EDITORIAL — No freedom is absolute

Singapore, where the World Bank - International Monetary Fund is meeting, has decided to bar two Filipino activists from entering that country, apparently convinced the two were out to upstage the conference by mounting protests.

Singapore is not exactly your idea of a free democracy, hence the ban against the entry of the two Filipino activists comes as no surprise. What would have been deathly surprising was if that country welcomed the two with wide open arms and allowed them to do what they do best.

It is also not surprising that the two activists would go ballistic over the ban. One of them, a woman, interviewed by phone on tv, vowed to fly to Singapore nevertheless and try to test whether the authorities there would really enforce the ban. The betting is they would.

Filipinos, emerging from years of martial law, went on a freedom-exercising binge, some imbibing and testing ever wider latitudes of unrestraint, including those they never thought existed, or which in fact do not exist except in the failure of moderation to kick in.

Anyway, as of this writing, it is not clear how things would turn out as the Filipino woman tries to push her envelope in Singapore which, despite its restricted freedoms, is still a sovereign state in good, if not impeccable, standing with the world community.

But listening to that interview, one gets the impression that the female Filipino activist has a concept of freedom she thinks allows her to do absolutely anything anywhere. She thinks the world owes her free accommodation anytime.

That is not a very realistic approach to life as we know it. While we all value our freedoms and strive to enjoy more as they become practically and legally available, we still need to come to grips with the unassailable fact that no freedom is ever absolute.

All freedoms are limited, if not by laws for purposes of instilling order, then by common sense because that is just the way things are. There is no stopping you from talking on the phone while doing the dishes. But when the caller hangs up, you have a problem there.