baths, and public markets and slaughterhouses, and prohibit or permit the establishment or operation within the city limits of public markets and slaughterhouses by any person, entity, association, or corporation other than the city. (dd) To regulate, inspect and provide measures preventing any discrimination or the exclusion of any race or races in or from any institution, establishments, or service open to the public within the city limits, or in the sale and supply of gas or electricity, or in the telephone and street-railway service; to fix and regulate charges therefor where the same have not been fixed by national law; to regulate and provide for the inspection of all gas, electric, telephone, and street-railway conduits, mains, meters, and other apparatus, and provide for the condemnation, substitution or removal of the same when defective or dangerous. (ee) To declare, prevent, and provide for the abatement of nuisances; to regulate the ringing of bells and the making of loud or unusual noises; to provide that owners, agents, or tenants of buildings or premises keep and maintain the same in sanitary condition, and that in case of failure to do so, after sixty days from the date of serving a written notice, the cost thereof 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, and to regulate or prohibit or fix the license fees for the use of property on or near public ways, grounds, or places, or elsewhere within the city, 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, signs, 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 part conducted. (ff) To authorize the free distribution of medicine by the city physician to the employees and laborers of the city, and of fresh native milk, if available, to indigent mothers residing in the city. (gg) To extend its ordinances over all waters within the city, over the Bay of Manila three miles beyond the city limits and over any boat or other floating structures thereon; and for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity of water supply of the city, 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 city water service. (hh) To establish and regulate the size, speed, and operation of motor and other public vehicles within the City; to establish bus stops and terminals; and prohibit and regulate the entrance of provincial public utility vehicles into the city, except those passing through the City. (ii) To tax, license and regulate in any business, trade or occupation being conducted within the City of Manila, not otherwise enumerated in the preceding subsections, including percentage taxes based on gross sales or receipts, subject to the approval of the President except amusement taxes. (jj) To tax, license, permit and regulate wagers or betting by the public on boxing, sipa, bowling, billards, pools, horse or dog races, cockpits, jai-alai, 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. (kk) To enact all ordinances it may deem necessary and proper for the sanitation and safety, the furtherance of the prosperity, and the promotion of the morality, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, and such others as may be necessary to carry into effect and discharge the powers and duties conferred by this chapter; and to fix penalties for the violation of ordinances which shall not exceed to two hundred pesos fine or six months' imprisonment, or both such fine and imprisonment, for a single offense.