NO” MEANS “no.” Not even maybe. It really is that simple.
Yet, when they encounter this word, some people find it hard to understand.
For example, a “no entry” sign means a particular road or street is off limits to vehicle traffic. Yet here in the metro, the meaning only applies when a traffic enforcer is around. When a traffic enforcer is nowhere to be seen, then the “no entry” sign is just that. A sign.
It’s the same with the “no stopping” sign. Its enforcement is subject to the presence of an enforcer. In the case of the sidewalk between Uytengsu and R.R. Landon Streets, the “no parking” sign doesn’t apply if the violator happens to be a police vehicle.
No wonder the public is confused.
Why should they heed these signs when even our men and women in blue disregard them?
Persons of authority lose their moral ascendancy when they fail to meet the standards they expect others to follow. It also sends a message that the law does not apply to them.
That must have been on Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro’s mind when he was told that there were no female massage therapists available when he entered the massage and spa parlor on the third floor of his hotel near Fuente Osmeña in Cebu City last Wednesday night, Oct. 23, 2019.
He refused to take “no” for an answer and got verbally abusive with the manager. John Dueñas, a masseur, told the mayor to calm down.
That didn’t sit well with Navarro who, along with three bodyguards, followed the masseur to the masseurs’ quarters where the mayor pulled Dueñas and punched him in the stomach. The mayor then locked Dueñas’ arms behind his back. Navarro only let go when someone intervened.
The whole episode was recorded on the establishment’s security camera.
To appease Navarro, management sent a female massage therapist to his room. However, she came running back soon after. Apparently, he was more interested in a “happy ending.”
Maybe in Clarin, no one had ever said “no” to him so he had no idea how to react when someone actually did.
Had it been instilled in his head that “no” really means “no,” then Navarro would probably still be alive today.