Legal Scribbles

photo by Will Qua   Introduction Textbooks on local governments are usually arranged in the same order as the provisions on Local Government Code, making it hard for lay people and law students alike to understand the legal framework that governs Philippine cities. This short legal treatise is an ambitious endeavor that aims to provide a clear view on that legal framework, the author recognizing that he himself experienced difficulty in understanding even the simplest textbooks on local governments. However, his interest and curiosity on local development and his incessant observations on the cities he himself visited gave him a good perspective on the very confusing, complex, but intricately-interesting ramifications of the legal framework that governs cities in the Philippines. The author, most of his life, has been living in Legazpi, a city over the edge of Luzon Island facing the Pacific Ocean with the pulchritudinous Mayon Volcano on its background. The city's ...