We deserve Katrina, Hayden and Bong

This whole episode about the sex video scandal of Katrina and Hayden is a tragicomedy, and it also acquires the character of a simulacra, a reality drama being played with real people (although most of them are celebrity actors in their own rights) being thrown into the pit of public scrutiny, and their miseries turned into a spectacle for the public to watch, enjoy, be disgusted about, or simply be annoyed.

I am not a lawyer, but the crime element of an act worthy of imprisonment is always judged on the basis of the intention of the perpetrator. I suspect that except for those responsible for reproducing and uploading the videos, and those who supplied the drugs, no other character in this reality soap opera will ever land in jail, not even Hayden. The worst that can happen to him is that his license as a doctor will be revoked, and he can be sued for damages. I am not at all convinced that the videotaping of a sex act for private consumption can be classified as a crime under the Anti-Violence against Women and Children act. It is despicable. It is atrocious. It should be condemned. But under our laws, a good and expensive lawyer can easily save Hayden from legal retribution. Hence, the need to formulate more laws, or to clarify existing ones.

This is where the Senate Hearing should have focused. Katrina and Hayden's presence in the hearing was in fact not necessary. It should have been legal experts, psychologists, computer and IT experts and others in the know who should have been there. But I guess, this is our tragedy as a nation, that people like Bong Revilla, who at this point is still at a loss on the true nature of the work of the Senate (that its job is to legislate and not to prosecute and find guilt), are inflicted on us as Senators of the Republic.

But in the end, the laws of karma will be there to punish. Hayden's and Katrina's are now being felt by them. Don't get me wrong. While I feel that Katrina, or any other woman for that matter, does not deserve to be humiliated like this, the laws of karma do not exempt anyone. Perhaps, this is the price she has to pay for having an affair with somebody else's boyfriend, and denying it with gusto. Maybe, she is paying for other sins. Hayden's karma is more than the cold dousing he got from Afuang. More are still coming.

And what about Bong Revilla? Well, there is always the specter of electoral repudiation.

In the end, everyone will get what he or she deserves.

Including a public whose view of politics is simply a spectacle without issues. Some people are complaining that we surely do not deserve this spectacle of a scandal to be an object of a senate hearing. They are wrong. We deserve no less.