Livin' la vida Local

In order to create peace and order, and an organized or systematized way of delivering basic services, allocation of resources, and such, the National government has created a law to give the control and responsibility to the hands of the local government units (LGU). The Republic Act no. 7160 or known as the Local Government Code of the Philippines enables each city and municipality to gain more power, authority, resources, and responsibilities (which I think is needed to be exercised in a good way and should not be abused). In this way, given that they are in the state of self-governing, each of them is given a chance to be fully developed without relying on the others and is expected to become more effective when it comes to achieving the nation’s goal. (2)

Various laws, ordinances, as well as a comprehensive plan formulated and implemented by the local government units, has been continuous serves as a guide for the order and development of each city and municipality. And as for Palawan which is the proposed site for my thesis project, they have created laws that are strictly needed to be obeyed in order to protect the environment as it is known as “the Country’s Last Frontier”. One of these is the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan Act prepared by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development. This act serves as a guide for the implementation of the programs and plans that are designed for the preservation and improvement of the environment. Moreover, it also promotes the involvement of the different sectors and encourages the people in the management, conservation, and protection of natural resources. (1)

These are just some examples of the LGU’s implemented laws that are needed to observe especially for the architecture practitioners. We should be well aware of the local government’s ordinances before proceeding to the designing or planning process. I think it is better to obey these strict sets of rules and regulations than initiating into a bigger problem that may cause the delay of your project.