The news has been full of Chavit Singson lately: his former live-in partner accused him of physical abuse. Chavit in return retorted that he was justified in beating her because he had caught her with a lover, and that this was not the first time. In comes Mon Tulfo, saying that "we should understand him in the context of our macho society" because "that’s the way it is in this country."

Apparently, yes, that's the way it is in this country, despite all the kudos we got for being "gender-sensitive." It was all just window-dressing then, all just lip-service.

The Philippines is one of the countries in the world with an antiquated provision on crimes of passion on its books: Article 247 of the Revised Penal Code on Death or physical injuries inflicted under exceptional circumstances. Simply put, this provision says that someone who catches his legal spouse in flagrante delicto with another and kills or severely injures them shall be punished only by destierro; if he inflicts any other injury on them he shall be exempt from punishment. The same provision is also applicable to parents with regard to daughters under the age of eighteen who live under the same roof.

This, of course, aside from the differing penalties and evidence needed in cases of concubinage (lighter penalty, harder to prove) as compared to adultery (heavier penalty, easier to prove), but that's another story and one we hope will be remedied soon.

Unfortunately, Rachel Tiongson it seems is not Singson's legal wife but merely his former live-in partner, which should take this case right out of the protection of Article 247. That aside, no man has the right to beat a woman (indeed, for that matter, even another man lest he be charged with physical injuries, provocation or no provocation). That attitude that men have to lord it over women should have been thrown right out the door when women's rights began to be recognized. That attitude still harks back to the times when women were perceived as chattel, pieces of property owned by men. Women are human beings, not pets, and certainly not things you can own. Oh, for real men, enlightened men who know that women are mates and not maids, that wives and girlfriends are partners and not subordinates. Men who know that women will not stand for nonsense and abuse, and that you cannot force another person to be with you if she does not want you anymore.

Unfortunately, that attitude still prevails in this country: the concept that real men are "macho," that they should not show compassion or tenderness, that they should always be king and master of their households or business, that they are forever and always superior to women and that women who might in some case be better than them or want to leave them should be taught a lesson. In that sense at least, as they say, Chavit Singson and Mon Tulfo are real men. Mga tunay na lalaking kapita-pitagan at dapat hangaan ng kanilang kapwa lalaki.