NEWS
Love struck judge likely to go to jail because of love poem

A Philippine judge accused of sexual harrassment by a court employee is likely to get convicted as the victim presented a love poem given by the judge himself to her. The poem, written in the Philippine national lanuage, contains sexually explicit lines and belies any denials from the beleaguerd judge. A portion of the poem goes,

Poem Translation

Dumating ka sa buhay ko You came into my life
isang araw ng Agosto, One day in August
Ang baon mo ay ang iyong ganda You brought beauty
at talinong abogado. And a lawyer's intelligence
Ang tamis ng iyong ngiti The sweetness of your smile
ay bumihag sa puso ko, Captured my heart
Malakas na pampalubag A strong soother
sa mainit kong ulo. To my anger
Kapalaran ay malupit Fate is harsh
di kita makatalik, I cannot make love to you
Sa ngayon o bukas Today or tomorrow
pagka't di mo ibig. Because you do not love me

The full Inquirer text is here.

I've had a wave of referrals lately regarding sexual harassment but none is as amusing as this one. In a macho society like the Philippines, the enactment of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law was welcomed by a lot of women. It is good that cases are now being filed and the relatively new legislation is being invoked.
However, the only problem I have with this law is it requires that the offended party should be a subordinate to the offender when in most cases, sexual harassment takes place when both parties are of equal rank. Be that as it may, it's better than nothing.