Rape, however done or however taken place , whoever has done, and whomever has been done sans mutual consent, is still rape. What had happened to Nicole in the hands of those bestial marines was just perhaps one of the many in our country. The only difference is that Nicole braved all the consequences not minding the wounds being scraped again and again in the courtroom in attaining justice complemented with a laudable few- among whom were her family, true friends, grassroot foundations that fight for oppressed women i.e. GABRIELA, and all the lawyers esp. Atty. Ursua who believed in her when almost all doubted.

Justice may have been indeed obtained, thanks to principled judge like Judge Pozon; all this hype may wither into oblivion, and things may blend into ordinariness, but the difference it has made in the justice system of this country, in the relationship of US and Philippines (if there is any) and especially in the life of the victim herself will always leave traces for other victims to follow HOPEFULLY.

Through all this much praise should be given to God in his unfailing will when it is left to his doing.

I feel sad and upset re the tendency to shoot from the hip and malign the victim/survivor without proper research on the case and Judge Pozon’s decision. Please see Philippine News Online columnist Beting Dolor’s comments and readers’ responses, including mine.I find their comments facetious, insensitive and cavalier towards a hurting survivor who faces the challenge ( for the rest of her life )of transcending posttraumatic stress disorder, a serious set of emotional effects on highly traumatized persons like domestic violence and rape survivors. Such a mental paradigm ( of blaming the victim ) arise from promoters of Social Darwinism who believe that ” matira’ng matibay ” or ” survival of the fittest. ” These are euphemism for ” the law of the jungle.” It implies, then, that women ( ” the weaker sex ” ) are fair game for macho men..the more firepower or brute strength, the better. On the economic sphere, this parleys out as trickle-down economy. GNP increases favor the old boys club and upper class business elite. The masses are left clutching the straws ( survival of the fittest, remember ? ). This mindset has been the bad spirit that drives the Philipiine socioeconomic - political system. It is time for the country’s moral and spiritual leaders to strongly challenge this culture of subtle national oppression towards the majority. Archbishop Lagdameo’s call for character change needs to be a SUSTAINED one, not ningas cogon.

Below is the weblink to column I mentioned above.

http://philippinenews.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=d028f5caa475dd8d9c6efff6d0d50e97

Blessings to All this Christmas