I once heard a radio commentator say that many of our laws are "binuang" or crazy. That's why they end up in the dead-letter box where they gather dust and cobwebs.
You think many of our laws are crazy? Nothing can beat this law in San Francisco, California, which says: "Persons classified as ugly may not walk down any street." And can there be any crazier law than this: "It is illegal to wipe one's car with a used underwear."
Here are some other "crazy" laws in California that I got from my godson Nimrod Quiñones.
• It is a crime for dogs to mate within 500 yards of a church. Breaking this law is punishable by a fine of $500 and/or six months in prison. (Who goes to prison? - JVJ)
• Also in LA, it is illegal for a man to beat his wife a strap wider than two inches without her consent.
oStill in LA, it is illegal to cry on the witness stand.
• Ontario, roosters may not crow in the city limits.
• In San Jose (that's where my friends Dr. Sal Lim and Kakoy Ganete live) it is illegal to have more than two cats or dogs.
• In Pasadena, it is illegal for a secretary to be alone in a room with her boss.
o In San Francisco, it is illegal to pile horse manure more than six feet high on a street corner.
Levity aside now, the Philippine Star reports that Gregorio "Greg" Cendaña, the information minister of the Marcos regime, died Friday of a heart attack. He was 76.
"You remember Greg Cendana?" I asked a young newspaper reporter.
"No," she said. "Kinsa siya?"
Greg Cendana was the msot "popular" Marcos cabinet member among members of the press. Every time he came to Cebu, newsmen would flock to where he was billeted.
"Suod siya sa mga newsmen dinhi," recalls one newsman now a senior citizen.
Many of Greg's media friends here have gone ahead of him. God bless Greg. May he rest in peace.