If you don’t come back in the Philippines, you will soon be breaking the law.
A lawmaker in the country wants to make it an “emotional crime” to hurt someone there, with penalties potentially including mandatory community service.
Disillusionment, defined when someone cuts off all forms of online and phone communication, “can activate the same pathways in the brain as physical pain,” Rep. Arnolfo Tevez Jr. he wrote in the explanation along with his proposal posted on Twitter this week By One News.
“With ghosting, there is no real closure between the parties concerned and therefore can be likened to a form of emotional cruelty and should be punished as an emotional crime for the trauma it causes to the ghosted party.” “, the deputy wrote.
Tevez said that the proposal does not include any punishment CNN he did not believe that punishment should be “severe.
“We can impose a community service penalty so that the perpetrators understand that ghosting is wrong,” he said, arguing that ghosting can also affect an employee’s productivity.
Rep. Tevez Jr. wrote that disappointment should be considered “emotional abuse”.
The memo stated that ghosting could be considered “a form of emotional cruelty” and should be punished as an emotional crime.
One News posted the lawmaker’s explanation on Twitter.
The offense will only apply when two people are in a “dating relationship” — either living together or “being romantically involved over time and during the trial of the relationship,” the explanatory note says. Others with non-stop text messages will not be included in the proposed ghost ban.
The bill seems unlikely to pass in a country facing more pressing societal problems, and critics have slammed the move as a propaganda stunt.
“Making it famous and part of the public conversation is a calculated step,” said Arjan Aguirre of Ateneo de Manila University. The Washington Post.
The report notes that he recently took the controversial but high-profile step of renaming an airport in the country after former despot Ferdinand Marcos.
