EDITORIAL - Extras cannot emulate the big stars

If the new acting jail warden of the Cebu Provincial Jail is to be believed, certain areas at the facility are so sensitive access to them by jail personnel is restricted. In fact they are so restricted the warden has put out the order to shoot those who violated the restriction. But of course the warden could not have been dead serious with his order. Or is he?

Shooting people is a most extraordinary action anyone can order against those perceived to be in error. And while it is President Duterte who immediately comes to mind when the matter of shooting crops up, he certainly did not invent the idea. Such a drastic measure goes back to the very beginning of history, long before even the first shooting implement was invented.

Back then people used clubs, stones, arrows, spears, swords, or whatever it took to take down people who, despite being told to refrain from doing a particular something, still goes ahead and does it. And so they get what they were told they would get. They had it coming and still they went. In this day and age it is shooting and it is quite remarkable that Duterte himself would figure in that timeline: He has said he once stabbed a person, in addition to having shot criminals.

Duterte, of course, has presented no proof of his "dirty exploits" and no one from among the media he boasted to of these exploits bothered to check them out if he really did them. And that leaves the matter open to interpretation. Some, like Antonio Trillanes who has struggled mightily to become the country's foremost authority on "Dirty Rody," have taken their interpretations to town and are losing precious sleep thinking of ways to undermine him.

Others, like our provincial jail warden, and the Philippine National Police before him, found it easier to just emulate the original. Shoot them, they say. We do not know about the PNP chief, but for the warden, it appears to be much easier to give the order, knowing it will never happen. Yes, it will never happen. No jail guard would be foolish enough to shoot another even if he catches him in the so-called restricted area.

But then again, that is in the ideal world. In our increasingly topsy-turvy world, strange things are happening. In fact, what the warden ordered might just happen, for no more compelling reason than that he ordered it. And when that happens, the shit will really hit the fan for him for giving the order. The lesson here for the poor warden, while nothing dire has yet happened, is for him to know which league to play in. Duterte is big league. A provincial jail is not.