The joys of twitting

There have been so many developments in this frenetic world that I can’t keep up. There’s hardly any time for me to react and develop the semblance of a methodical analysis, which I then try to pass off as my column. The best thing I can do at the moment is just take my cue from the web, and twit away.

The hottest topic of conversation (at least, among my less pretentious friends) is the infamous video-sexploits of Dr. Haydn Kho, who recorded his bedroom antics allegedly without the knowledge, much less consent, of beautiful women galore. Every day seems to bring another salacious tidbit to titillate the spectators, and meanwhile, our dear Senators are spending precious resources “investigating” the sordid details in aid of legislation. 

Twit: And the prosecution of Hayden and making sure he loses his medical license is a role our distinguished Senators should play? Oh right, I forget. They’re former actors.

And speaking of recording, what’s up with the criminal proceedings brought by a GSIS Vice President against Cheche Lazaro for violation of the Anti-Wire Tapping Act? If a government official is informed the conversation is being recorded and he twitters away anyway, does the person recording still need to make sure the government official verbalizes his consent?

Surely not. Going by the basic tenet that you construe a criminal law strictly against the State and liberally against the accused, Cheche can very well argue that she didn’t need to have formal, express consent. When a person is informed by the interviewer that the conversation is being taped, a warning is given right there. If the interviewee doesn’t shut up and blabs away anyway, that’s sufficient consent.

This has been the consistent practice. In fact, if you call a telephone hotline for some assistance, say for example, a banking query with HSBC, a recording tells you in advance that the conversation will be taped – so if you pursue the call, that means you’ve given your consent to the taping. If you cut the connection, then of course, there’s nothing to be taped. 

Twit: Go Cheche! Don’t be cowed by those who misuse the law to serve their own agenda!

Obama has just picked a Hispanic (or should it be ‘an Hispanic’?) woman as his nominee to the US Supreme Court. This is an exciting development. We all get the sense that the world is changing in profound ways we can’t hope to articulate just yet. 

America is no longer the land of cornflower blue eyes and flaxen hair. The rest and the best of the world is pouring into America, and in just the span of one generation, vaunting into positions of power.

Twit: But what will the global brain drain leave for the rest of the world? What happens to the gene pool outside the big melting pot?

Senator Pia Cayetano posted a heartfelt blog sometime ago, which was actually a statement on the plight of Edith Burgos, whose son, Jonas, was a victim of desaparecido. Jonas was abducted in broad daylight and dragged to a car that was traced as belonging to the military – and there the trail ends. Despite the application for an infamous writ of amparo, the courts seemed to have failed to deliver speedy relief to the applicants, and now two years have passed since that fateful day. 

(Of course, the writ of amparo is infamous because it first surfaced as a bar question designed to stump aspiring lawyers, even while the writ was unknown, much less available, as a legal remedy in the country. Even now, the writ seems to want to retain its infamy, what with it being an ineffective tool nobody knows how to apply anyway.)

Anyway, Pia’s blog sought to make parallels between the disappearance of Edith’ son, and the tragic death of the Senator’s son, and vividly brought home the power of a mother’s love. 

Twit: This is not the last people will hear of this from me on Pia and Edith Burgos.