Enough

In 1979, Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand sang a girl power anthem song about ending unhappy relationships. They crooned about their failed romances and disco danced to the beat of throwing their men out.

Twenty-three years later, in 2002, Jennifer Lopez starred in a movie in which she portrayed a woman who received long-term abuse from her husband. She was fed up with being the man’s punching bag, so she did some training in fighting so that she could fight back.

Donna, Barbra, and Jennifer all had had enough of the abuse. So have I.

I’ve had enough tears, excuses, shenanigans and jokes. This whole ordeal has gone too far, and I want to put an end to it. I’m talking, of course, about the Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili sex scandal.

Every day, I hear news about the issue, read about it in the newspaper. Hayden this, Katrina that, Bong Revilla that — please! The constant barrage of information about their personal lives is beating on my nerves, just as J.Lo’s husband in the aptly-named Enough movie beat on her.

More annoyingly, people are actually interested in learning more about the couple and the events surrounding them. If my friends aren’t asking me if I have a copy of the sex video, they’re offering to send me one. I was quite shocked at how many people wanted to see people having sex just because it’s a hot topic right now. All I can say to that is “Ewwwwwww!”

I have not, nor will I ever watch that video. I’m not being a prude; I just feel that it’s not right (and a bit disgusting) to watch something that intimate between two people. Hello, by the dictionary definition of the word, it is “porn” — it is sexually explicit material intended to cause sexual arousal, right? That’s why Hayden Kho taped it in the first place; it’s a souvenir of sorts from their encounter — something to be reviewed in the near or far future. Like my father said, “Why would anyone want a souvenir for something like that?”

Once I had made it clear to friends eager to keep me in the loop that I had no intention of even checking out the film quality of the video, they started to offer videos of Hayden Kho getting drenched by an outraged man. These offers were just as quickly turned down complete with an aggravated expression from me.

Aside from the propagation of the video itself, jokes have also been popping up everywhere. The “Hayden camera” pun got really old, really fast. It would have been okay — it was even funny, at first — if only this and other similar puns weren’t overused and over-sent through text, e-mail and microblogs. Just over the weekend, I received four Hayden jokes through text messages, and six from social networking sites. So when someone asks me what Hayden’s favorite camera brand is? Yeah, yeah. Kho-dak. Like I haven’t heard that one before. Move on, people.

Another annoying effect of the Hay-Kat mania is the outpouring of new quizzes on the Internet. The first one I saw (and did not take, mind you) was called “Which Hayden Kho sex scandal are you?” I was floored when I saw this because I didn’t think anyone could even think up something like that. The newest quiz asks just one question — whether you sympathize with Hayden or Katrina. From the results I’ve seen, neither of them is winning. 

However, perhaps the worst part of the whole controversy is that it’s the only thing people seem to be talking about now. Not a conversation goes by without someone mentioning the scandal. Even the priest in last Sunday’s Pentecost Mass made a quip about it. I’m often asked what my thoughts are on the matter, and I have to say that I just don’t care about the whole thing.

It sounds heartless, me not sympathizing with a woman who has been publicly disgraced, but she can’t say that she had no fault in it. Yes, Hayden Kho is a pervert. So why did she fall for him in the first place and satisfy his primeval designs? Now that the video has leaked out, for whatever reason, she’s crying foul. There’s a lesson there somewhere for all you ladies out there, single or not — cute guys are not necessarily good guys.

The proverbial can of worms has been opened and now accusations and far-flung stories are being fired back and forth. I’ve heard whispers of drugs and debts; I really can’t make any sense of it. The Senate has gotten involved, too, for some odd reason (the 2010 elections, perhaps?). The Senate is part of the legislative branch of government, correct? Then what on earth do Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili have to do with laws? I don’t see how a Senatorial investigation of this scandal could be “in aid of legislation.”

The whole affair has turned into a circus complete with splashes of water, scantily-clad women, political ringmasters and lots and lots of theatrics. I wonder when the church will jump onto the bandwagon. Maybe they’re too busy opposing the Reproductive Health Bill. Or supporting Jun Lozada.

I know many people who have peeked at the video and tried listening to all the news reports coming in. Let’s just say that curiosity killed the cat. Now, they’re wishing that the media would just move on to a new controversy, a new story.

As Donna and Barbra sang, no more tears, enough is enough. Let the issue die a natural death, so that we all, especially Katrina, can move on. Hayden can, for all I care, also move on… to jail. We can forget this issue, but Katrina and the other so-called victims probably can’t, or won’t. After all, there are those DVDs out there that will, in the years to come, be constant reminders of their plight. Still, there’s no use crying over spilled milk. The best thing to do is to clean it up quickly, not pour more sour milk from the bottle.