The City Fiscal—His powers and duties.
Section 42
SEC. 42. The City Fiscal—His powers and duties.—The City Fiscal shall be the Chief Legal Adviser of the city. He shall have the following powers and duties: He shall personally or through any assistant, represent the city in all civil cases wherein the city or any officer thereof, in his official capacity, is a party. He shall when requested, attend the meetings of the City Board, draw ordinances, contracts, bonds, leases, and other instruments involving any interest of the City and inspect and pass upon any such instrument already drawn. He shall give his opinion in writing, when requested by the Mayor or the Board or any of the heads of the city departments, 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 or cause to be investigated the same and report his findings and recommendations 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; and shall prosecute and defend all civil actions related or connected with, any city office or interest. He shall investigate all charges of crimes, misdemeanors and violation of laws and city ordinances and complaint against the person accused. He or any of his assistants may conduct such investigations by taking oral evidence of reputed witnesses and for this purpose may, by subpoena or subpoena duces tecum summon witnesses to appear and testify under oath before him or to produce documents and other evidence before him, and the attendance of, or the production of documents and other evidence of an absent or recalcitrant witness may be enforced by application to the City Court or the Court of First Instance. No witness summoned to testify under this section shall be under obligation to give testimony tending to incriminate himself. He shall have charge of the prosecution of all crimes, misdemeanors and violations of laws and city ordinances triable in the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga del Sur, and City Court and shall discharge all the duties in respect to criminal prosecution enjoined by law upon provincial fiscals. He shall cause to be investigated the causes of sudden deaths which have not been satisfactorily explained and when there is suspicion that the cause arose from unlawful acts or omissions of other persons or from foul play and in general, victims of violence, sex crimes, accidents, self-inflicted injuries, intoxication, drug addiction, state of malingering and mental disorders which occur within the jurisdiction of the city and the examination of evidences and tell-tale marks of crimes. For that purpose, he may cause autopsies to be made in case it is deemed necessary and shall be entitled to demand and receive for the purpose of such investigations and/or autopsies the aid of the health authorities. In case the City Fiscal 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 from the Head of the Department of Legal Medicine of the College of Medicine and Surgery of the University of the Philippines, or the aid of the Medico-Legal Section of the National Bureau of Investigation, which shall thereupon, furnish the assistance required in accordance with its power and facilities. He shall at all times render such professional services as the Mayor or Board may require, and shall have such powers and perform such duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.