A change of call by Nicole

It doesn’t matter now if her name is Nicole, or Suzette Nicolas, or Nicole dela Cruz, or Kurdapia. She herself has, by her own recent affidavit, revealed who and what kind of person she is. Previous efforts to keep it under wraps are now of no moment. After all, to parody that Shakespearian soliloquy: “What’s in a name/ that which we call a rose/by any other name/would smell as sweet”, would conversely, likely smell or reek as foul.

Recanting the accusation of rape against Daniel Smith is but an exchange for a lousy song – P100T is just about $2T – that isn’t compensatory to Filipina honor she deigned to uphold. Okay, factor the immigrant entry to the land of milk and honey, is it the exponential price, and prize, of Smith’s semenal smear which turned out as consensual carnal caper?

Looking back to media accounts of Nicole going to Manila from her place in Zamboanga City with an American GI boyfriend, the innuendoes got nasty about lovers on a lark. Then she hied herself later unescorted in a Subic disco bar drinking and dancing seductively with some GI Marine strangers sans any inhibitions. And when drunk, just as uninhibitedly went for a joyride and whatever else. And ended up discarded along the way after obviously being deflowered inside the moving van, as she claimed upon sobering up.

After some Filipina advocates were convinced that she had been gang-raped by the US Marines, there had also been some doubting Thomases on the validity of her version.

Questions cropped up, like, what woman is she who ventured on a lark to leave her home with her GI boyfriend? And, how come she was at that disco bar unescorted, and took a fling with US Marines in a drinking spree and seductive dancing? How come she also joined in joyride with the drunk US Marines by her lonesome?

Public opinion stacked against Smith, even the court wasn’t left a modicum choice of fairness, or be ensconced in impartiality as blind-folded goddess of justice dictates. Off-court play-ups were so insurmountable for poor Daniel Smith to get off the hook. And it was all too open-and-shut, not an iota of doubt, or evidentiary weakness.

If at all, Daniel Smith’s conviction was more on altruistic and nationalistic motivations rather than on the strictissima juris proof. It drew on the unilateral bias for the Americans based on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), as if the Filipino signatories to the VFA had signed it with eyes closed. What stupidity!

But then, there’s that earthly court of last resort, the individual conscience. And for all the biases and frailties of Nicole, she deserves a grudging pat of appreciation that even this late, she owned up her wrong… Now confessing in her affidavit that she isn’t certain that she had been actually raped, Nicole now admits that she “possibly lost her inhibitions” and became “intimate” with Smith after drinking with him. Clearly, she voluntarily admits to a consensual sex.

 It doesn’t matter that critics and detractors now condemn Nicole for selling herself for a mere P100T and immigrant visa for “Stateside”. What is of moment is that, all things considered, there has always been the unique turn of events against that backdrop of Nicole’s evident courting of the misfortune that befell her.

While Nicole may still be the victim for the exposure of her frailties, the likes of Daniel Smith could also be another victim of the vagaries of fate. Other “victims” could be Nicole’s family, her lawyers, the court itself, and the Filipino nation as well.

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