EDITORIAL - "Money for nothing and chicks for free"

As we said here in a previous article, and as one editor of The Philippine Star said in her column, rape is a private crime, and if “Nicole,” wants to get on with her life, who are we to stop her.

And so we will not bother her anymore. But we just cannot resist wondering, at least for this one last time, why she settled for a paltry P100,000? Was all her trouble worth only that much? We know of far less attractive people getting so much more for doing almost nothing.

Indeed, we are reminded of a few lines from the Dire Straits song “Money for Nothing” that go: “Look at them yo-yos. That’s the way you do it. You play the guitar on the MTV. That ain't working. That’s the way you do it. Money for nothing and chicks for free.”

So why did “Nicole” settle for just P100,000? Was it because, just like in the hit television game show “Deal or No Deal,” the possible assets left in her kitty was simply no longer worth the banker's sneeze and that she might as well settle for his sniffle?

If that was the case, then it might rightfully be said that she truly did not have the goods against Daniel Smith in the first place. Otherwise, why would she settle for such an embarrassingly insignificant amount? In pesos at that.

Our guess is that the money was just the “icing” on the cake. Our guess is that it was the US visa that made up the real prize. Had she not recanted and virtually dropped the case, not even the intercession of heaven could have opened the doors of America for her.

While it is truly difficult for Filipinos to obtain a US visa, the chance to obtain one is there. But in the case of “Nicole,” with her name probably red-flagged in all INS databanks, the door to her American dream has been bolted and locked.

So, when the certainty of a US visa was dangled before “Nicole,” the poor Filipina melted. In America, losing herself in its roughly 300 million people of all colors and creeds gave her the chance to reclaim her privacy, and the rest of her life, than if she stayed here.