ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Anti Planking Law in Philippines

Updated on October 1, 2011
A group of students protested disrupted traffic in Manila on Sept 19, 2011.
A group of students protested disrupted traffic in Manila on Sept 19, 2011. | Source
Students plank their protest on huge budget cuts
Students plank their protest on huge budget cuts | Source

What is it about Planking?

If you have logged onto Facebook or Twitter, chances are you will see posts and pictures of individuals planking. Planking has become a new phenomenon that has spread all across the world. Classified as a "game", planking involves laying face down with your arms aligned with your body, usually in public places. Planking is most fun for players when they find weird public places where they can plank and have friends take photos of them. While it does sound like a strange new craze, middle schoolers, high school students, and college students are taking part in this new game.

So it seems harmless right? Laying down face first in funny places and taking a picture sounds pretty harmless. While it sounds harmless, there have been serious planking injuries and even deaths. One death that made international news was a man who decided to plank on the corner walls of his seventh-floor balcony. The man did not position himself right and fell to his death causing floods of media attention.

Anti- Planking Law in the Philippines

You may be wondering why anyone would be trying to push an anti planking law. While some irresponsible "plankers" have been injured or even died from injuries sustained while planking, the fad all together seems pretty harmless. That is not the case in the Philippines. Advocates of the anti-planking law, including a current congressman, are pushing this legislation for one particular reason—protesters and activists are turning the fad into a weapon during strikes and protests. With the trend spreading over the Internet, protesters found that planking in the middle of the busy streets of the Philippines gets the attention they want during their mass protest actions. These political plankers, as they have been nicknamed, are planking for their rights so to speak or to highlight their political concerns and issues.

Should Planking Really Be Banned?

Millions of people are planking and only a small percentage of these individuals are planking for reasons that disrupt traffic and inconvenience the public, not to mention possibly violating a law or public ordinance. Castelo, the Congressman in the Philippines, believes that an anti-planking law should be passed as a universal code of student conduct. The purpose of the law is to ban planking "as a form of redress or grievance mechanism." Many people are under the assumption that the law would ban planking in the Philippines as a fun fad. That is not the case. The purpose is to keep protesters safe, out of busy streets and to avoid causing inconvenience to the public.

What Do People Have to Say About the Proposal?

Word of the anti planking law spread rapidly across the Internet. Most social media users are reportedly against the ban. School officials and public officials are certainly backing the law as they feel it will keep schools and the streets safe. In a sense, it also helps them avoid liability or being held to answer for potential accidents or injuries that may occur as a result of planking being conducted in campuses or public roads and highways.

When planking started, people never imagined it would receive the attention it has presently garnered. Just like all things in life, planking can be abused. The anti planking law is designed to make abuse of the fad illegal. Then again, is it absolutely necessary to legislate against something when common sense would be enough to avoid or prevent its negative consequences or abuse?

I think our Congress is better off spending their time working on legislation that will address more pressing needs and problems of the country as compared to worrying about activists planking on highways and snarling up traffic as part of their protest actions as authorities can haul them off anyway for obstruction of traffic and acting as a public nuisance.

2011 Moira G Gallaga©

Proposed Anti Planking Law in Philippines

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)