Piss and rape talk
Let’s dip into trending topics for a moment. Social media is fired up with opinions for or against the use by LGBTQ+ members of “traditional” restrooms. Would-be conservatives have been bent on objectifying who pees where in a public toilet, while liberals posit that this be a subjective act, i.e. pee where your heart desires. Each side has its own pros and cons, and mandating the construction of a “third” gender-sensitive restroom will be costly for property and mall developers nationwide.
What say our good legislators? One senator, part of a huge conglomerate, said they are free to use the PWD restroom if they so please. Another senator said that these developers are billionaires anyway, so they can, in reality, pull off constructing an extra restroom. Our Senate President shut down the liberals when he declared that the SOGIE bill has no chance in hell of passing in the Senate. A former senate president opined that the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community are protected in the existing laws.
In the House, there was less talk since most were busy with the receipt of the National Expenditure Program from the Department of Budget and Management last Tuesday, the majority caucus held on Wednesday (a holiday) at SM Aura, Taguig — the city of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano — and the beginning of budget deliberations on Thursday. But the House was the first to respond when Rep. Geraldine Roman, the first transgender woman elected in the Philippines, took the cudgels in leading this fight.
I refuse to foray much into this debacle since I have no strong feelings about it. I am of the opinion that we can piss where we please, but must do so without offending others in the restroom. Reports have surfaced of abusive members of the LGBTQ+ community who made threats inside a public restroom to women who raised eyebrows after they exhibited their male genitalia. The conservatives online have been posting links to articles on similar abuses made by men who posed as transgenders in ladies’ restrooms. This concerns me as a husband and a father to a young daughter.
On this note, let me segue to another burning topic. The impending release of former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez has lit up the Internet with young millennials (who likely have never heard of Mayor Sanchez before) fanning the flame to what can become a firestorm to this administration. Unlike the pissing incident, online clamor has been siding against the release.
As an old millennial, I have memories of the rape, capture, and conviction of Mayor Sanchez in 1993. I recall watching the judge promulgating the decision finding Mayor Sanchez guilty of the crime of rape and how he was brought out of the courtroom. Mayor Sanchez was shouting invectives to the reporters that swarmed him — a rare moment when PIs were broadcasted live unfiltered on live news, scarring me for life — and he even fell on his backside at the staircase. As such, growing up, Mayor Sanchez was the exact image of a corrupt, evil politician for me.
This image got disruptive when I joined an immersion program for my Theology class in Ateneo de Manila at the
New Bilibid Prison sometime in
2004. The program was an eyeopener for me since I saw how it was behind bars, learning about the fraternities known as “pangkats,” seeing the tennis courts of Romeo Jalosjos, and having insightful conversations with inmates. We attended Mass inside the prison and I saw Mayor Sanchez in the flesh, wearing an all-white attire, looking like a pastor himself. This got me thinking if it was possible at all for such a vile creature to be reformed.
Don’t get me wrong — I am against the release of Mayor Sanchez mainly because of the objection of the rape victim’s family. I just met our Vice Consul of Saudi Arabia at the official visit of the Speaker of Saudi Arabia. While waiting to meet President Duterte in Malacañang, we talked about this Filipina minor on death row in Riyadh, which was among the official requests of our government with Saudi Arabia.
How did this come about? The Filipina was trafficked to Riyadh at the tender age of 13 to be a domestic helper. At 16, she got into a fight with her employer, who she stabbed to death using a pair of scissors. Now, she is waiting to be executed. In Saudi Arabia, executions are done publicly by beheading using a sword. Those to be executed are brought in the middle of a public square and their names are announced only after the executions are finished.
According to our Vice Consul, it is unlikely for the Filipina to be released. There is no recognized age of minority in Saudi Arabia and it is the demand of the victim’s family that she be put to death. In their culture, it is the family’s desire that is controlling. If we apply the same method in the Philippines, then Mayor Sanchez should rot in jail, in light of the recent comments of the victim’s mother. Do we have a law that is unresponsive? I believe so, and if we had the death penalty applied back in 1993, we wouldn’t be talking about this now.
“Growing up, Mayor Sanchez was the exact image of a corrupt, evil politician for me.
“I
am of the opinion that we can piss where we please, but must do so without offending others in the restroom.