An Act to Create a Department of Health and Welfare In The City of Manila, to Define Its Powers and Duties, Amending for This Purpose, Certain Sections of Chapter Sixty of The Administrative Code

June 7, 1940

COMMONWEALTH ACT NO. 561

AN ACT TO CREATE A DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND WELFARE IN THE CITY OF MANILA, TO DEFINE ITS POWERS AND DUTIES, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE, CERTAIN SECTIONS OF CHAPTER SIXTY OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE

SECTION 1. Section two thousand four hundred and forty-five the Administrative Code is amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 2445. City departments. — There shall be the following city departments over which the mayor shall have general supervisory control:

"1. Department of engineering and public works.

"2. Police department.

"3. Law department.

"4. Fire department.

"5. Department of finance.

"6. Department of assessment.

"7. Department of Health and welfare.

"The Board may from time to time make such readjustment of the duties of the several departments as the public interest may demand. The Secretary of the Interior shall have the power to consolidate any department, division or office of the city with any other department, division or office, upon the recommendation of the mayor."

SECTION 2. Chapter sixty of the Administrative Code is amended by inserting a new article and a new section between articles eleven and twelve, which shall be known as article eleven-A and section two thousand five hundred and six-A, respectively, and shall read as follows:

"ARTICLE XI-A. — DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND WELFARE

"Sec. 2506-A. Powers and duties of the city health officer. — There shall be a city health officer, with compensation at the rate of six thousand pesos per annum, who shall have charge of the Department of Health and Welfare, and shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly. He shall have the following general powers and duties:

"(a) He shall have general supervision and control over the health and sanitary condition of the city, including the cleaning of all public buildings, buildings rented for city purposes, crematories, cemeteries, stockyards, slaughterhouses, public toilets, markets, collection and disposal of garbage, refuse the contents of toilets, cesspools, and all other offensive and dangerous substances within the city; ITDSAE

"(b) He shall have authority to charge, at rates to be fixed by the Municipal Board with the approval of the Department Head, fees for sanitation services and supplies furnished by his department to private parties;

"(c) He shall have control and supervision over puericulture centers and social services of the city;

"(d) He shall have authority to declare that any lot or ground within the City of Manila belonging to any person or corporation or to the National Government or any branch or political subdivision thereof, is so low, excavated or walled, diked or dammed as to admit or cause the formation on the surface thereof stagnant or foul water, or that it is a nuisance or a menace to public health, unless filled in, or its sanitary condition otherwise improved, and shall so communicate the same to the Mayor;

"(e) He shall execute and enforce all laws, ordinances, and regulations relating to public health;

"(f) He shall, upon the approval of the Director of Health, recommend to the Municipal Board the passage of ordinances as he may deem necessary for the preservation of public health;

"(g) He shall cause to be prosecuted all violations of sanitary laws, ordinances, or regulations;

"(h) He shall make sanitary inspections and may be aided therein by such members of the police force of the city as shall be designated as sanitary police by the chief of police and by such sanitary inspectors as may be authorized by law.

"(i) He shall perform such other duties with reference to the health and sanitation of the city as the Director of Health shall direct: Provided, That the appointment of technical persons shall be made only with consultation of the Director of Health, and nothing in this law shall be interpreted as to curtail the power and duties conferred by existing laws to the Director of Health over the City of Manila as a part of the Philippines, and that the Director of Health shall continue to have technical supervision and control over the health work of the city.

"(j) In case of epidemic or when the inhabitants of the City of Manila are menaced by any other infections or contagious disease, the Director of Health shall assume full control of the health and sanitation services of the city until such condition shall have ceased to exist."

SECTION 3. Section two thousand four hundred and fifty-six of the Administrative Code is hereby repealed.

SECTION 4. The first paragraph of section two thousand four hundred and fifty-eight of the Administrative Code is amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 2458. Powers and duties of city engineer. — There shall be a city engineer, who shall be in charge of the department of engineering and public works. He shall have charge of all the surveying and engineering work of the city, and shall perform such services in connection with the public improvements, or any work entered upon or projected by the city, or any department thereof, as may require the skill and experience of a civil engineer. He shall ascertain, record, and establish monuments of the city survey 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 prepare and submit plans, maps, specifications, and estimates for buildings, streets, bridges, docks, and other public works and supervise the construction and repair of the same; shall make such tests and inspection of engineering materials used in 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, when erected, including markets and slaughterhouses and all buildings rented for city purposes, and of any system now or hereafter established 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, and regulate and enforce the numbering of houses, in accordance with the ordinances of the city; shall have the care of all public streets, parks, and bridges; shall maintain, clean, sprinkle, and regulate the use of the same for all purposes as provided by laws and ordinances; shall collect and dispose of all garbage, refuse, the contents of closets, vaults, and cesspools, and all other offensive and dangerous substances within the city; shall have the care and custody of all public docks, wharves, piers, levees, and land places, when erected; shall have general supervision and inspection of all private docks, wharves, piers, levees, and landing places, and other property bordering on the harbor, river, esteros, and waterways of the city, and shall issue permits for the construction, repair, and removal of the same, and enforce all ordinances relating to the same; shall have the care and custody of all sources of water supply other than those under the Metropolitan Water District, and shall control, maintain, and regulate the use of the same, in accordance with the ordinances relating thereto. He shall file and preserve all maps, plans, notes, surveys, and other papers and documents pertaining to his office. He shall supervise the laying of mains and connections for the purpose of supplying gas to the inhabitants of the city. 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 ordinance relating thereto. He is authorized to charge, at rates to be fixed by the Board with the approval of the Department Head, for sanitation and transportation services and supplies furnished by his department." HIAEaC

SECTION 5. Upon the organization of the Department of Health and Welfare in accordance with this Act, all expenses for its operation including the salaries and wages of the personnel that may be transferred to the said department from the Bureau of Health shall be charged to the account of the City of Manila.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and forty: Provided, however, That the reorganization to be effected in accordance with the same may be suspended for a later date if the President of the Philippines shall find that the public interest so requires.

Approved, June 7, 1940.