Speed Almost Killed The Pussycat

We're doing a 120 in a two-lane street called Marcos in San Juan. There were no humps or traffic lights to slow us down. Then a Ford F150 came out of nowhere. The driver forcefully stepped on his breaks, hoping that he would avoid an impending collision with the pick-up. I thought we were both goners. Fortunately, the vehicle stopped inches away from the truck. The lull and exhiliration I felt from the speed was suddenly stolen from me and replaced by an eerie emptiness of a near-accident experience, just blocks away from the company I have work with for the past 1 and a half years.

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Since New Year, I have never arrived in the office from a tricycle. Perhaps, I got hook up with the idea of taking the cab instead because the FX'es were hard to find in the morning. Besides, I noticed that most of my colleagues ride the cab going to work. Considering that I signicantly earn more from them, I realized that I should not torment myself from waiting for a traditional ride when cabs are more available and easier to hail from where I come from.

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This near-collision moment anyway, has given me a good lesson about taxis. One of these lessons is to tell the driver to slow down, especially on such backwater street like Marcos. I should also remind myself from now on how expensive it is to take a cab since I don't earn that much - even if I earning more than my colleagues. If the driver failed to step on the breaks in that intersection, and collided with the F150 at that speed, I don't 'm not really sure if I'm conscious right now.

And maybe I should take this as a good opportunity to thank Someone. Lately, I feel that I'm ignoring all the good things He had done to me.

Macoy was right when he said that life is too short...

Maybe I should accelerate my efforts in achieving the things I have set forth before everything is too late.

Nicole

"What do you want us to do, kneel before Nicole and Ursua? (Her lawyer) Do you want us to serenade her every night?"

- Secretary Raul Gonzales, Department of Justice

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Ever since, I've never been a fan of Nicole. Yeah, she was raped and all but like what I've said to my sister and mother who staunchly defended her "Sino ba namang tangang babae ang magpapaiwan sa grupo ng mga kano na hindi naman niya ganun kakilala?" And now she's crying rape for that?

As far as I know, when a girl joins a company of strangers for a drinking binge, she's ready for everything that could happen - even a gangbang with her drinking partners. Alam naman natin how people lose control when in the influence of alcohol diba? In her case, she was "gangbanged" by American soldiers who thought she was a "game girl."

Eventually her plight was caught up by the media, with the help of the NGO's and Women Support Group. Fine, at least there's a new story arc in the karnabal - like story that is the Philippine current events. The rape case in fact, became a national sensation that for a time, the media ignored Cha-Cha just to focus on Nicole's developing story.

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During the ongoing trial, I already hinted that the Americans were willing to settle the damages in favor of Nicole. But the stupid girl ignored it for the sake of remaining in the media spotlight. Dun pa lang, sinabi ko na sa sarili ko na "tangang babae talaga ito." How can she never realized that this would be a very long and exhausting legal battle, especially in this country where everything could be bought by money.

Pero fine sige, it seems like there are people who are willing to side with her for one reason or another. Slowly, she's winning the battle not only in the country's legal system but also in the court of public opinion. In fact, when the Makati RTC declared Smith guilty, I myself could not believe that there is still justice and righteousness in this world. I thought that as you grow older, you must embrace a cynical point of view in order to adopt to the realities you have to face as you grow older.

Consequently, Daniel Smith was jailed - of course, with priviledges courtesy of the US Embassy. But I know that things have never settled down. I know that the United States, being a bully nation would never let their citizens be humiliated especially by a Third World country like ours. Kung ang China nga, nagwala na at lahat noong pinasabog ng America yung embassy nila sa Belgrade, Serbia eh dinedma lang at hindi pa humingi ng apology, sa atin pa kaya?

And while the media focused their attention elsewhere, things were already being prepared for the eventual transfer of Smith to US Custody. The signs were already there - the cancellation of the Balikatan Military Exercises, Threats of losing the most-favored trading partner status of the Philippines, and so on. Sa bandang huli, they may even threaten us by encouraging all US outsourcing clients to move to India instead just to cripple whatever national pride we have.

I can't believe that we are willing to surrender all of this for the sake of a single, stubborn girl like Nicole.

Kaya ako, I support the government's stand on this issue. I agree with the President's decision to capitulate to US demands this early because we all know, we don't have anything to stand up against America's might. We are the underdogs and will remain underdogs as long as we don't cultivate our resources ourselves. What's the sense of pride and idealism if it can't feed you or it will just leave you miserable in the end?

If Nicole was found dead and mutilated in some talahiban near Subic, absolutely my stand will be different. There is a universal difference between being brutally murdered and gang-banged due to the apparent willingness of the girl to "get closer to the stranger." Yun talaga, lalaban ako in the side of Nicole's family but for this?

They say, it's better to favor the side of the many rather than the side of the few. In this case, not only our relationship with the US is at stake but I believe that millions of local jobs that are heavily depended on lazy and exploitative Americans who can't do the jobs themselves is at risk of being taken away from us.

I know, I'm alone with this stand and what I said in this entry is subject to a lot of controversy. Don't get me wrong, I believe that Daniel Smith is guilty and he deserves to be punished. But when you see how people in power turns everything into a circus act, you can't help but take the most convenient way out. Nicole, will have a very long battle ahead. She might even be ignored by everyone if her gamble fails. For the sake of getting this out of my thoughts and to serve as a voice to those who silently disagree with how this issue is being turned into a media frenzy and obvious political manouverings, I wrote this twisted entry about my view of the issue. This post stands as defiance to those who believe that Nicole's issue should serve as an excuse for going out in the streets and protesting against the government for their handling of her case.