‘Face book, fake news’

The Provincial Capitol has a receiving stamp. It lacks a red pen, thus we are lending them ours.

Councilor Jose Maria “Nene” Dela Llana wrote to Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. on September 24. He wants a government employee named Nereo Lujan disciplined.

Before the discipline starts, someone has to check the homework. We asked two imaginary examiners to review it. One teaches administrative law. The other teaches English. Both needed coffee afterward.

Paper 1: Administrative Law

The standard is the 2025 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service. These rules lack humor and demand specifics.

Written: Yes. Full marks.

Subscribed and sworn to: Unsworn. Zero.

Certification against forum shopping: Missing. Zero.

Chronological narration of specific acts: The examiner found adjectives instead. Words like “malicious” and “fake news” appear, but verifiable facts do not. Adjectives are not acts. Zero.

Documentary evidence: A stack of Facebook posts. The examiner confirmed the posts exist. He also noted that a stack of printouts is not a legal finding. Partial credit.

Relief sought: “I expect Nerio Lujan to be disciplined.” The examiner circled this in red. Discipline is the end of a legal process. It is not the beginning.

The councilor invoked Republic Act No. 6713. That law attaches penalties only after due notice and a hearing.

The examiner left four questions in the margins. Which statement of Lujan is actually false? What established fact does it contradict? Where is the proof of falsity? Since when is posting during office hours a finding rather than an allegation?

The rules dismiss a complaint like this outright. The receiving stamp only proves the paper arrived. It does not equal a passing grade.

Grade: Incomplete. Returned for compliance.

Paper 2: English Composition

We start with the easy errors. “Face book” is one word. The phrase “numerous post” requires an s. Counselors give advice. Councilors sit in the Sangguniang Panlungsod. The author is the latter.

Then the examiner hit this sentence: “Candidly for Nerio Lujan the City Government or the Mayor, and majority of the councilors as well the employees working thereat are not doing their jobs as a public servant, worse he often imputes them as corrupt and inefficient.”

She diagrammed it for 20 minutes before giving up.

Her notes: “Majority” needs an article. “As well the employees” needs an “as.” Several officials cannot collectively be “a public servant.” The word “worse” turns the whole mess into a run-on sentence. Standard English does not let you impute someone “as corrupt.”

Other passages earned quicker corrections. “During office hours at that” sounds like a text message. “I admire calling them out” admires nobody in particular. “Reminding them on how best to serve” uses the wrong preposition.

Finally, the examiner framed this line: “to understand what I am trying to state.”

Her note below it: So are we.

Grade: See me after class.

Conduct

Every report card includes a grade for conduct. The examiners declined to guess the councilor’s state of mind. That is not on the syllabus.

The record does show a clear sequence. A policy disagreement became personal. The councilor objected to personal attacks, yet he called Lujan a “troll” in the very next breath. Then he demanded punishment.

Fighting name-calling with name-calling is certainly a tactic. It just isn’t persuasive.

When a councilor asks a governor to punish an employee, he is borrowing the machinery of government. That machinery comes with an instruction manual. This letter failed to open it.

Grade: Needs improvement in institutional distance.

To be fair, this report card covers a single paper. It does not grade a political career. The councilor is free to try again.

Ebidensya anay, Konsehal, antes ang silot.

Resubmit when sworn.