In most parts of the world, the worst thing that can happen to people in a karaoke session is to embarrass themselves in front of strangers, but in the Philippines, it can literally be a deadly activity.
Take this incident that happened in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, on Sunday, when a woman was shot and killed by her neighbor because she wouldn’t stop singing.
The suspect, Jose Abraham, was pissed off about the noise victim Alicia Quiroz and her friends were making. Police Officer 1 Dante De Guzman told ABS-CBN News that Abraham told the group to stop with the singing several times but was ignored.
Eventually, the suspect banged on the victim’s door and shot her with an improvised firearm as she exited her house.
According to the police, Abraham probably had a deeper reason for shooting Quiroz but his anger was stoked by the noise. The suspect is at large and, according to the police, has a previous record in the barangay (village) office.
It’s incidents like this that pushed Quezon province Rep. Angelina Tan to propose a bill that only allows karaoke sessions to take place from 8am–10pm, which the House of Representatives Committee on Public Order and Safety reviewed on Tuesday.
In 2016, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte suggested for local officials to implement a ban on late-night karaoke, just as he did as mayor of Davao City.
San Jose Del Monte, where Sunday’s crime happened, has an ordinance that mandates the 10pm curfew, but it’s not strictly enforced.
Though strange, karaoke-related deaths are not uncommon in the Philippines. In November, a man in Navotas City stabbed his friend in the neck after fighting over a karaoke song. Just last month, a similar incident happened in a Lucena City karaoke bar.
