It’s not a joking matter

Rumormongers, beware. It will no longer be a laughing matter if you play practical jokes about Ebola because it could lead you to jail. Just the like the warnings in airports against jokes about bomb threats, the attempts to be funny by scaring people about Ebola will not be taken lightly by the law. Reports have come out about people telling stories about the disease already in the country, and they may soon be sorry for doing so.

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This is because the Secretary of Justice, Leila de Lima herself, has disclosed that, under Presidential Decree 90, spreading such rumors could get the culprit a jail term of six months and one day to six years. Or, worse, if Republic Act No. 10175 is applied on a case, the penalty would be worse. So it will never be worth your while to try to play jokes on people on such a serious matter as Ebola.

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Oh what a disappointment it was to the people of the Philippines when the news came out that Vice President Jejomar Binay was backing out from the much-awaited debate between him and Senator Antonio Trillanes. Was it not Binay who had challenged the senator in the first place? Most people expected him to make mincemeat out of the upstart senator who accepted a challenge to debate from a seasoned lawyer.

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But yesterday there were various reasons for halting the show. Earlier, the spokesmen of the vice president had already been saying they were not in favor of having that debate. We should have taken that as an indication that excuses were already being made up. Then lately, it was also reported that his family did not want him to go through it, so that was a more valid reason. Maybe they pitied Trillanes who, being a mere soldier, would be no match to the highly articulate law practitioner?

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But now Trillanes et al are gloating that they have scared off the challenger himself, which is not very nice for the camp of Binay. They must feel as if they have won Round One of this fight – in words, of course. The real test will be in 2016 when their bet will face Binay in the fight for the presidency. The latter continues to be very confident, especially with Erap coming out openly, saying he is no longer running for the post, as earlier announced, and will support Binay instead. Now the battle cry is “Onward to 2016!”

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But it was really a big, big let-down, even for Binay supporters we know who thought their man would gain more from it than Trillanes. To those who love competitions and conflicts it was almost as disappointing as stopping the La Salle-National University games while NU was winning would have been. Because, of course, both sides were banking on their bet trouncing the other, and suddenly if it deprived them of the excitement. I even know some people who were ready to place bets on it.

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There is a move from a lady lawmaker to amend the law that prohibits widows and women who have been divorced, or had their marriages annulled, from remarrying until after a year, or 361 days. Initially, I thought that was a silly law, but there seems to be some logic to it when it was explained that the prohibition is intended to make sure that the woman is not pregnant before she marries again, as that could pose a question as to the paternity of the child. The proposed law wants to remove that prohibition, which means the man who marries the divorcee or the widow has to take his chances. Is that fair?

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Isn’t it funny? Several foreign observers who came to Tacloban to check on the pace of rehabilitation seem to be impressed at the rate it has gone, and even had good words to say about the way their aid had been handled. Not so the locals, who continue criticizing and finding fault with the alleged slowness in the delivery of help to them. Somehow, I can understand the cause of the slow pace. Our laws are so stringent as far as releases of funds are concerned that anyone involved in the disbursement of any funds, or aid in kind, has to ensure that these can stand auditing and other monitoring procedures or red tape, or woe unto those who cannot properly liquidate what passes through their hands. But is it true that the mayor of Tacloban himself was the one who instigated the protests staged when foreign observers came? According to the man in charge, former Senator and General Ping Lacson, the vehicles of the protestors were seen in the compound of the mayor. Another mystery?*

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