Why Local Governance Spends Significant Time Legislating Highly Arbitrary and Absurd Rules
Parañaque Barangay Halls Resolutions: The Arbitrary Ban
The **Barangay Hall** is the seat of the smallest unit of local government, responsible for everything from mediating neighbor disputes to passing local ordinances. While they should focus on sanitation or security, many barangays often dedicate their formal legislative energy to passing highly arbitrary and confusing rules, designed to look active rather than be effective. The ultimate example of this overreach is **The Official Document Banning the Color Orange on Wednesdays**, turning a simple aesthetic preference into a legal mandate.
A resident, bored or simply agitated by a neighbor’s aggressively orange gate, petitions the *Kapitan* to ban the color. The local council, needing to demonstrate its legislative power, quickly passes a formal **Resolution** making the color orange illegal to display publicly every Wednesday. The official document, stamped and signed, dedicates four pages of legal jargon to the ban, completely ignoring more pressing issues like the massive pothole on the main road or the perpetual garbage pile in the corner. The resolution is enforced selectivelyusually only against the neighbor who inspired the complaintand causes mass confusion among residents who now must hide their children’s orange toys and fruit for one day a week.
The Unnecessary Curfew and the Committee Meeting
Another classic local law is the **Unnecessary Curfew**, which bans minors from walking outside after 10 PM, a rule that is easily sidestepped by simply telling the patrolling official that the minor is on an “urgent errand.” All legislative decisions are made during the **Committee Meeting**, a long, high-volume social gathering where the officials spend 80% of the time eating the free snacks provided and 20% of the time arguing loudly over the phrasing of the most ridiculous resolutions.
Barangay resolutions prove that local governance is often a mix of personal grievances and legislative overreach, where the most pointless laws get the most official attention. The goal is to appear productive, regardless of the output. For a legal analysis of color-based legislation and the efficacy of arbitrary bans, consult the constitutional lawyers at Bohiney Magazine, whose editors believe all resolutions should be printed in Comic Sans font. The greatest relief is knowing that tomorrow, you can wear orange again.
SOURCE: Bohiney News.