Municipal Ordinance No. 3 of the municipality of Cebu
When the municipality of Cebu was yet young having been established by the Americans in 1901, the Municipal Board of Cebu enacted Ordinance No. 3 on May 15, 1901, the purpose of which was to regulate the erections of buildings and houses in Cebu. Among the provisions were:
"13. Every building erected in Mclemand Street and its parallels towards the sea shall be of three stories; the first four meters in height, the second three meters and twenty centimeters, and the last four meters and fifty centimeters. Its front shall be in harmony with the ornamentation adopted by the municipality for this street and no permit shall be issued that does not fulfill the foregoing conditions. In the remaining streets of the same class as the preceding, houses of two stories may be erected, the first five meters in height and the second five, duly ornamented in the style of the government building of this city.
15. All houses erected on streets of the second class must be of two stories, the first four meters in height, and the second four meters and twenty centimeters. The houses numbered 7 and 12 in "La Infanta" street are taken as models of the ornamentation for this class. Buildings known as warehouses, stores or shops, even when they have outwardly the appearance of dwelling houses, are strictly prohibited in streets of the first and second class."
The validity of the ordinance was tested when John M. Switzer, an American businessman who made Cebu as its residence submitted an application to the Municipality of Cebu for a permit for the construction of a building.
Mr. Switzer, the Co-Founder of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce founded in 1901(now the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry), leased from the Insular Government parcels of land. These are Lots No. 3 and 4 of Block 2 of the Official Plan of Cebu Waterfront Reclamation No. 2. The contract was executed on January 24, 1910.
On March 26, 1910, Mr. Switzer secured an approval from the Architect of the Insular Government to construct a one story building to be made as a warehouse. This was along Calle Morga (now known as the M.C. Briones Street).
The municipality of Cebu refused to approve the permit, which forced Mr. Switzer to file an action against the municipality of Cebu. Switzer was assisted by the American lawyer Martin M. Levering, the founder of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce whose businesses include the Cebu Telephone Company (established in 1903) and Visayan Electric (established in 1905).
The case reached before the Supreme Court and was decided on September 1, 1911. Justice Mapa wrote the decision and said that the municipal council has no power under Section 39 of the Municipal Code, which authorizes the establishment of fire limits and the regulation of the kind of buildings shall be constructed of more than one story or in any particular style of architecture or with any special kind of ornamentation. The manner in which the power conferred by the code shall be exercised is not prescribed but the exercise thereof must be subjected to the requirements of reason and public expediency, in the absence of a more explicit provision of law.
As a consequence, the Supreme Court ordered the municipality of Cebu to issue the permit sought by Mr. Switzer (who was during the filing of the case was the president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce) it ruled that the municipality of Cebu or its officers has no authority to interfere or prohibit the construction of the building to be erected.
This was as long as the government regulations on the security, healthfulness and its hygiene has been complied, it could not prohibit the applicant from erecting a one-story building.
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