Friday, July 28, 2006
Fuck.

I quote myself in the previous post - "I'm not even sure if there really is such a law."
I take it back. I did a bit of research, see.

I must say, ignorance was bliss. Now that I unearthed this shit, I'm in a pissy mood.

Under the Philippine Penal Code, the charge of marital infidelity for the husband is concubinage, and for the wife, adultery. For a woman to be charged with adultery, it requires only one act of sexual intercourse with a man not her husband. Concubinage, on the other hand, requires cohabitation of the husband with another woman in the conjugal dwelling or elsewhere and sexual intercourse under scandalous circumstances.


And...
Under current law, women suspected of adultery can be locked up for six years, whereas an errant husband has to be caught on the job to qualify for his maximum of four.


So, there you have it. This is how fair the Philippine Family Code is, it judges on a blatant double standard. Adultery is illegal when a woman does it, but not for men. Concubinage, which is more damaging, merits a lesser punishment. A stroke of brilliance, really. X__X

I also inadvertently stumbled across this. Completely off-topic but ridiculous just the same:
Homosexuality is not illegal in the Philippines. However, only the Family Code [23] specifically mentions homosexuality. SIBOL argues that "The treatment of homosexuality and homosexuals in the legal system may be described in three ways: (1) homosexuality is an aberration; (2) homosexuals are invisible; (3) homosexuals are denied rights granted to heterosexuals." [24]

Thus spake Irish || 7:42 PM || 0 comments


Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery

So let me get this straight - it's illegal to commit adultery in this country? Because that's the impression I've been getting lately. The other night, I saw this news bit where a woman followed her husband and his mistress to this motel. The man ended up getting arrested. I found that so bizarre. I mean, I know that it's wrong to cheat on your spouse and it shouldn't be done at all, but I didn't think there was a law against it. In any case, I don't think that there ought to be a law at all, simply because it's a private matter between married people. Shouldn't it be enough that adultery is a lawful reason for separation?

I'm not even sure if there really is such a law. Maybe those police officers were just a bit overzealous, or ignorant, or both. Besides, the wife was howling mad, considering her husband cheated on her a lot. Although I'm inclined to opine that she's stupid for tolerating him that long.

It's not that I'm saying people should be allowed to have affairs, but the fact is, adultery is very real and very possible. To have a law against it feels like censorship to me. It's almost tantamount to repressing a human tendency, like protecting married couples from this possibility. While adultery may be immoral, it's one of those ways to tell where you stand in a marriage. If you prevented it by imposing a law, then there's a possibility that unhappy spouses might become repressed - sure they'll be married but then you would never know they wanted out or that they're really assholes. I guess I'd rather have someone cheat on me and find out than stay in a dud marriage because my husband's to chicken to sissy to cheat because he might get caught and sent to prison. Of course, this is all highly idealized because nobody ever follows the law, or at least they try to get around it.

(Needless to say, domestic violence and other issues of abuse in a marriage is another matter entirely. That should be the focus of family law.)

My point is, if you're going to make adultery illegal, you might as well make lying, swearing and the like illegal as well. They all depend on common and moral sense, and people should be allowed to figure these things out for themselves. The law can't presume to curb human behavior.

(This reminds me of a short story by Jessica Zafra, where the world decided to make lying illegal. They had lie detectors, by the way. People went crazy and the human civilization ended. Figures.)

Thus spake Irish || 7:17 PM || 0 comments

Wednesday, July 05, 2006
A big Fuck You to the World.

I blame my karma, stupid people, assholes and just really bad luck.

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Thus spake Irish || 10:05 AM || 0 comments

Monday, July 03, 2006
Mrrr.

So maybe I won't get those highlights. Not any time soon, anyway. I passed by the hair coloring place and consulted them about it. Taking the length of my hair into consideration it would cost about Php 1600, an amount I am not about to shell out of my own pocket. Asking les parents for the dough is not an option because there is no way they'd give it to me if they knew I 'd be using it to "butcher" mah hair. And seeing as I'm not exactly brillant when it comes to saving money (that and I have a priority list of stuff to buy... like say, graphic novels and such), it'll have to wait. So unless I come into a shitload of money, I'll just have to settle for my normal hair.

Strange thing though, yesterday, while I was towelling my hair dry - I saw this white hair, except that it wasn't completely white. It had this purple tinge. Must be the remnants of that shampoo dye I used before. How odd.

Thus spake Irish || 10:04 AM || 0 comments