watching cnn‘s coverage of giant protests in egypt, take two, i was reminded of edsa dos, of course, and that the foreign press (and erap, too) called it “mob rule” back in 2001. no such words for the egypt action now, how kind. how careful? dealing with a different culture there, and none brings it home more clearly than this story: Gang rape, the dark side of Egypt’s protests by Nina Burleigh, Special to CNN. counting my blessings now.
senate president enrile insists that RH is about population control and NOT health. excuse me lang, but it is about population control AND health. and what’s wrong ba with population control that’s nothing naman like china’s or japan’s one-child policy. it’s not even a two- or three- or four-child policy. it’s a policy that will leave it to couples to decide how many children they can afford to support and raise with dignity, and to intelligently choose a contraceptive method that both man and woman can live with. which could be a lot of children pa rin tho properly spaced, but that would hinge on whether our good and honorable senators ever muster the courage and nobility to fight for the interests of the masses (jobs, land, food, good education) and not the self-serving interests of the elite to which they belong. until then, what’s wrong with population control in this third world country where majority of filipinos are poor and can barely feed themselves properly three times a day? happy lang ba si enrile na anak na lang nang anak ang kababaihan, di bale kung ikinamamatay ng ilan, di na bale kung gaano kahirap ang buhay, di na bale kung gaano kaawaawa ang mga bata? susmaryosep. parang obispo na siya.
as for majority floor leader and eat bulaga comedian senator sotto, he insists that the RH bill is about abortion. at hindi siya nagpapatawa, serious siya, as in, he studied in harvard, he knows what he is doing, and no less than god is using him to do what is right. really? right for whom? for macho men who can’t make pigil their panggigigil, pasensiya na lang the women and the unplanned-for oftentimes unwanted uncared-for children?
The senator was able to solicit the support of the Filipinos for Life group, which noted a local pro-RH organization’s supposed advocacy for abortion. It was referring to EnGenderRights Inc., a member of the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network, an umbrella organization of RH advocates all over the Philippines.
“They say, ‘Abortion is rampant, therefore we should legalize it.’ Graft is rampant. Should we legalize plunder? Murder and rape are rampant. Should we legalize murder and rape?” Filipinos for Life said.
where where where does it say we should legalize abortion? and who has ever thought of legalizing rape? of getting away with rape, yes, certainly, ask senator sotto himself who helped his brother vic (yes, bossing himself) and bulaga cohorts joey de leon and richie d’ horsie get away with rape, literally, thanks no less to sotto’s wheeling and dealing ways, or so it was reported.
if you google the pepsi paloma rape case now, you will find tito, vic and joey the topic of many exchange forums (fora) such as this where commenter no. 9 posted a 2004 article by fundy soriano of people’s tonight. it was written sometime during the 2004 campaign and soriano commended, among other things, candidate FPJ’s choice of tito sotto as campaign manager:
HINDI nagkamali ang aktor na kandidatong pangulo na si FPJ sa pagkuha sa komedyanteng naging senador na si Tito Sotto bilang campaign manager dahil sanay na ito sa pag-areglo ng gusot na kinasangkutan ng mga taong malalapit sa kanya.
Hindi talaga nagkamali si Poe sa pagkuha kay Sotto dahil hasang-hasa na sa pagtatanggol at pagtutuwid ng mga sitwasyong baluktot.
Unang nasubukan ang galing ni Sotto noong Oct. 1982 nang pangunahan niya ang pag-areglo sa kasong rape na isinampa ng sexy stars na sina Pepsi Paloma at Guada Guarin laban sa kanyang kapatid na si Vic Sotto at mga kasamang sina Joey de Leon at Richie D’Horsie. Sa record ng kaso, nabulgar ang rape case nang lapitan ng ina ni Pepsi Paloma si Atty Rene Cayetano (ama ng senatorial candidate na si Pia Cayetano) para hingan ng tulong para makamtan ng kanyang anak ang katarungan na umanoy minolestiya ng tatlong host ng Eat Bulaga.
Nang nabatid na ikinakasa na ng naging senador na si Cayetano ang kaso sa piskalya ng QC, biglang naglaho ang tin-edyer na starlet na hindi nagtagal ay nabawi ng mga tauhan nina Col. Rolando Abadilla at Capt. Panfilo Lacson (yes, si Ping na kandidatong pangulo) ng MISG sa kamay ng kilalang hoodlum na si Ben Ulo. Umalingasaw ang pangalan ng mga Sotto nang aminin ni Ben Ulo na tauhan siya ng mga Castelo, maternal clan nina Tito at Vic.
Ayon kay Pepsi Paloma, umano’y mismong si Tito Sotto ang pumilit sa kanya na pirmahan ang affidavit of desistance para hindi matuloy ang kasong may parusang bitay. Tuluyang napigil ang pag-inog ng katarungan nang nagpakumbaba ang mga komedyante at naglabas ng public apology sa husgado kung saan inamin din ng mga ito ang nagawang krimen sa starlet na nagbigti ilang taon ang nakalipas dahil sa umano’y hindi pa rin nakalimutan ang kahalayang ginawa sa kanya ng mga artistang kabilang ngayon sa likod ng kandidatura ni Poe. (May 8, 2004)
the same article has been reposted ad infinitum in many other fora and blogs over the years, some of them followed by comments defending the accused, it was just hyped up, the case didn’t go to court, walang conviction, ibig sabihin walang rape. i’ve also seen a youtube video that purports to tell the true story, pepsi paloma was just a whore.
FYI lang. it could only have been rape. here’s what i knew and how i felt about the case back in late 1982 (from a tv junkie column, parade mag, a times journal publication):
Now that Pepsi has forgiven Vic, Joey, and Richie, it’s back to show business as usual for thethree musketeers. How nice.
When the news of the rape case first broke… I expressed incredulity. I couldn’t believe that Vic and Joey were insane enough to jeopardize their careers for a momentary macho thrill.
On second thought I realized that Pepsi couldn’t have completely contrived the situation. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Obviously, at some point in time, Vic & Co. got together with Pepsi & Co. Who set the meeting up and what occurred, we don’t know. Among other things, Pepsi & Co. claimed it was rape; Vic & Co. claimed it was a photo session.
I tried to follw the case closely but the major dailies treated it like backpage news. I had to be content with the skimpy reportage of afternoon tabloids.
There was mention of a missing Sulo waiter, a crucial witness, but no follow through. I wondered where he might be, what his story might be, and why we didn’t have snoopy reporters a la Lois Lane ferreting him out of hiding.
All through August and September the Sotto camp issued nothing but denials. Vic even had an alibi: he and brother Tito were at their mother’s house in Ermita at the time of the alleged rape.
And then the bomb. A letter of apology. An admission of guilt. Implicit. Unmistakable. “Dear Pepsi . . . We hope that you will not allow the error we have committed against you to stand as a stumbling block to that future which we all look forward to. We therefore ask you to find it in your heart to pardon us for the wrong which we have done against you. Sincerely…” (People’s Journal, 13 October)
the rape and the apology happened almost 30 years ago. people say these guys have changed. well, maybe vic and joey — we havent heard of any rape complaints since. but tito the senator is another story. tila kinarir na niya ang under-the-table deals, and you wonder about this twistedly dogged anti-woman stand on the RH bill. what’s in it for him kaya? maybe the bishops have promised to make him president someday? god forbid!
rina jimenez-david on senator tito sotto’s opposition to RH bill:
indeed. and if it’s true that senator sotto is plotting to derail its passage through a privileged motion that any member may invoke to postpone or delay an ongoing debate….when the debate resumes this afternoon, well, then maybe i’ll dig into my baul and find and post my pepsi paloma tv junkie columns written back in the 80s for parade magazine re the rape case plus links online on how comedian tito sotto managed to have the case against his brother and two others dropped.
there’s a real live rape-of-a-minor court case pala in the works against a parish priest of agusan del norte, who denies the allegations of course, and whom the diocese bishop has taken into his palace (yes, palace! frailocracy pa rin) in butuan city, instead of surrendering him to civil authorities.
i can’t believe that this is the first i’ve heard of it. it would seem that after reporting the rape complaint by “leah” in early july (when i was hectic, proofreading, indexing, etc. and thus missed it), media dropped the matter completely until two or three days ago. (google it and you get either a july 2-7 item or an august 27-30.)
why did i hear nothing of it all through the mideo crucifixion (when i was paying attention na) — from pinky webb’s xxxpose to karen davila’s censhorship rants to ccp folding — when bishops ruled as though from on high and the inquirer justified vandalism? all through those august weeks, i didn’t hear anyone in/through media bringing up the rape case, even if only to bring down the bishops a notch, level the playing field, even if only in a token way.
i wonder how much money went around to focus media’s attention on mideo and away from leah. okay, okay, siguro naman hindi sila lahat nabibili. pero siguro rin, yung mga hindi nabibili, wala namang balls. how terrible. the rape of leah, if true, and other such cases since the time of damaso, is prick power at work, mideo’s poleteismo verfiied and validated, how disgusting in many ways is this church that professes to embody christ.
samantala, in her tribune column, armida siguion-reyna rightly jeers at the holier-than-thou.
Where now are the sanctimonious? Where now are those who took offense with the “sacrilege” they insisted visual artist Cruz committed with the display of his works at the CCP? Butuan, Agusan, Diocese Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos, he who had led the call for President Benigno Aquino III’s resignation because of his appointing “kaklase” and “kaibigan” to government posts, how come there’s nothing from him, especially with the alleged rapist priest under his care?
Nothing, as in not even a peep.
worse, what’s with this priest:
In a radio interview, Fr. Raul Cabonce, the parish priest of Tubay, said “I categorically deny allegations of rape hurled against me… please check the background of the family of the victim first before judging me.”
Fr. Raul Cabonce in an interview on Bombo Radyo Butuan on Tuesday alleged the sisters of the victim were all victims of rape and that people of Las Nieves town, where used to be parish priest before transferring to Tubay, knew the background of the victim’s family.
the sisters of the victim were all rape victims… therefore, what? they are not to be believed? they deserve to be raped? hey, lord bishops, methinks this priest might not only need help sublimating his libido, he could use some gender consciousness & sex education too :(