Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. The first, second and third paragraphs of Section twenty-three of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred fifty-eight, otherwise known as the Charter of the City of Iloilo, as amended, are further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 23. City departments.—There shall be the follow­ing city departments over which the Mayor shall have general supervisory control:

"1. Department of Finance.

"2. Department of Engineering and Public Works.

"3. Legal Department.

"4. Police and Fire Department.

"5. Department of Assessment.

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

"The chiefs of departments shall receive the annual salaries provided for by Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred forty, as amended."

SEC. 2. Section twenty-five of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 25. Appointment and Removal of Officers and Employees.—With the consent of the Commission on Ap­pointments the President of the Philippines shall appoint the City Treasurer, City Assessor, the Engineer, the Fis­cal, the City Judge, the Auxiliary City Judge and the Chief of Police. Subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Law, the Mayor shall appoint all other officers and employees of the city whose appointment is not other­wise provided by law. The suspension or removal of the same should be subject to the provisions of Executive Order Numbered Thirty-nine of the President of the Philip­pines. The Mayor shall recommend to the President of the Philippines the suspension or removal of any officer or employee of the executive or administrative departments of the city appointed by said President, whose decision shall be final."

SEC. 3. A new article heading is hereby inserted before Section twenty-eight of the same Act to read as fol­lows:

"ARTICLE V-A.—DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENT"

SEC. 4. Section twenty-eight of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 28. Powers and duties of the city assessor.—The city assessor shall have charge of the department of as­sessment. The city assessor and his authorized deputies, who are empowered to administer any oath authorized to be administered in connection with the valuation of real estate for the assessment and collection of taxes, shall appraise and value all the real estate in the city, and assess for taxation all such real estate not expressly exempt except machines, mechanical contrivances, instruments, tools, implements, appliances, apparatus, and parapher­nalia used for industrial, agricultural, or manufacturing purposes, which shall be excluded from such valuation and assessment whether or not attached to lands or build­ings. The city assessor shall make the list of taxable real estate in the city, and the names of the owners shall be arranged in the order of the lot and block numbers with a brief description opposite such name of the prop­erty owned by such owners 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 exercising his own judgment in respect thereto. For the purpose of completing this list, he and his representatives are em­powered to enter upon the real estate for the purpose of examining and measuring the same, and to summon wit­nesses, administer oaths to them, and subject them to examination concerning the ownership and the amount of real estate and its cash value. It shall be the duty of the city assessor, so far as is necessary, to examine the records of the office of the register of deeds in the Province of Iloilo showing the ownership of real estate in the city."

SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved, June 19, 1965.