99 Problems
If you’re having girl problems, I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems, but the bitch ain’t one.- Jay-Z, 99 Problems
The Black Album, Def Jam Records (2003)
There’s an old saying that goes, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” In the case of Nicole – the victim of the Subic rape case – there’s a lot of shooting going on. Not bullets, not a movie in the works, but barbs from everywhere, There are people who agree with what she did, and there are people who don’t agree with what she did. Retracting the events of her rape, as it seemed, was enough to galvanize many Filipinos into forming an opinion about it. For a hundred thousand pesos, a green card, and peace and quiet, Nicole is off to the United States, leaving the Subic rape case as yet another black eye in the annals of the Philippine justice system.
Pardon me, ladies and gentlemen, I just have to vent.
I’m not a lawyer, I’m not a judge or jury, but it seems that all this hatred for Nicole is “unwarranted.” Thanks to women empowerment and a more educated understanding about rape, we’re beyond that “Just lay back and enjoy the ride” attitude that has sort of defined rape for generations. Women being sexually violated are no longer condemned to the rest of their lives to the whore’s tent at the edge of the village, but rape survivors become spokespeople for the crusade against gender bias and women’s oppresion. That rape, as a crime, demanded restitution and retribution. Rape demanded justice.
To the tune of a hundred thousand pesos, to the tune of a green card, the Subic rape case was the swan song of our justice. The funeral dirge. Somehow, we might as well bury it. Meh, right?