I'm Giancarlo Enrico S. Pozon, a Wushu instructor, investor and Barrister... That's right, Barrister; I graduated from law school and took the Bar Exams, now I'm waiting for the results. I created this blog to make Philippine Law easy to understand for the average person. It's all about free legal advice. There are many law blogs. But the problem is that many of them are written for lawyers and law students. They use words that can't be understood by ordinary people.
Many lawyers, judges and law students consider themselves as superior to most human beings because of their knowledge of the law. It bothers me since the law is supposed to serve society. Since the law is meant to serve society as a whole, it is important that is must be understood by everybody.
This does not mean that we should all become lawyers. It means that although law is a highly specialized profession, the first duty of everybody in this profession is to make the law understandable to all; that's why all these articles are free legal advice.
Like I said, this blog is about law -but it's for the ordinary people, not the lawyers. It's for the ordinary folk so they will know what is good and bad for them, and that making them aware of the law will help us all improve society as a whole. This is free legal advice for everybody!
The Local Government Units (provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays -yes, even the barangays) have the power to raise their own taxes. They do this by passing ordinances. If an ordinance is unjust, illegal or unconstitutional, it can be attacked in this way:
1.) Within thirty (30) days from the day the tax ordinance becomes effective, the taxpayer must appeal to the Secretary of the Department of Justice. The Secretary has sixty (60) days to decide.
2.) If the Secretary of the DOJ doesn't act on the appeal or rules against it, the taxpayer has thirty (30) days to file a Declaratory Relief case at the Regional Trial Court. Remember, the 30-day period begins on the sixty-first (61st) day if the Secretary did nothing; and, if he did and ruled against the taxpayer, on the day after the taxpayer received the decision.
3.) The rest follows the usual pattern: if you don't like the RTC's decision, go to the Court of Appeals. If you don't like the CA's decision, go to the Supreme Court. If you don't like the Supreme Court, there's nothing you can do. Supreme Court decisions, however unfair, become part of the law of the country.
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