On Chavit and his common-law wife

The world has truly turned upside down. A guy has five children and so many years with his common-law wife, and because he philanders, according to his common-law wife, she turns around and does the same thing herself. When the guy catches the wife's boyfriend in the condo/townhome that he provides for her, he beats her up and his bodyguards take care of the boyfriend. Does the media sympathize with him, or condemn his wife? On the contrary, they condemn him and sympathize with the wife.

Of course, so many factors come into play here, some of which we aren't even aware of. But of the factors that the media has chosen to openly disclose, we know that the guy, who's a cabinet member of the present government, has beat up his wife, the wife has filed a formal complaint in court, and some are asking whether the guy has used government resources in having the wife followed secretly. The last is probably the reason why media has stepped into what is basically a domestic dispute, or an LQ, a lovers' quarrel, in the words of younger ones.

Domestic disputes are usually left to the will and disposition of the involved parties. The reason for this is that, as everyone knows, these disputes don't last very long, not unless one of the parties, usually the woman, is on the throes of death. When she is not, these disputes usually end in reconciliation. Thus, anyone who makes the mistake of siding with either the male or the female, is usually left holding the sympathy bag while the lovers walk off into the sunset--certainly not a very pleasant prospect for anyone who doesn't really care who was at fault but who was cornered into sympathizing.

The law steps in only when, as in this case, one of the parties brings in the court, by filing a case; or when, unfortunately, the quarrel ends in extreme violence, even death. So the Chavit-Tiongson case came to the attention of the public at large only because Ms Tiongson chose to make it so. And because of that, people have been taking sides, which is the natural reaction when anything becomes publicized.

Ms Tiongson has Gabriela and outspoken feminists like Dr. Minguita Padilla, prominent ophthalmologist who, if I recall correctly, was Loren Legarda's classmate in grade school/high school.

On Chavit's side: some military and policemen who agreed with his reaction. Some are even saying it's good he didn't kill her. Not even Senator Manny Villar, obviously a male, agreed. He was even quoted as saying that one doesn't do that to women.

Gabriela, Liza Maza and Dra. Padilla are quite articulate, which is why Ms Tiongson has been getting a sympathetic treatment from the press. One may contrast this with the one-liners and, I imagine, guttural reactions from the military and police.

(To be continued)