‘Nicole’ reality TV

It was like watching one of those reality television shows that have been bombarding our airwaves everyday, from Hollywood to locally produced reality TV shows. I am talking particularly about the live telecast by the ABS-CBN’s ANC Channel from which I watched when Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Benjamin Pozon handed down his verdict on the Subic rape case at his sala last Monday.

These were real people, not professional actors and actresses, who we have seen in highly charged and dramatic moments. Their emotions, as conveyed by their facial expressions, were captured in video cameras that were allowed by Judge Pozon to be installed inside his courtroom. There were no prepared scripts, except the 63-page decision penned by Judge Pozon and read aloud by his male clerk of court.

The lead character has been played out to us by the Filipina rape victim a.k.a. ‘Nicole’ whose identity has been kept under wraps, with the cooperation of media, from day one since she cried rape in November last year. The media have no choice because the law mandates the withholding of the victim’s identity in rape cases like "Nicole’s," especially if they involved minors. Then, her secret identity was out when her name was repeatedly mentioned, and carelessly exposed to the public if I may add, by the clerk of court when he rambled on the victim’s name, complete with her middle initial, while reading the verdict of Judge Pozon.

This was a real life drama unfolding before our eyes on TV. There was no TV or movie director to shout at the clerk of court and tell him "Cut" and order a "Take-Two" and as many "Takes" to correct and to prevent this lapse from coming out on TV.

I think it was an unintentional error on the part of the clerk of court. However, damage has been done and cannot be undone anymore. The boob tube is really a cruel medium, especially if it is an actual event taking place in real time before the eyes of millions of people watching TV.

This is unlike other reality TV shows from where we can identify ourselves with and root for our perceived heroes or heroines while we consider those opposed or competing with them as the villains or anti-hero characters. I would like to believe that all of us Pinoys were all for "Nicole" in her cry for justice in this celebrated Subic rape case against her convicted rapist, US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith. He was not as lucky as his three other US Marine buddies who were implicated but acquitted in this rape case.

The three other US Marines, namely, Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier, Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood, and Lance Cpl. Dominic Duplantis, are not off-the-hook yet. While they were cleared from the "Nicole" rape case, the three would have to face Court Martial proceedings on charges of conduct unbecoming as officers and gentlemen before the US military unit in Okinawa where they were immediately flown right after the verdict.

The drama turned into action while Smith was being whisked out of the court by the uniformed Filipino policemen to bring him, as per court orders, to the Makati City jail. There was so much shoving and pushing as they grappled with burly US Embassy security escorts trying to protect their ward from the mob and media as well. But even at the end of the dramatic live coverage, the whole episode was not yet over, as far as "Nicole" and Smith were both concerned.

A day after the conviction of her rapist, the 23-year old "Nicole" was back in the limelight. As requested, only the lower half of her face was shown on TV in a press conference that she and her lawyers called for. This was after they learned about the reported "special treatment" being given to Smith at the records section of the Makati City jail where the latter is detained for now while the issue of custodial detention is still being discussed by concerned Philippine and US Embassy officials.

With her mother by her side all throughout this ordeal, "Nicole" expressed her readiness to face more difficulties she expects that lie ahead even with this court victory she had. She is a woman of strength at her young age. She is brave enough to admit the costly mistakes she made and said these were the hard lessons in life she learned from hindsight.

The 21-year old Smith, on the other hand, appeared stoic even while the decision was being read and his guilt beyond reasonable doubt were declared by the court. But away from the prying media, Smith was reportedly in tears when his parents called him up from the US after he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Smith, who comes from Missouri, is not alone also in this fight for his life that landed him in the Philippine criminal justice system. He, too, like "Nicole" learned too late this bitter lesson in life.

The personal tragedies in the young lives of both "Nicole" and Smith are stuff made of typical soap that Filipino households regularly watch on prime time TV. But we must all draw lessons from these sad stories of very real people like "Nicole" and Smith.

On the impersonal side of it, Nicole’s fight for justice was the maiden test case of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) of 1998. Officials from both governments are now burning diplomatic channels to resolve first the issue of custodial detention under the terms of VFA while Smith is awaiting decision of the Court of Appeals (CA). Smith’s legal defense panel has elevated the case to the CA, seeking the reversal of their client’s conviction.

The enforcement of this Agreement in its letter and spirit has demonstrated the maturity of RP-US relations even while such issues related to the Subic rape case were raging in and out of the court. But it would be at height of naiveté to say this case would not affect at all RP-US relations as some Malacañang Palace officials would like to paint. Such irritants though, serve to further strengthen the relations and long-standing friendship of the two countries.

In the meantime, we move on forward from this experience just like "Nicole" and later on for Smith. This is one reality that we can no longer watch live on TV. Perhaps, some enterprising Filipino moviemakers might come up with "Nicole, the Movie" or perhaps, Smith selling film-bio rights to agents in Hollywood.

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