In the land of equality, liberty and fraternity, I find the strangest thing—face control. Don’t ask me what it is for, I will explain quickly and as painlessly as possible. In certain places in Paris, notably in bars and party places, there are gatekeepers—bouncers in our parlance—who allow people in or exclude them not based on anything except how they look. From where I come from, at least this does not happen or is not happening. Either we prescribe a dress code to keep the atmosphere of a venue or charge high entrance fees to keep away the unwanted. But never based on how people look.

Even if we discriminate against the poor or the baduy, at least we try to be diplomatic or indirect. The face control is not based on science. Neither is it based on logic. My friends tell me the ones who are turned away are usually Middle Eastern-looking. Don’t ask me again how they look like but there seems to be an accepted standard that is adhered to not subtly. To top it all, the queues are long, snake­long. The crowds continue to jostle in and be counted.

In a democracy, can one really do that? I mean, one can make a private party and invite all those whom one wishes without offending others. In our country, people will surely howl to high heavens if we tried it. Or if turned away, pull out a gun or drop a name. By the way, in all of Europe, guns are not allowed except for the police and I tell you, it is so liberating. You don’t expect to be at the receiving end of the barrel even at the point of robbery. Look at our culture infected by the American idea of the right to bear arms and we turn drivers and lawyers into gunmen. Don’t ask me why there are so many school shootings and violent deaths in the land of the free. A gunless society is the better way.

Back to face control, there is another term we use - face saving. The US and Aussie experts have announced that the Glorietta blast was no bombing incident. The conclusion is that it was caused by industrial gas as earlier speculated. I believe in the Ayala management to do the right thing. I mean, only Globe cellsite towers are being bombed by the New People’s Army, right? Not Smart or Digitel, because the latter hasn’t put up enough yet.

So either the Ayala management continues to deny and dispute the findings against the nonterrorist activity and prove that it was indeed the handiwork of bad elements. Remember that the US and Australia are the top two countries that are warning on terrorism with their notorious travel advisories. They have all the incentive to declare the blast as a terrorist attack but did not.

The other path is to admit and take responsibility for whatever happened. I mean, people died that day. Criminal or civil liability flows regardless.

It also goes to show that our atmosphere is so charged and poisoned that everyone believed and declared that it was another mall bombing.

A third kind of face control deals with the manueverings of the Estrada camp and the administration prior to, during and after the Sandiganbayan verdict. This we shall discuss some other time.

Addendum: Alas, it was way past sleeping time when our group was to test the face control. I don’t know if my Asian face could have made the cut or my frail ego could have taken the hit. Either way I was thankful I didn’t have to be judged on how I look. At least back in Manila, we still maintain the principle of equality at least in the party-sense.