A viral social media post made the rounds last week showing a man apprehended by police in Sibulan for driving without a license. Under the law, his motorcycle had to be impounded.
In between tears, the man from Valencia who sells bread narrated that he knew that driving without a license is against the law but that he just had to do it anyway to be able to earn money, as his wife had just given birth.
Now there’s the typical story that tugs at our heart strings.
Sure enough, several netizens started to comment on his story. “There should be an exemption to every rule,” one said. “The police are too harsh, the poor guy is only trying to earn a living,” another said. Many others commented along the same argument as well.
Perhaps the only sensible comment came from one who asked where she could send a donation to the poor guy.
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Dura lex, sed lex. It’s Latin for, “The law is hard but that is the law.”
Have license, will drive. No license, no can do. It’s that simple.
These days, the police have set up a number of checkpoints along the highway, and those who are not compliant with the law are meted sanctions ranging from fines to confiscation of their motorized units. And not a few have complained that the police action is harsh.
True, we want the laws implemented but many times as well, we only want it when it does not affect us.
Our national artist F. Sionil Jose was right when he said, “I have met the enemy face to face. Sadly, the enemy is us.”
We Dumagueteños may think of our hometown as the City of Gentle People but this is also a City where people seem to assume that he/she is an exception to the rule.
We like to take shortcuts.
And while talking of shortcuts, we’re not even just talking about driving. But that would be another editorial altogether.
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