Newcomer Iloilo City Councilor Johnny Young was shocked of the news about the two teenagers who were caught on video passionately or say torridly kissing at a bar in Mandurriao district.

Young, who chairs the Committee on Moral Recovery, wanted to have it investigated in aid of legislation. I can’t imagine how the city council will proceed with the investigation and establish a logical ang legal basis based on existing local and national statures. I’m trying to push my mind to work and understand the motive and purpose of the neophyte councilor and how will he move forward with the investigation. Will he subpoena the two libido-filled teenagers? Will he summon the waiters and other witnesses and ask them how the kiss started or if they saw the tongue of the guy trying to push the tongue of the girl? Or if there is somebody from the council of the same brain and maturity of Young who will ask if the teenagers were closing their eyes as they locked lips. I mean, if there was a crime committed as in the level of perception of Young, will the two teenagers be called “kissing suspects?”

Good thing though, the council did not allow itself to be dragged into the callousness and lack of commonsense of Johnny Young.

As I see it, there are three issues on hand. First, the callousness of Johnny Young. Second, the public acceptance of two young people kissing passionately in public in Iloilo City and third, the definition of passionate kissing and relativity of public based on the setting of the kiss.

The proposal of Councilor Johnny Young to investigate in aid of legislation the kissing incident came in the middle of a noisy public clamor on the defective Ungka flyover and the deafening silence of our city and even provincial officials.

As chair of the committee on moral recovery, Young saw a critical moral problem on two young people kissing publicly which by his own superlative standard of morality is putting public morals and the public at large in danger. It’s so nice of Young to immediately call out the excessive public display of affection to protect the public.

What I can’t comprehend though is the lack of interest of Johnny Young to stand by his highest standard of morality and call out the contractor of the controversial flyover and manifest publicly an intention to investigate the problem in aid of legislation. It would seem that the glaring anomaly in the construction of the Ungka flyover does not in any way qualify as an abuse and insult of public morals. Public display of affection by kissing is rather a moral issue than having a substandard flyover constructed by IBC Builders and supervised by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Kissing publicly or torrid kissing in public view is not wrong per se however the determination of its propriety is culture-bound. One can simply have sex all the way regardless of age provided that you keep it within the confines of your own domain. Or perhaps, kissing one another all the way becomes right if kept from the eyes of everyone and the act becomes wrong if it is done publicly. We have to admit the fact that the society where we live is very judgmental and pretentious. There are so many moralists around Johnny Young included who would go to their respective churches every day and yet in the conduct of their private affairs could dethrone Lucifer immediately. While Iloilo is beginning to embrace the liberal culture of the West, such beginning does not necessarily mean it has accepted such in totality.

Of course, the last discourse is how public is public and if and only when can we consider private as public or public as private. The two hot-bloodied teens kissed inside the bar where they were having fun and eventually kissed and became kissing suspects in the eyes of Johnny Young. I see nothing wrong in the public act. If kissing publicly is what made the act wrong in the eyes of Young, what if they do it inside a motel room? Which is which? Is it kissing or kissing in public that is wrong? I mean if kissing is not wrong then why make a big fuss over kissing in public?

Of course, moralists will argue that the two are still very young. Come on, what prevented you from doing the same back then? Libido has never changed. The society rather subdues it and changes are happening so fast these days. The two teens never asked the one taking the video to shoot them. Me kissing my girlfriend in a place like that resto-bar is not anybody’s business. It’s just as modernization factors in, there are enterprising people who would look for interesting and catchy actions to post on their social media account and earn engagements and likes from their peers.

And sadly yes, there people like Young.