Legalizing the illegal

A recent study was conducted by the Department of Justice on the idea of making illegal things legal - a total irony.

Imagine waking up to a day where what used to be a criminal act is now allowable. There will be no reason for policemen to roam around and conduct operations. It will be a complete slash on the budget for public safety. However, in a close up analysis, legalizing both gambling and prostitution may shed good light to our security.

In reality, gambling is not totally considered illegal. Actually, there is a legal form of gambling and these activities have a permit from the government plus they remit taxes to the government. On the other hand, those considered to be illegal gambling are those that pay no taxes to the government. These are what they are on the lookout for now - masiao, jueteng and video karera. Because it's not in accordance with the law, operators of these kinds of gambling hide their paraphernalia and play when everybody's asleep.

To sum it up, gambling only becomes illegal when there is no remittance of tax. But the act of both illegal and legal gambling is the same.

 Once tax will be imposed there would be less people who would engage in it following the increase in its game price. Just like the analogy of the sin tax law - higher tax imposed on liquor and cigarette, the more chances that there will be a decrease on people who are into these vices.

The act of prostitution too, in a sense, is not a criminal act. The women and men who are engaged in this practice are simply victims of poverty. They feel like they have no other choice to earn money so they engage in the flesh trade.

In prostitution, the issue that surfaces is the ethics of using your body to earn money. You do not use your body, most especially your private parts, to earn. Some are even known to have reports of being drugged, beaten up or tortured after the sexual activity has finished.

Even if their act is unethical, is it no way near criminal. They are only engaging into an activity which they know would alleviate their financial status even if it involves exploitation of their body.

Maybe that is why some countries legalize prostitution and they are really called professionals. Yet, with the current situation of the Philippines maturity now, we are not ready to legalize prostitution. Gambling could pass but the emergence of legal sex workers would be hard.

It is good that our justice department is starting to see things in a new light. I feel like we are slowly accepting the trend of the changing times no matter how hard we stay conservative. And it is true - both gambling and prostitution are social issues. They must be addressed in a larger context and not through handcuffs.

The Revised Penal Code, which has been our basis for our criminal laws, is already 80 years old. It's time for the old man to freshen up.