Victims

It looks like the most celebrated lovers’ quarrel has degenerated into a battle of the two leading TV networks out to get the bigger slice of public viewership. Business competition must have gotten so stiff that the commercial value of the coverage is being exploited to the hilt. For several days, interviews have been freely given by the protagonists leaving viewers agape with every revelations aired. The admissions and confessions of one party are as specific, intimate and detailed as the denials of the other are too sweeping, cold and cursory. It is thus not so difficult for the viewing public to determine who is more credible and which of the warring networks is winning the ratings game.

In this "war" of the networks, there are many victims without them realizing it. Think of the numberless TV audience caught in the "cross fire". They have just been inflicted with a new concept of morality and a lower standard of decency with the over-glamou-rization of an illicit relation. The families of the quarreling lovers must also be suffering a lot with the indiscriminate airing of the most intimate details that should have remained in the deeper recesses of one’s heart until revealed in the inner sanctum of a confessional.

But I believe that the main victim in this unfortunate quarrel is Kris herself; not so much because of the threats and abuses committed on her but because of her seeming inability to avoid the continuing public exposure that is the fate of every celebrity. Knowingly or unknowingly, she is being used as the cannon fodder in the on-going war.

Of course, I admire Kris for her "gameness", courage and candour in telling all about the threats, assault and battery committed on her. She has, to my mind become the champion of all women suffering in silence for the abuses committed on them. She has indeed won public admiration and sympathy. But everytime she grants an interview, I squirm in my rocking chair in anticipation of another shocking revelation and admissions which are mostly self-incriminatory. I am not really sure if she has been given the proper advice. I don’t know if she has been informed that in several cases, it has already been ruled that admissions or spontaneous statements given to media in response to interviews by news reporters are admissible in evidence. They are deemed freely and voluntary given even without the presence and assistance of an independent and competent counsel which is required only in custodial investigations by the police (Pp vs. Andan 269 SCRA 95;Pp. vs. Cabilles 284 SCRA 199; Pp. vs. Suela 373 SCRA 166). One interview would have been enough.

Giving several interviews and then subsequently filing charges against her tormentor raises another legal issue. This is the issue on prejudicial publicity which always comes up in high profile cases (Estrada v. Desierto, 353 SCRA 524). With the pervasive media coverage of her sad and cruel plight and the barrage of publicity accorded her story, public opinion has apparently tilted heavily in her favor. A great majority now believes that truth is on her side. In this kind of controversy that largely depends on "she says-he says" evidence, decisions may be formed based on popular opinion. So, if there are allegations and proofs that this barrage of publicity has influenced the authority who will rule on her complaint, her charges might be dismissed for denial of due process.

But the best thing perhaps that happened to Kris in this episode of her life is that she has apparently realized her grievous mistakes and returned to the embrace of her family especially her loving mother Cory who must have been praying a lot for her. I just hope and pray that she has a genuine reconciliation with God. She has to humbly acknowledge the sinfulness of her past affairs with married men, truly repent what she had committed, and then resolve never to do them again. This reconciliation will look more sincere if done without "appealing to the gallery" and away from the limelight. Offering to God something she finds a little hard to do like giving up or minimizing TV interviews may be a sign of true repentance.

I hope Kris takes this unsolicited advice as coming from a caring and concerned "elder" in this pragmatic, highly secularized but still compassionate society.

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