Two Million Thoughts

A lot of people rejoiced on the guilty verdict of Lance Smith. (I won’t use his army rank before his name since I believe he is not worthy of such!) The "President" herself even said she was "satisfied." (As if we are interested on what she thinks!) While many primarily believed that this is the beginning of Filipino supremacy and the affirmation of justice and equality.

True but only half true, sadly. Soon, Americans would zigzag their way through the political leaders and as someone put it, show the Filipinos who really is the boss. (Well, we are supposed to have sovereignty but we all know in truth and in fact, that the US holds most developing countries in an iron grip!) And the next thing we know, Smith is being whisked away from the country or being incarcerated in an upscale mansion with all the luxuries and amenities. We’ll never know. What with Philippine politicians extremely dependent on the United States, the country’s economy too fragile to be manipulated by Uncle Sam, and the US government too snotty not to have any delicadeza in imposing its supposed supremacy, it will be no surprise that this "angelic" looking Smith could even wriggle his way out from the scales of justice.

But then, Judge Pozon should be lauded for coming up with a verdict like that. A lot thought the four men would fly out of the country free, as if nothing happened.

Laudable, but not entirely. Personally, I believe that the three others should have been convicted as co-principals. The fact that they were with Smith from the start to the end of the crime implies conspiracy on their part. Conspiracy need not have actual verbalization of agreement, it can be committed with a mere "meeting of the minds" — this is what I learned from my one-semester study of Criminal Law. I may be wrong but the fact that they did nothing and even cheered Smith on–these are telltale signs that they have consented and agreed to the doing of the act. And it is well-established jurisprudence that in conspiracy, the act of one is the act of all.

What is sad to note, however, is the fact that a lot of Filipino women still question the credibility and morality of Nicole. In an Internet forum, they were bantering on why was she in the club in the first place, why was she sooooo drunk, and so on and so forth. What is more irritating, and blood boiling really, is the fact that they put much weight in considering the "angelic" face of Smith as someone to be innocent of the crime. Crap! Shall we all just turn deaf to the testimonies of Nicole and the businessman as well as the security guard and look at this angelic and young boy to know whether he is guilty or not? I know for a fact that several good-looking and seemingly harmless US servicemen in Okiniwa, Japan raped an innocent Japanese woman!

I never really expected that fellow women would react this way and even condemn Nicole as to being a bitch and a flirt and all that, and calmly say that she got what she asked for. It just shows that gender equality awareness in this country is still in the low.

Of course, the defense surely pulled all the strings to destroy Nicole’s credibility. That was definitely their job. But the memory lapse and everything are just understandable to a rape victim, I mean, hello, who would want to reminisce a brutal and sadistic act? And I am sure that most of us, have, in one moment or two, experienced how it is to be extremely drunk? Don’t we all end up not having any memory or hint of what happened in the moments that spanned after taking all those lethargic drinks and before gaining consciousness? I know a lot of friends who could not even remember why they ended up sleeping in another friend’s house or who did not even have any idea that they danced and girated the night away. They were just fortunate no one dared to take advantage of their unconsciousness.

Nicole was just too unfortunate not to know that taking in different drinks one after another can make one drunk faster and easier. She was just too unfortunate for being too naive to trust those nasty GIs in a club like that. But these do not constitute excuses for guys, whether Filipinos or foreigners, to take advantage and rape naive girls as if it is a sport where you are cheered on.

And if it was indeed consensual sex, as Smith would claim it to be, why did he had to carry Nicole like an animal and leave her dirtier like an animal in an empty road?

Many Smith fanatics claim that maybe he was just looking for a one-night-stand while Nicole was just a provincial lass trying to have cosmopolitan fun. And so, what’s their point? Are they trying to say that we will give greater leeway for foreigners looking for one-night-stands and give them the liberty to rape innocent Filipinas not knowing of their carnal intentions? Does being a foreigner and liberated give one the license to rape? Hell, no way!

This incident should make our lawmakers think not just twice but many time the visiting Forces Agreement. Are we getting benefits out of it or are we just being used and abused, as we always have been, by the Americans? Our political leaders said that it is not just about only one rape case but the future of our country and world against terrorism that matters. Did I hear them right? The only terrorism we have in our country is the countless and seemingly unsolvable killings of leftists and journalists. And what is Uncle Sam doing about it? And where is the Melo Commission now?

Quo vadis, my dear Philippines?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 5:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.