Pre-Semester Frontier Post 49
Persona non grata” literally translates to “an unwelcome person” in Latin. It’s not a crime, so it has no penalty. It’s neither a judgment nor a decision handed down by a court, so it cannot be executed. It is always contained in a resolution, never an ordinance, so there is really no mechanism to enforce it.
This, by the way, is true of ANY resolution—which simply expresses the state of mind of, say, the city council or provincial board. But it binds no one and commands no action to be done. You cannot even touch the person declared persona non grata.
Ooops—I think we just stumbled on its meaning. You cannot touch Atty Omar Mayo? No, you can’t no matter how much you despise him.
People will be tempted to say “Who the hell came up with this stupid concept?”
I would strongly advise caution, you are messing with the Highest Power and bordering on blasphemy.
The One who invented the idea of “persona non grata” is none other than God.
After Cain committed what he thought was the perfect crime—he murdered his brother Abel with no witnesses—God told him (and I’m paraphrasing here) “You might think there are no CCTV’s everywhere but I, God Almighty, know and see everything. Where is your brother? What have you done to him?”
Cain answered, “Akala ko ba You know and see everything? Listen, God, I know this whole earth, plants, beasts, birds, mankind, and everything is your project. But I’ll have you know I am Project Supervisor here. I am not my brother’s keeper!”
If I were God I would have blasted the son of Adam (or “Saddam”) to smithereens. Instead, God put a stigma on him—a mark on Cain’s eyebrow—so that henceforth he became a “marked man” (there you go, that’s the origin of that expression). Everywhere he would go, people would see that mark and scamper away from him. It was worse than having leprosy that Cain finally had to acknowledge, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Now people are going to want to kill me too!” (Genesis 4:13, more or less)
God said, “Yes, I’m sure they’ll want to. But I put the mark on your forehead and nobody can touch you. But don’t expect anyone to fall in love with you, either.” (apocrypha)
That mark on his forehead made Cain the first person to be declared “persona non grata.” Also, it made God the first tatoo artist, for whatever its worth.
The City Council resolution declaring Atty Omar Mayo “persona non grata” puts the mark of Cain on the collective brow of NEA. Even PNB-Session may not want to touch NEA with a ten-foot pole now. If Atty. Mayo wants to explain and asks for an appointment with Mayor Magalong, his request can be denied. In fact, he cannot demand for anything from anyone in Baguio. He is unwelcome.
He can sing The Boxer, “asking only workman’s wages I come looking for a job but I get no offers, just a come-on from the whores of (Magsaysay) Seventh Avenue…I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there..lie, lie, lie, lie, lie…”
Lyrics like that underscore what a dreadful thing it is to be declared persona non grata. In international diplomacy, you can be barred entry into or summarily deported from a host country. And you lose your diplomatic immunity. It’s really the best thing to just pack up, leave and never come back.
That cute cartoon character cat “Garfield” is famous for saying, however, that “insults are wasted on the stupid and the shameless.” So there are instances when somebody declared “persona non grata” would opt to tough it out. He sticks around, reciting to himself that children’s rhyme, “sticks and stones may break my bones…but words will never hurt me!”
I say all this “red-tagging” being done by military intel people is missing the target. The only NPA commanders I’ve seen so far have been in the ranks of NEA. There’s two of them: “Ka Wawa” and “Ka Palmuks.”
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”