What’s next?

IMET Rep. Aniceto “John” Bertiz on two oc casions in Danao City. He was introduced to me by a friend and one of the directors of Club Filipino de Cebu. I learned that he was representing the party-list group ACT-OFW. His wife is from Carmen, Cebu, the reason why he comes to Cebu once in a while.

Someone said that if you want to know the character of a person, play golf with him. I played golf with Bertiz together with Rex Bontia. His game was as good as that of Rex, but he did not show his temperament in his missed shots unlike some friends I know of.

This is not in defense of Bertiz. But on the occasions I met him, he didn’t show signs of arrogance. That’s why I was surprised to learn about that incident at the airport where he supposedly showed an uncalled-for behavior. He apologized but his justification for his act became viral in social media.

Realizing perhaps that what he did ruined his image, Bertiz filed a resolution in Congress calling for an investigation into the incident. In short, he asked his peers to scrutinize him in Congress. Will this be good for him?

His other purpose in calling for the congressional inquiry, which is in aid of legislation, is to look into the supposed unauthorized release of the video footage on the incident to social media by an airport employee or its employees. Bertiz complained that video footage was released to social media even before an inquiry into the incident could be conducted.

Will a law be passed prohibiting government offices or agencies from releasing video footage to social media? That is possible considering that some of the scandals caught on camera involve public officials. But in this IT age, netizens are certain to oppose any legislation of this nature.

If ever a law would be crafted out of this congressional investigation that would prohibit the release of video footage to the public or social media even before a probe could be conducted, it should exclude those that involve the commission of crimes since in this instance the immediate identification of culprits is primordial.