Rich and infamous

Netnet Camomot /

IF there’s one Senate inquiry I’m waiting for, it’s the he-said-she-said battle of the strain-less for the Comelec chairman and his estranged wife.

A Facebook post did say she’s the strange wife. I guess that was for her third eye.

The Comelec chair’s brother, who’s a doctor, was interviewed on TV, and I was like, Oh, no! Not on TV! Only the chairman and his strange, er, estranged wife are in this battle, if any of their family members are eager to defend them, they should stay in the background, away from TV cameras, because there are people who are now monitoring each word they say. And, as expected, the estranged wife’s legal adviser and spokesperson Lorna Kapunan then enumerated the chairman’s violations based on his brother’s interview.

If the chairman’s team wants the world to see a no-holds-barred battle, then, go ahead and grant all requests for TV interviews. They have to ensure, though, that common sense is there with their answers, otherwise, they’ll add more grist for the mill—such as the “pyramid scheme” that the chairman used as an excuse for his family’s wealth.

A person needs to think twice before blurting out anything. Or even before whispering any line to another ear. He has to ask himself, What are the consequences of this revelation? It’s always possible for a single statement to be blown out of proportion by those who are crazy enough to blow it out of proportion. There are other words for this: grapevine, gossip, chismis.

There’s even a game called Chinese Whispers or Telephone, depending on where you live—Chinese Whispers in Australia, Telephone in the US. A sentence is written on a piece of paper, and the first person on the team whispers this to the next guy, if there are seven people in that team, the seventh one is asked to write the sentence on another piece of paper, it’s then compared to the original line, and—voila!—that’s when you realize how gossip is created.

If you’re now thinking of Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili, what they had was “Careless Whisper,” not Chinese Whispers.

Barangay Capas in Binalonan, Pangasinan has an “anti-tsismis” ordinance that can penalize the gossiper with penalties and community service. Which may inspire the Cagayanon to live there.

Meanwhile, bloggers will now be allowed to cover the president’s events, provided that blogger has more than 5,000 followers. Hmmm. If Mocha Uson can be assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, anything is possible in the cover-the-president’s-events department.

I’ve seen Facebook Live videos of bloggers featuring themselves or their interviews with politicians like Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos. These are bloggers who were still probably babies or in their parents’ imagination in the ’70s and ’80s at the height of the Marcos dictatorship, they’ve never experienced the martial law under that dictatorship, and have not seen Imelda Marcos’s version of the true, the good, and the beautiful.

Pinas now has a democracy that allows these young ones to have a choice on what to believe in. If that freedom is inspiring them to have misguided beliefs, well, they’re like the old people who believe the gossiper’s lies.

Bloggers don’t have editors who fact-check and edit their statements. So, imagine how they’ll cover the president’s events, with Facebook Live, with no one editing what they’re saying.

Facebook (FB) used to be a fun place with games like FarmVille and Pet Society. Years ago, when FB was young and new, a friend posted that he was finally harvesting. Some of his FB friends then commented, Congratulations! Where’s your farm? Please invite us to your farm! He had to tell them it’s a virtual farm.

There’s a meme on this: “It’s all fun and games until your jeans don’t fit anymore.” Oh, that’s about food and drinks. But you can also apply it to FB, with your sanity, and not your jeans, failing to fit.

I don’t have a TV set in my room, but I’m still updated with the news via mainstream and not-so-mainstream media. I have FB friends who share posts by the not-so-mainstream media, believing those are real news. Oh my gas.

It’s so easy to tell fake from real news. But please don’t ask US President Donald Trump to help you with that.

Once the live coverage of the Senate inquiry on the Comelec chairman is on, though, you’ll need popcorn and soda while trying to absorb these figures: P1.2 billion, P620 million, P260 million. Another glimpse of the rich and infamous in Pinas. Whew.