In which we discuss poisonous apples falling from (uprooted?) poisonous trees and other Such Things

If that's not reality tv, I don't know what is.

Nothing induces groans of horrified boredom more than the prospect of watching pudgy old men in a room conduct a (VERY :|) lengthy inquiry on What Really Happened. Of course I'm talking about that congressional hearing on the Alabang Boys; I had to watch it because my parents couldn't--they had to leave due to an emergency--and they wanted a "blow-by-blow" account. Trying to grow nose hair would be more exciting, but in any case, I grabbed my math notebook and plopped down in front of the tube anyway.

It was interesting enough, I suppose, with moments of much-needed comic relief-- one gentleman's comment on the resolution having too many grammatical errors merited a chuckle, and that quote about poisonous trees and poisonous fruit (or something to that effect) being read aloud sounded ridiculous enough, that it distracted me. I just didn't like it when some of them took too long to answer, which disconcertingly put my train of thought out of line. Still, I have to hand to to them; I think being in the hearing itself would have been far more agonizing than just watching it at home, where it's already desensitized and all. I could understand the state prosecutor's apparent discomfort at being flayed alive-- it was obvious from the line of questioning that they wanted him to contradict himself.

Enough of that. Why did I bother watching anyway? Because, in spite of my misgivings, I at least had to pay attention to a crucial event in determining the fate of Joseph Tecson. It's what you do when you're family friends, even though that label only applies to my parents and their parents. They're wonderful people, really. But niceness or wonderfulness doesn't make you innocent, or guilty. At this point it really is about technicalities--and whether those investigating this would actually be able to secure this writhing eel of an issue in the right places. It seems that they've tangled themselves in unsightly knots as of the moment, what with the constitutional neepery and all.

My parents are solidly convinced that the boys should be let off at once. I suppose friendship has something to do with that. As for myself, I remain undecided. I just wish he hadn't been using drugs in the first place. I can't imagine the kind of agony the family's going through--to have your moment of pain flashed on national television, to be picked apart again and again by people from all sides. It's a media circus masquerading as public vigilance; it's so easy to forget that we're dealing with real people here, and that usually, it's the families of those involved who get the worst of it.

For the people who have long been resigned to any Philippine government institution's incompetence, to finally and solidly capture someone will be a welcome change from the system's morbidly unchanging habit of not doing anything. Perhaps money and power isn't everything afterall.

The Law is a blunt instrument. It's not a scalpel. It's a club.* I just hope that if PDEA does get the Alabang Boys, they won't revert back to the selective bludgeoning that's been plaguing this society for centuries. It's gone on long enough.