I have just finished assembling a kit for representing oneself in Dumaguete and other Filipino Courts. If anyone here has actually filed civil cases and self represented, please message me and we can compare notes, share ideas on how to successfully do this. This looks promising for issues dealing with bad landlords, scammers that sell online or anyone that cheats you here.
"The man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client." I have to admit I do agree with this, especially when in a foreign country where the odds are probably already stacked against you. That being said, I do think onlymichaels efforts are admirable and could be helpful to others, if only to gain more of a knowledge of how the system here works, being more knowledgeable of what your attorney should be doing and what effort (cost) it should take, etc.
Self representation is a good idea if you know the law, especially if you go with a native (husband/wife) - The pinoy lawyers here know little/no more than you and typically advise you to pay(bribe) to get off.. Being persistent with the judges and showing them drafts of the laws (again with a native) you have a good chance of saving yourself some pesos..the people above obviously are pushovers and use the power of the peso to try to turn the tables in their favor. Which is fine of course but handling it the legitimate way is what i've done over the years and its worked every(well almost every) time in several legal situations
although I forgot to add the laws here are so written in such vague terminology they can be interpreted a hundred different ways
