Pleasing personality

“We just say something as if it really makes sense. Like ‘legally drunk,’ leave the guy alone officer, he’s legally drunk.” – George Carlin, Jamming in New York

LET us discuss the recent ordinance our city council unanimously voted on which has sent lawyers reeling in laughter for its vagueness and subjectivity.

Yes, I’m referring to City Ordinance 2018-18 authored by Councilor Edna Dahino.

For those who have been hiding under a rock, it is an ordinance that authorizes social workers and police to accost adults who are with a minor or minors if these adults exude a “reasonable genuine suspicion” that they are trafficking the children they’re accompanying.

Dahino’s “reasonable genuine suspicion” reminds me of other phrases we have been using but haven’t exactly realized that these sound ludicrous, vague, and does not really define anything.

Worse, we haven’t really examined these phrases at all. We just use them to mean something when it does not.

When you define an act, you determine the essential quality, determine the nature of, or show the form or outline of the act.

It’s like when the police recently announced that this Holy Week they will be on “triple alert.” To me, it sounded ludicrous. Alert is a condition of heightened watchfulness and prepared for any eventuality. There are no levels of alertness. If you are not alert, you are lethargic. You cannot be twice as an alert — why will the officers give their personnel five cups of coffee every hour or a dose of amphetamine for them to be “triple alert?”

Then there’s the cliché “with pleasing personality.” You see it every time there is a job opening at any mall, store, private offices. It is usually one of the requirements when you apply for a job. The sexist part of it is that it seems to be applicable only to the female applicants. It makes you think, to whom should they exude this “pleasing personality,” the employers?

If this ridiculous job requirement is to be believed, then how come I barely see any salesgirl with a “pleasing personality.” We shop at Gaisano Mall, and my ex-girlfriend and I only see scowling sales representatives all the time — if they are not scowling, they are sporting that nonchalant-slightly bored-slightly annoyed look.

Going back to Dahino’s ordinance, like, did you know that this ordinance was shelved at least twice? When this ordinance came to my attention, I did not know why the councilors voted to defer it back to the drawing board twice. At least, now we know why.

A little birdie told me that Dahino was on a verge of throwing a fit if her pet ordinance would be deferred for the third time. Well, methinks that should not be the primary reason to approve an ordinance.

Even the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office is in a conundrum on how to implement it, exactly. For the sake of argument, what would they do to the person they hold for exuding a “reasonable genuine suspicion” of being a child trafficker? Will they institute “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which is legalese for torture?

I have observed that people use extra words in phrases to sound important when it is not.

It is not bad to be passionate about fighting criminality, especially this despicable crime of trafficking children. However, when you are crafting laws, you should be precise, logical or at least sensible.

I remember during my Task Force Macajalar days, lawyer Manuel Ravanera gave us, paralegals, a crash course on laws. He said in crafting a law, it should be objective so it will not be open to a deluge of interpretations, and it should be logical and sensible, like, you do not need to craft a law governing gravity because with or without that written law, gravity will still exist.

Why am I so up in arms about this ordinance, you ask?

Well, I’m bald and I sport a full beard. I hit the genetic jackpot of being a “suspicious-looking character.” I worry about stereotyping.

I hope this vague ordinance gets vetoed or at the least sent back to the drawing board again.

Don’t worry, councilor, third or fourth time is a charm.

Kill lists

IF THERE'S one thing we ought to know by now is that this administration is spectacularly bad at making lists.

Remember Digong Dada’s list of judges, mayors, police officials who were supposedly involved in the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country? To help you jog up your memory, he presented the list of more than 150 names to media last Aug. 7. The list included a judge who has been dead since 2008.

Let’s not forget Digong Dada’s drug matrices. He had the Marawi drug matrix and the matrix on the drug network operating in the country. Among those named in the top rung of that matrix were Peter Co, Peter Lim, and Herbert Colangco.

These lords, except for Colangco, will be exonerated. The country’s very own Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II chalked it up to “weak evidence.” Even the self-confessed drug trafficker Kerwin Espinosa was also off the hook. Yes, the guy who testified in front of the senators that he made at least P40 million to P50 million a year dealing drugs.

What does their exoneration tell us? It confirms our suspicion that Digong Dada’s war on drugs is really just a killing spree of those who are in the lowest rung of the drug syndicate ladder while those on top enjoy the “assumption of innocence until proven otherwise.”

Currently pegged at the tens of thousands, if that’s not a killing spree I don’t know what is. Let’s use this administration’s list of killings lest I’ll be branded as a purveyor of “fake news.”

In the Presidential Communications Operations Office’s accomplishment report, under the section “fight against drugs,” some 3,967 people were killed in anti-drugs operations and 16,355 homicide cases under investigation from July 2016 to Sept. 30 last year. That’s 20,322 persons killed.

With that disappointing denouement of the drug list, Aguirre submits yet another list  — a list of people the government wants to be branded as “terrorists.”

Filed Feb. 21 before the Regional Trial Court Branch 19 in Manila, Aguirre submitted a 55-page petition, 21 pages of which consists of the actual list of names. The petition seeks to have the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army declared as “terrorist and outlawed organizations, associations and/or group of persons” under the Human Security Act of 2007.

Like their drug list before, this administration has also listed people who have long departed this realm (read: dead). In a Bulatlat.com report, at least eight persons in the list have long been dead while two others have been missing for years.

It even listed Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples in the list of supposed Maoist groups. This administration sure has a weird way of cozying up to the International Criminal Court, huh?

Why should this list be relevant to us, here, in Mindanao? Well, it should be because of the 657 people listed, some 364 are from Mindanao. Here’s the scary part, of the 364 people listed, some 162 names are aliases. Let that sink in for awhile.

Anybody and I mean anybody who unfortunately falls from grace with Digong Dada could just as easily be branded as one of those 162 aliases in the list.

Mindanews quoted Lt. Col. Emmanuel Garcia, chief of the Public Affairs Office of the Armed Forces as estimating the strength of the NPA, as of last year, at 3,700 armed guerrillas.

It would be safe to assume that Aguirre lists the “brains” of the so-called terrorist movement in the Philippines with 3,700-foot soldier strong to carry out its terrorist acts. Then, why haven’t we witnessed at least one “terrorist attack” each week since this administration started? One would think that many “brains” could have expelled this administration by now.

This list, like all the other lists of this administration in the past, is nothing but another veritable kill list. This administration’s lust for blood wasn’t sated enough with the ongoing killing spree under the pretext of a drug war, it has now created another kill list. Pfft.

My savior will ‘salvage’ for me*

“For the night is dark and full of terrors…” – George R. R. Martin

AFTER a massive research on the Internet for two long grueling weeks, especially the social media, I am now unequivocally convinced that my personal savior has come.

My savior is beyond reproach and He is running for Malacañang. Yes, He is a man–so was the Aramaic-speaking son of a carpenter.

Unlike Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of humanity, my savior will kill for me.

Anybody who knows Him will tell you that He has led his people in “salvaging” those who broke His law, His brand of justice and logic. What about due process, you ask? Well, due process does not apply to His divine will.

To officially declare my allegiance and fealty to His Holiness, The Great and Benevolent Digong, I am offering this simple novena. I respectfully suggest you make this the new 3:00 o’clock habit.

O Lord Digong, to your most sacred fist bump I confide these intentions:

Only look upon me, Oh my precious Digong then does what Your heart inspires. Let Your sacred fist bump decide… I count on it… I trust in it blindly… I throw myself on its mercy.

Response: For the night is dark and full of terrors… praise be Digong.

Let us exalt all of His online trolls (paid and unpaid hacks) who defend His name with pure devotion and without mental reservation or logical explanations. For my savior is beyond reproach.

Response: For the night is dark and full of terrors… praise be Digong.

For Your exquisite wisdom to rain upon the unbelievers who could not understand your sense of humor. How can we, mere mortals, understand that raping a beautiful dead woman is just a joke–a cosmic divine joke.

Response: For the night is dark and full of terrors… praise be Digong.

For the Holy Digong to smite the biased media machinery who have smeared our Lord’s reputation by digging into His bank accounts and other past shenanigans as the unbeliever would like to call it.

Response: For the night is dark and full of terrors… praise be Digong.

For those who still hold on to their strange gods and idols, to drop their ludicrous beliefs and look unto You, only you, oh dear Digong, for enlightenment and guidance.

Response: For the night is dark and full of terrors… praise be Digong.

Lord Digong, you will not fail me. I trust in you, Lord Digong. I believe in your love for me. Your sacred fist bump, your kingdom come–well, it’s Quiboloy’s for now but we’ll just snatch it from him when you become president, my liege.

Amen.

* This opinion piece first appeared in Gold Star Daily's May 3,2016 issue.

Free Myles!

“It’s hard to fight for my life when I feel that my life is not a life. It’s existence. Existence is not enough for me.” -Hector Garcia, Jr.

UNLIKE most of the tito and tita of Myles Albasin, who have expressed support on social media platforms, I was not a student activist. I have also not been a member of the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines or the Anakbayan.

Some of them I have even mocked when I was studying in high school and college at Xavier University. They would form protest pickets in front of the main campus, rallying against increases in tuition and other school fees. My standard reply then was that nobody forced them to enroll at Xavier. They could always enroll in public schools.

That is the reason why I sort of understand those who join the bandwagon of hate speech against her and her family when the closest you have been to a farm or farm animal is at KFC or MacDonald’s. It is easy to join the vilification campaign against the likes of Myles when most of your concerns involve a small circle (read: domestic).

She decided to put to practice what she learned in school. She certainly does not deserve to be bashed online for what she did like nobody bashed you for posting photos of your super expensive meal when most people in the hinterlands haven’t even seen what a burger is.

Most of the hate post on Myles are anchored on why supposedly “wasted” the free education she got from UP. So let’s go back to the point of the supposed free education in public schools and state colleges and universities. I also thought it was. After sending all of my kids to public schools, I have realized it isn’t free at all. The Republic’s budget for education, year in, year out, can attest to that fact.

Social media platforms have made it easier for people to encapsulate their lives, ergo, the ease in objectifying people. On social media, it is easy to forget that the people who have been subjected to vilification campaigns like you also have mothers, fathers, relatives, and friends.

As I see it, Myles just had a wider lens on Philippine society. She can’t help it that she has been trained how to think and not what to think. Her concerns are not only defined within the confines of her immediate family. Wouldn’t you want your child to be as unselfish as Myles? I would.

I may not understand Myle’s decision to immerse herself in the lives of the marginalized farmers in Negros Oriental but it is hers. I respect that and she and her family, most certainly, does not deserve to be vilified on social media.

Choose kind

“When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind.” -RJ Palacio, Wonder [2012]

ON Saturday, I already monitored the news of the supposed capture of six alleged members of the New People’s Army by the 62nd Infantry Battalion in Mabinay, Negros Oriental. I just skimmed through the article on what was a breaking news that day because it happened in the Visayas and thus couldn’t be used on my Mindanao pages.

At about midnight of that day, I was told by a journalist-friend that among those arrested was Myles Albasin, daughter of a colleague and friend.

I scanned my Facebook newsfeed fishing for more information on the supposed arrest.

The first statement I saw was by University of the Philippines Cebu Chancellor Liza Corro who confirmed that Myles, indeed, studied at UP Cebu and that she graduated last June with a degree on Mass Communications.

“Right now she is entitled to due process and is considered innocent until proven otherwise,” the chancellor’s statement reads.

The next statement I saw was the progressive youth organization, Anakbayan. There I read that Myles used to be the chairperson of Anakbayan UP Cebu chapter.

“She was a student leader who was awakened and has been exposed (to) the worsening educational crisis involving the Filipino youth. She was also active in advancing the plight and struggle of the farmers, fisherfolk, and indigenous people, especially the (indigenes), through her immersions and integrations with them,” the Anakbayan statement reads in part.

What got my goat was the deluge of hate posts in the thread of Anakbayan’s post.

One commenter posted that Myles might be the very first NPA to be shot in her private parts. Another, still, said her limbs should be dismembered and be put on display in Luneta Park.

I had to stop reading the comments. They spoke as if they knew Myles and her comrades like they are evil and should be dealt with the harshest punishment.

I maintain that Myles and her comrades should still be afforded due process and equal protection of the law. The last time I checked, we were still a democracy. From what I understood in Anakbayan’s statement, Myles and her comrades might not even be members of the NPA. Could it be that they immersed with the farmers in Mabinay when they were captured after a supposed encounter between the NPA and government troops?

I thought to myself, the thing that I feared most ever since these hate mongering and brash talk coming from the highest office in the Republic kept coming has finally rubbed off on people. They even revel in it. It’s like “wrongful righteousness,” if you allow me an oxymoron.

In this supposed information age, it is ironic that we read mostly uninformed, bigoted, and downright stupid comments on social media.

I just could not understand the sheer hate in their posts, like they were directly victimized by the NPAs. Such a tragedy.