House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is said to be pushing for a bill that will legalize polygamy among lawmakers.
At least this is what an article from So, What’s News? has been claiming since the early part of April. In fact, the story has received hundreds of shares after it was shared on Facebook.
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For instance, the link about the story that a certain Facebook user shared to the Facebook support page “Laban Leila de Lima (kakampi mo kami) has been shared close to 120 times and received over 400 comments.
However, the story came from the satirical site So, What’s News? (SWN?). The website’s tag line itself should clue readers in that they are not in for something that should be taken seriously as it says, “News that won’t make you depressed to read the news.”
Even it’s About page said that SWN? “is a satirical & fictional news website” that aims to “inject humor into everyday news to provide respite to readers who have grown weary with mainstream news organization’s partisan, biased and depressing way of presenting the news.”
According to the article, Alvarez filed a bill to legalize polygamy among the male members of the House of Representatives. It seeks to, as his explanatory note allegedly said, allow male representatives to exercise their masculinity by carrying on with extra-marital affairs without fear of being called a hypocrite or threatened to be disbarred.
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SWN? also wrote about how Alvarez said that polygamy being legal is necessary for the male representatives because it “is a crucial component for an effective, content and happy legislative branch of the government.”
Alvarez’ bill allegedly aims to give lawmakers “extra pogi points” if they come out and confess to having extra-marital affairs. These rewards reportedly include additional pork, exclusive Botox package from plastic surgeons, happy hour discounts at girly bars, or extra bragging rights,” as per the bill’s Section 4, Paragraph 1.
If such a claim from SWN? isn’t enough to clue you in that it is all satirical, then this part of the story should show even further how the piece was meant to take a hit at Alvarez and his issues with polygamy.
His bill also wants to establish a Macho Association for National Interest, Acceptance and Congressional Institution Stability (MANIACIS) as a replacement for the Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc. (CSFI), an organization that Alvarez wanted to order out of Batasan. This part is true, though. In February, he did say that he wanted CSFI, along with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) to move out of Batasan because Congress needs more office space. CSFI is headed by Alvarez’ wife, Emelita.
The SWN? article also noted that Alvarez also vowed to have the current House leaders and committee chairpersons replaced if they vote against his polygamy legalization bill.
This claim about Alvarez filing a bill to legalize polygamy is not true, though. However, many netizens thought that is indeed true, so much so that they ended up bashing Alvarez.
What’s true is that Alvarez admitted to having extra-marital affairs and having children out of those affairs. He even said that many politicians like him are also carrying out affairs on their own. Even President Rodrigo Duterte agreed with the lawmaker and defended him for having an affair.
But there is currently no bill being filed to make polygamy legal.
Even Antonio La Vina, dean of the Ateneo School of Government, posted the satirical piece, along with several laughing emoticons and a fist bump icon.
One of the netizens who commented on his post said that she knows the article is satire, “but it is not funny as it depicts where leadership in this country might actually be headed.”
Sources: ( newsinfo.inquirer.net , news.abs-cbn.com )
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