By: Manuel Ferdinand Ramirez de Erio

In a small province where everybody almost knows everybody, it is never a surprise whenscandals are served like pan de sal for break fast, chicken halang-halang for lunch or hearty meal for dinner!

Sometime in the late 90's, a scandal was spread thru snail mail. The proponent must have spent some bucks for the stamps. It spread like fire and instantaneously became the talk of the town. Why not, some of Tagbilaran's famous personalities and bigwigs were implicated in the “scandalous” mail that involved a pretty Boholana girl who was alleged to have been involved in extra-marital affair with several Boholano married men.

I was in high school back then. I remembered I was sitting under the jackfruit tree in front of our house when my Singaporean neighbor who was cleaning the private road that led to their house, almost freaked out when he opened and read the letter from an anonymous sender. Well, he should be, because his name was among the more or less 20 famous married men in Tagbilaran who had allegedly made love with this morena girl whose family name is quite famous in a town somewhere in the center part of Bohol.

The letter said that the girl had made love with those men. Big names like public officials, businessmen, among others were like dean's listers enumerated in a short size bond paper. It was made more appealing to the curious and to those who have nothing to do with their lives, as the letter said that the girl had Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and those who have made love to her will acquire the disease.

The scandal spread fast as those who received the mail photocopied the letter and shared the copies with their friends. In less than a week, the issue became everybody's secret and the most famous “pulutan” in gatherings and parties. Eventually, the issue died down and vanished as fast as it appeared. Nonetheless, the issue enjoyed a supernova exposure and treatment. As to who was the proponent of that snail mail scandal, up to this date, the person has not yet been named.

This snail mail scandal happened almost a decade ago. Now, after almost 10 years, the way people spread scandals have evolved. They have taken advantage of the technology. Thanks to the Internet! If the ten years back, people would spend around five pesos for a single letter to be mailed, today, with your five pesos, you can find a internet café where you'll have the luxury to sit down and send or forward a multitude of mails to anyone anywhere they may be in the world. Recently, a government office in Bohol was shaken when naked pictures of a male employee spread thru email. Electronic mail or email is the cost and time efficient technology of sending and receiving mail thru the internet. Accordingly, this male employee sent some of his naked pictures to his friend “X” who forwarded the pictures to another friend “Y” for unknown reasons. Based on the forwarded email message, this male employee have attached a message asking friend “X” not to show those pictures to others.

We can only but imagine of a multitude of reasons why friend “X” forwarded the pictures to friend “Y”. Still for unknown reason, friend “Y” forwarded those pictures to the people who are directly or indirectly connected to the institution where the male employee is working. According to rumors, this scandalous mail had caused this male employee to be kicked out from his job. Too bad for him. But the mystery lies deeper than one could ever imagine. Who is friend “X”? How come the male employee forwarded his naked pictures to friend “X” when in fact, the name of friend “X” is that of the male specy?

The mystery ran deeper as the question continues. Who is friend “Y”? Why should friend “X” forward the naked pictures of the male employee to friend “Y” who also happened to posses a male name? And, why should friend “Y” spread those pictures to people who may be directly or indirectly connected or familiar to the male employee? My answer to those questions? I don't know! Once thing for certain, if you are familiar to email technology then you will know that you can apply for as many email addresses as you desire! I, myself have three email address for three different transactions! Hehehe…

Unfortunately or fortunately, I am not sure which should I use. The issue has lost its aroma. Just like the snail mail scandal a decade ago, this issue enjoyed just as much as supernova exposure. To the people behind these scandals, this I tell you. People are smarter that you think they are. Never under estimate their capacity to analyze circumstances. Unfortunately for you, there are many people in this paradise province who knew how to read between the lines and for certain, they're experts of putting the puzzle to together. For this reason, scandals such as the one that spread a decade ago and this recent one have enjoyed no more than supernova exposure. Boholanos are smart!

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