While it will be easy to villify Nicole now, I still want to give her the benefit of the doubt. As having been a possible rape victim. I think it would be naive to take the recantation at face value and its uncritical assumption is dangerous, especially knowing how political manuevering in this country can so easily turn black into white, night into day. But as Barbs pointed out, the recantation now raises a question mark over future testimonies of rape victims which is disturbing. However, I think it has to be considered whether the recantation was done under duress, threats, out of resignation or voluntarily. I don't believe Nicole ever intended on being a poster child for rape victims or the rallying point for Philippine sovereignty and I think any judgment on her character would be hasty without closer scrutiny of the workings behind the recantation. I tend to think that Malcanang's hands are all over this. Secretary of Injustice Gonzales questions why Nicole just didn't go to Italy if she sincerely resented the U.S. I don't think the U.S. can issue a visa to Italy in return for Smith's release. If she was paid off, is she the only one whose motives we should doubt?
I think there are three possibilities. One, the rape happened and disillusioned with the possibility of real justice being meted out, Nicole took a deal (perhaps an expedited U.S. immigrant's visa) and recanted. Two, the rape didn't happen and Nicole is just one messed up girl. Or three, the rape happened but Nicole has been banished by Malacanang and the recantation is just the product of legal experts and spin doctors.
We're devolving into conspiracy theories here. I think I need to let this all sink in first. But it's sickening when the manipulation of justice and the trampling of a country's interests or a victim's rights are so blatantly played out. It becomes like a bad familiar play where the audience knows the lines and what will happen next... Everything can just be covered up with some carefully worded statements, ignored questions or by taking flight. But what does that say about us? Hopefully some of us are not too cynical or resigned to let it just blow over until the next performance and the next performance and the next...
Or perhaps I'm the naive one.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Holy Fuck.
This shit is getting too predictable. I guess you're free to go Mr. Smith.
‘Nicole’ recants
By Norman BordadoraPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst
MANILA, Philippines—The Filipino woman who accused an American Marine of raping her late in 2005 and testified about her ordeal in court has recanted.
The sworn statement issued by "Nicole" on March 12 comes more than two years after the Makati Regional Trial Court convicted Lance Corporal Daniel Smith of raping her.
Nicole said she expected her motives to be questioned but maintained she was bothered by her conscience
“I expect many sectors to question my motives in executing this statement more than three years after the incident. However…I can’t help but entertain doubts on whether the sequence of events in Subic last November of 2005 really occurred the way the court found them to have happened,” Nicole said in her affidavit.
“My conscience continues to bother me realizing that I may have in fact been so friendly and intimate with Daniel Smith at the Neptune Club that he was led to believe that I was amenable to having sex or that we simply just got carried away,” she said.
“I would rather risk public outrage than do nothing to help the court in ensuring that justice is served,” she added.
Nicole said she practically grew up interacting with American servicemen in Zamboanga City “who treated me and my family very well.”
She also questioned her decorum when she met Smith at the Neptune Club at the Subic Freeport, saying she was so drunk she may have lost her inhibitions and did more than just dance with the Marine.
Nicole also raised doubts that Smith raped her inside a van at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and suggested that she may have welcomed the Marine’s sexual advances.
“I told the court that Daniel Smith kissed my lips and neck and held my breast inside the van. Recalling my testimony, I ask myself how I could have remembered this if witnesses told the court that I passed out and looked unconscious,” Nicole said.
“How could I have resisted his advances given this condition? Daniel Smith and I were alone on the third row of the van which had limited space and I do not recall anyone inside the van who held my hand or any part of my body,” she added.
Nicole said all she could remember was the “very loud music and shouting inside the van.”
“With the events at the Neptune Club in mind, I keep on asking myself, if Daniel Smith wanted to rape me why would he carry me out of the Neptune Club using the main entrance in full view of the security guard and the other customers?”
“Why would Daniel Smith and his companions bring me to the seawall of Alaba pier and casually leave this area that was well-lighted and with many people roaming around? If they believed that I was raped, would they have not dumped me instead in a dimly lit area…to avoid detection?”
Nicole said with the amount of alcohol she had consumed that night and only a slice of pizza to eat, she may have lost her inhibitions and enjoyed Smith’s company.
“I had no opportunity to deny in court that I kissed Daniel Smith but, with the amount of alcoholic mixed drinks I took, my low tolerance level for alcohol and with a slice of pizza all night, it dawned upon me that I may have possibly lost my inhibitions, became so intimate with Daniel Smith and did more that just [dance and talk] with him like everyone else on the dance floor,” Nicole said.
“Looking back, I would not have agreed to talk with Daniel Smith and dance with him no less that three times if I did not enjoy his company or was at least attracted to him since I met him for the very first time on the dance floor of Neptune Club,” she added.
‘Nicole’ recants
By Norman BordadoraPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst
MANILA, Philippines—The Filipino woman who accused an American Marine of raping her late in 2005 and testified about her ordeal in court has recanted.
The sworn statement issued by "Nicole" on March 12 comes more than two years after the Makati Regional Trial Court convicted Lance Corporal Daniel Smith of raping her.
Nicole said she expected her motives to be questioned but maintained she was bothered by her conscience
“I expect many sectors to question my motives in executing this statement more than three years after the incident. However…I can’t help but entertain doubts on whether the sequence of events in Subic last November of 2005 really occurred the way the court found them to have happened,” Nicole said in her affidavit.
“My conscience continues to bother me realizing that I may have in fact been so friendly and intimate with Daniel Smith at the Neptune Club that he was led to believe that I was amenable to having sex or that we simply just got carried away,” she said.
“I would rather risk public outrage than do nothing to help the court in ensuring that justice is served,” she added.
Nicole said she practically grew up interacting with American servicemen in Zamboanga City “who treated me and my family very well.”
She also questioned her decorum when she met Smith at the Neptune Club at the Subic Freeport, saying she was so drunk she may have lost her inhibitions and did more than just dance with the Marine.
Nicole also raised doubts that Smith raped her inside a van at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and suggested that she may have welcomed the Marine’s sexual advances.
“I told the court that Daniel Smith kissed my lips and neck and held my breast inside the van. Recalling my testimony, I ask myself how I could have remembered this if witnesses told the court that I passed out and looked unconscious,” Nicole said.
“How could I have resisted his advances given this condition? Daniel Smith and I were alone on the third row of the van which had limited space and I do not recall anyone inside the van who held my hand or any part of my body,” she added.
Nicole said all she could remember was the “very loud music and shouting inside the van.”
“With the events at the Neptune Club in mind, I keep on asking myself, if Daniel Smith wanted to rape me why would he carry me out of the Neptune Club using the main entrance in full view of the security guard and the other customers?”
“Why would Daniel Smith and his companions bring me to the seawall of Alaba pier and casually leave this area that was well-lighted and with many people roaming around? If they believed that I was raped, would they have not dumped me instead in a dimly lit area…to avoid detection?”
Nicole said with the amount of alcohol she had consumed that night and only a slice of pizza to eat, she may have lost her inhibitions and enjoyed Smith’s company.
“I had no opportunity to deny in court that I kissed Daniel Smith but, with the amount of alcoholic mixed drinks I took, my low tolerance level for alcohol and with a slice of pizza all night, it dawned upon me that I may have possibly lost my inhibitions, became so intimate with Daniel Smith and did more that just [dance and talk] with him like everyone else on the dance floor,” Nicole said.
“Looking back, I would not have agreed to talk with Daniel Smith and dance with him no less that three times if I did not enjoy his company or was at least attracted to him since I met him for the very first time on the dance floor of Neptune Club,” she added.
SIGH
Some unprocessed reactions on a development in the Subic rape case. Apparently, "Nicole" has been granted a visa to the U.S. or has already been in the U.S. for a week. The news comes on the heels of Obama's personal phone call to GMA regarding the VFA. It's disturbing news on many levels. Because Barbs can't relate the news to food, I'm going to have a crack at this.
From a distance, I see the development as a reflection of so many ills plaguing Philippine society, stemming from a colonial history and tangled in current neo-colonial trappings. It also reflects the grim situation of the judicial process in the country as well as the unabated diasporic phenomenon in response to a hopeless homeland.
Here we have a U.S. soldier who forced himself on a young Filipina. Daniel Smith was convicted but continues to defy a Supreme Court order that would have him detained at a Philippine facility instead of the U.S. Embassy. Now "Nicole" has fired her lawyers and many suspect that the young woman was pressured into leaving for the U.S. Perhaps though it was her own decision. After all, how many Filipinos wait years for that prized visa? Perhaps it is part of a deal between the U.S. and Malacanang to broker Smith's eventual release. Maybe it's GMA's way of currying favor with Obama. Who knows. But it all smells fishy. And it's sad. And infuriating.
"Nicole and her family are tired of the case and they do not want anymore to be bothered by it because there is no justice in the Philippines," a statement from one of the dismissed counsel said.
Many people came to the aid of "Nicole" when news broke out that a Filipina had been raped by visiting U.S. servicemen and once again the controversial VFA came to the fore. For four years, people fought for justice and clamoured for Philippine sovereignty over the matter, is it too much to expect that one's government protect its own in one's own country and uphold its rights and interests? It seems however that political manueverings, disillusionment of the possibility of any substantial justice and perhaps the lure of greener pastures (even those of one's abusers) prevail...
There's still not too much information regarding the details of Nicole's disappearance - whether it was a voluntary or opportunistic flight or one of exile and banishment so that things can quiet down either for her family or for Malacanang. We'll have to wait and see. Smith may have been convicted and Nicole may understandably want to move on from that night but the rape of the country continues.
From a distance, I see the development as a reflection of so many ills plaguing Philippine society, stemming from a colonial history and tangled in current neo-colonial trappings. It also reflects the grim situation of the judicial process in the country as well as the unabated diasporic phenomenon in response to a hopeless homeland.
Here we have a U.S. soldier who forced himself on a young Filipina. Daniel Smith was convicted but continues to defy a Supreme Court order that would have him detained at a Philippine facility instead of the U.S. Embassy. Now "Nicole" has fired her lawyers and many suspect that the young woman was pressured into leaving for the U.S. Perhaps though it was her own decision. After all, how many Filipinos wait years for that prized visa? Perhaps it is part of a deal between the U.S. and Malacanang to broker Smith's eventual release. Maybe it's GMA's way of currying favor with Obama. Who knows. But it all smells fishy. And it's sad. And infuriating.
"Nicole and her family are tired of the case and they do not want anymore to be bothered by it because there is no justice in the Philippines," a statement from one of the dismissed counsel said.
Many people came to the aid of "Nicole" when news broke out that a Filipina had been raped by visiting U.S. servicemen and once again the controversial VFA came to the fore. For four years, people fought for justice and clamoured for Philippine sovereignty over the matter, is it too much to expect that one's government protect its own in one's own country and uphold its rights and interests? It seems however that political manueverings, disillusionment of the possibility of any substantial justice and perhaps the lure of greener pastures (even those of one's abusers) prevail...
There's still not too much information regarding the details of Nicole's disappearance - whether it was a voluntary or opportunistic flight or one of exile and banishment so that things can quiet down either for her family or for Malacanang. We'll have to wait and see. Smith may have been convicted and Nicole may understandably want to move on from that night but the rape of the country continues.
Labels:
Nicole,
Subic rape case
Monday, March 16, 2009
no title
I remember now where I found my Jean Genet. Was in a street in Baguio. God bless Baguio. Also recently found a biography of Georgia O'Keefe in Bangkal. Yay Bangkal.
Friday, March 13, 2009
lousy tear ducts...
I've gotten teary-eyed twice in the last few hours. First from watching Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel's performance of Defying Gravity during the 2004 Tony Awards and second, after reading an article about Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's revolutionary plan to protect its low wage earners from layoffs.
I knew I was going to have difficulty from the beginning when Glinda tells Elphaba, "Don't be afraid." And Elphaba replies with a voice trembling from newfound courage, "I'm not. It's the wizard who should be afraid... of me." It almost looks like Idina is about to cry herself. Damn. Then I really lost it when Elphaba flies above the stage, looking down at the throng who've misunderstood all her good intentions (hey wait a minute...) and maligned her... Damn. Damn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejGLmx7ZH0c
Meanwhile, on a more realistic plane... so the president and ceo of Beth Israel has come up with a new plan to save low wage earners from the fate of so many other workers today. Making rounds of the hospital, he noticed that it was the people bringing food to the patients and pushing their wheelchairs that were really in effect practicing a type of medicine that all the prescribed drugs couldn't achieve. They were talking to the patients and offering them some comfort and humanity. In a meeting with hospital staff, he broached the idea that in order to protect these people (mostly immigrants), those earning more would have to make some sacrifices. He had hardly finished his sentence when his audience, the hospital staff who would have to forego bonuses and take pay cuts, began applauding his idea. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/12/a_head_with_a_heart/
I don't know. I think I can keep my emotions fairly under control but I do get teary-eyed over random things. A friend likes telling the story about how I yawned pretty much through a sentimental weepy love movie but started crying during a computer-geek thriller when the main character confronts the evil IT mogul, declaring that "knowledge belongs to the world." I don't want to name the movies specifically. That would just further implicate me in my dorkhood.
I knew I was going to have difficulty from the beginning when Glinda tells Elphaba, "Don't be afraid." And Elphaba replies with a voice trembling from newfound courage, "I'm not. It's the wizard who should be afraid... of me." It almost looks like Idina is about to cry herself. Damn. Then I really lost it when Elphaba flies above the stage, looking down at the throng who've misunderstood all her good intentions (hey wait a minute...) and maligned her... Damn. Damn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejGLmx7ZH0c
Meanwhile, on a more realistic plane... so the president and ceo of Beth Israel has come up with a new plan to save low wage earners from the fate of so many other workers today. Making rounds of the hospital, he noticed that it was the people bringing food to the patients and pushing their wheelchairs that were really in effect practicing a type of medicine that all the prescribed drugs couldn't achieve. They were talking to the patients and offering them some comfort and humanity. In a meeting with hospital staff, he broached the idea that in order to protect these people (mostly immigrants), those earning more would have to make some sacrifices. He had hardly finished his sentence when his audience, the hospital staff who would have to forego bonuses and take pay cuts, began applauding his idea. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/12/a_head_with_a_heart/
I don't know. I think I can keep my emotions fairly under control but I do get teary-eyed over random things. A friend likes telling the story about how I yawned pretty much through a sentimental weepy love movie but started crying during a computer-geek thriller when the main character confronts the evil IT mogul, declaring that "knowledge belongs to the world." I don't want to name the movies specifically. That would just further implicate me in my dorkhood.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
save the artist, save the world 1
As Once The Winged Energy of Delight
As once the winged energy of delight
Carried you over childhood’s dark abysses
Now beyond your own life built the great
Arch of unimagined bridges.
Wonders happen if we can succeed
In passing through the harshest danger:
But only in a bright and purely granted
Achievement can we realize the wonder.
To work with Things in the indescribable
Relationship is not too hard for us:
The pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
And being swept along is not enough.
Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
Until they span the chasm between two
Contradictions... For the god wants to know himself in you.
Rilke
I first read this poem for one of Dr. Marge Evasco’s literature classes. It has remained one of my favourites and fortifies me somehow when I feel like submitting to the cold metal cogs that turn this world.
“For the god wants to know himself in you.” I love that line. If there is something that I believe we have in common with God or however you want to describe the “master of the universe”, it is that we are also creators. It is sad to see creative pursuits relegated to the dark and mouldy sidelines in favour of technology and money. John Steinbeck once said that he wrote to try to remind people of their humanity. I think that’s what artists do, and I think that’s why we have to treasure those people who try to open us to new ways of seeing, imagining and being. The people who watch and observe and for whom the truth is sacred. The people who try to remind us that life in this world is terrifying, absurd, ugly, beautiful. People whose work slaps us in the face and then comforts us. People who create worlds out of whispers and colours and lines.
I can’t believe that some divine power would create us just to work 9 to 5 and to make as much money as possible.
As once the winged energy of delight
Carried you over childhood’s dark abysses
Now beyond your own life built the great
Arch of unimagined bridges.
Wonders happen if we can succeed
In passing through the harshest danger:
But only in a bright and purely granted
Achievement can we realize the wonder.
To work with Things in the indescribable
Relationship is not too hard for us:
The pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
And being swept along is not enough.
Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
Until they span the chasm between two
Contradictions... For the god wants to know himself in you.
Rilke
I first read this poem for one of Dr. Marge Evasco’s literature classes. It has remained one of my favourites and fortifies me somehow when I feel like submitting to the cold metal cogs that turn this world.
“For the god wants to know himself in you.” I love that line. If there is something that I believe we have in common with God or however you want to describe the “master of the universe”, it is that we are also creators. It is sad to see creative pursuits relegated to the dark and mouldy sidelines in favour of technology and money. John Steinbeck once said that he wrote to try to remind people of their humanity. I think that’s what artists do, and I think that’s why we have to treasure those people who try to open us to new ways of seeing, imagining and being. The people who watch and observe and for whom the truth is sacred. The people who try to remind us that life in this world is terrifying, absurd, ugly, beautiful. People whose work slaps us in the face and then comforts us. People who create worlds out of whispers and colours and lines.
I can’t believe that some divine power would create us just to work 9 to 5 and to make as much money as possible.
Kicking My Ass
My first blog post-creative-non-fiction requirement and all I can think of is how my dog knows whether something is edible or not. Damn.
Sadly, I've always known that I needed a kick in the ass to start writing. Otherwise, I'm liable to just let words and ideas float in my head and justify my apprehension of actual writing with the "I'm still processing" spiel. The blog-writing requirement was a nice gentle kick in the rump to get me started. To at least develop the habit of disciplined writing. Hopefully I can keep it going, or at least kick my own ass from now on.
Sadly, I've always known that I needed a kick in the ass to start writing. Otherwise, I'm liable to just let words and ideas float in my head and justify my apprehension of actual writing with the "I'm still processing" spiel. The blog-writing requirement was a nice gentle kick in the rump to get me started. To at least develop the habit of disciplined writing. Hopefully I can keep it going, or at least kick my own ass from now on.
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