Barangay In Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Bans “Tsismis”
BARANGAY HANDUMANAN – The Council of Barangay Handumanan had recently approved an ordinance that bans “tsismis” in its community.
The ordinance could now charge an individual, as well as groups who are involved in gossip or “tsismis”. The barangay council also approved the creation of a working group in charge of investigations.
According to Sunstar, gossip or tsismis is a deep-rooted Filipino habit that has been one of the leading causes of fights and misunderstanding in the community. This was the reason why the ordinance was presented.
The ordinance was approved on September 10. Adding to this, it further stated that it would hold as the legal basis in assessing punishment and penalty to persons involved in hearsay or gossip.
However, in the article posted by Sunstart, Councilor Lady Gles Pallen said the ordinance still needs approval of the City Council to be implemented. The ordinance had already been forwarded to the City Council Last week.
But, the ordinance was not approved because of some clarifications from the city councilors. Pallen also added that there were tsimis that were good, and some that were bad.
With this, she said that ordinance still needs to be studied. However, as a barangay official, Pallen stated that in their community, 80 percent of the complaints were unjust vexation.
This isn’t the first time a barangay made efforts to abolish tsismis in their communities. Back in 2017 seven villages in the town of Binalonan, Pangasinan strictly implemented an anti-tsismis policy.
According to an article by ABS-CBN, the violators will be fined P300 for the first offence, P500 for the second offence, and P1,000 for the third offence. Violators were required to render community service.
Some Attorneys also said that residents have rights to freedom of expression. However, these are not absolute, especially if it would lead to harm.
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