A sacred cow

In writing columns, there are always the risk of opposing views of readers and touched egos of economic taipans and government power wielders. Their reactions vary. The readers just squirm on their seats and mumble their disagreement but the social and political demi gods explode in their displeasure. I am aware of this situation to be a natural part of the work terrain as a columnist as it was when i was teaching in the law school. As a writer, my task is not to please the readers rather, for me, the whole idea behind writing is to challenge them into thinking critically on points I raise in this column.

Having said that, I am reluctantly pleased to write here that I used to digress from the standard application of the doctrine of prior restraint that the old American case of Near vs. Minnesota laid down, each time i noticed my law students to be less attentive. If the US Supreme Court ruled a law priorly prohibiting the publication of an opinion violates press freedom, to me, any rule that a teacher should not challenge established order violates academic freedom. My thinking was that a teacher fails in his job when his students are not listening to him. He should revisit his system. There was, in fact, a time that Itold my class that “it is worse a violation of the prior restraint rule when a wife tells her husband not to comment on any highly publicized issue and the husband, just the same, attempts to express his opinion.” When the students raised their quizzical eye brows, I took such reaction as their effort to connect to me.

True to the off-tangent nature of this column, let me now go back to the title of this article today. What is a sacred cow? According to the Internet, “sacred cow” is a figure of speech with reference to something considered immune from question or criticism. In the Philippine sociological setting, it is more than just immunity to criticism. To ordinary Filipinos, like me, a sacred cow refers to someone who is influential in the community or has connections with the powers that be that make him feel somewhat untouchable.

We are not supposed talk about sacred cows openly in public for fear that they might unleash upon us, the brutal power of their tightly hinged influence. This is plain supposition anchored on the way our society behaves but believe me, it constitutes a form of prior restraint and therefore violates freedom of expression. No sacred cow strikes fear in me.

Few days ago, a lawyer, who once held a high position in the city, sent me a message pointing to a business endeavor that “encroaches a pedestrian path” at the corner of Magallanes Street not far from the city hall. The attorney was unafraid to identify MangInasal as the establishment. Doing business on such a public domain as a pedestrian path clearly violates the law. The lawyer informed me that a form of demand, actually an administrative order, was sent to MangInasal to remove its incursion last year yet. He was cautious though to ask me to check if the demand was eventually complied with because it has been sometime that he had not visited city hall. MangInasal is an economic power and if it erected business where it was illegal to do so, it felt, like other sacred cows, untouchable. Being among the top three restaurants in the country and the only one in the grilled chicken category, it indeed, matched my perception of a sacred cow. Well, anyway, is it still there?