Nicole, Subic Rape Victim is now in the USA for Good

Suzette was petitioned by her fiance of 2 years who is in the US military.

It takes AT LEAST 3 months to process a US fiance visa.

Suzette was already applying for a US visa while protesting against VFA, Smith, Supreme Court, etc., with Gabriela.

Ha ha ha!

From a psychological point of view both parties were telling the truth — just that they were stretching it to their own convenience and/or freedom. They danced the night away drunk and finally wanted to get out of the bar. She willingly rode his car with the others and the couple flirted some more. She was attracted to him and he wanted her. There was obvious sexual tension, she was exuding it, he was catching it — but neither knows how FAR the other would go and they could just go by presumptions and non-verbal cues. They proceeded with more foreplay in the car and he initiated the actual intercourse. But others cheered on and it has gotten out of hand, suddenly shaming a drunk but still conscious woman who became irate & agitated and most probably at some point said “stop” or “no” in some SORT of way but the deed is well on its way. A genuine rapist would not even bother to put on a condom coz for them it is the POWER trip not the sexual pleasure they are after. So he said it was consensual …she said she was raped. There is a finer than fine line there and it can go either way. But it takes two to tango and all’s fair in lust and war.

I was actually on Nicole’s side because I thought Mr. Smith’s lawyer is an a*****. Like arguing that Mr. Smith used a condom so there was no rape involved. Lol wut? Plus I hated the snide remarks given by our Justice secretary. But a part of me doubted her story when it was reported that she took 5 shots of b-52 or various cocktails, enough to make someone forget what happened the night before. She said she was too drunk to agree to a consensual sex, but her testimony is filled with clarity, that she was sober enough to recall the event.
Right now the Inquirer revealed her face (well, it was revealed a long time ago in the nets). I don’t know if to show their disgust that we’ve been had all along.
I still don’t know what is going on, so I reserve my judgments. But if indeed Daniel Smith is innocent, then I pity all the real rape victims that are willing to come out. I’m not gong to hate her for backtracking. What’s worse is keeping silent forever knowing the guy is innocent. Nicole, I’m pretty sure, is going to be our version of Octomom, for being the most hated woman in the country. That is punishment enough.

jeez,

i was all out for nicole before. and with this latest twist… i.e. had an american boyfriend before, raped by an america, now with an american boyfriend, it makes me think nicole really had it coming. well it comes to me she is as cheap as i earlier thought. gusto lang makasabit sa kano, at all costs, para sa american dream. gina–o mo kaming lahat, nicole.

you might be interested to read this very nice and honest article I came across Facebook written by Inday Espina-Varona

Nicole: A sister’s tough choice

It was, in the parlance of negotiators, a lose-lose situation. Nicole, the woman raped by American serviceman Daniel Smith, the woman whose face the Inquirer bared cruelly on its front pages today, knew what awaited her.

And she was right. The insults, the slurs, the indignation rained as heavy as they did when PR hacks hired for the defense of Smith (and the government he serves) tried to justify a crime by painting Nicole as a woman of loose morals.

That Nicole practically damns herself the same way now does not excuse the stone throwing.

A woman of loose morals can be raped. Indeed, a woman seen by society as one with loose morals is most vulnerable to rape. A society that fumes at a woman’s attempt to live by her own rules will turn its eyes away and close its ears when men decide to impose the most humiliating punishment they can on this singular, defiant woman.

There’s a line in the Green Mile. To paraphrase: people who think themselves enlightened can perpetrate the most horrific deeds. By commission they do this; likewise, by omission.

Like many friends, I, too, would like to see a lopsided, onerous treaty provided rescinded. A country may open its doors to troops of a military ally if it helps build up its own defense capabilities; what makes the VFA unjust are the provisions clearly skewed towards the bigger power. Until the VFA treats erring American troops like erring Filipino troops, it remains unacceptable. (One might point out that too many erring Filipino soldiers have walked away scot-free but we can’t have everything and just a slight evening out of the field is enough for me.)

But yearning for a noble goal – abolition of an onerous treaty – does not mean it is right for us to drag Nicole through the mud once more. There is no more self-serving, selfish comment than to wail we’ve been had because Nicole issued an affidavit virtually clearing Smith.

So she crumbled. So she groveled before might and the power of the American dream. So what? A close reading of the affidavit shows she doesn’t say the rape NEVER happened. She just spouts what the defense wants her to say.

Many raped women have crumbled in the face of much, much less – say, the tears of an apologetic husband or boyfriend, or the pleas of a family tired of braving the sneers and leers, or just the mounting bills of a legal battle; or maybe just the pleas of one man’s mother, and/or the promise of marriage to make an “honest” woman of her — with all the subtext of she-was-asking-for-it.

We in the media and people’s organizations know of tortured folk recanting on earlier testimony. It doesn’t make them allies of evil men; it simply means there were factors heavy enough to crush determination and courage.

Was it naïve of Nicole to expect aid from the Philippine government? Maybe. But many Filipinos do expect government or government officials to help them. Why are there long lines of supplicants at the gates of mayors and congressmen and governors?

Besides, it’s not just the government. People’s orgs and NGOs – even the media – are there to succor the afflicted. But our attention spans are also as short as the public’s. We are not evil; we just have other, “more important” things to attend to.

How many times have we in media done a round of mea culpa when discussing human rights? We admit we cannot always keep the lights shining on one particular case – and that often starts the slide to defeat. That does not make us in the media bad; we know the many reasons for this situation. If we can accept this, why cannot we accept the loneliness and bewilderment of the violated, their impatience and their hopelessness?

Likewise, I have been around these circles of aid-givers enough to know that there is some residual middle-class desire to expect people we help to be docile and grateful, when in truth the task of working for justice does not guarantee good manners and right conduct among those we seek to aid.

Oh yes, there are many do-gooders who can barely mask their pinched noses as they go about giving aid, and there are those whose faces turn red and mouths turn down when they are met with less than obsequious thanks in their tours of duty or because the people they help just can’t be bothered by the higher isms of the day. That’s not to denigrate aid givers as evil; just to make them out as truly human, the same way the people they serve, Nicole included, are just as human.

The truth is, Nicole has walked a long, long way in this ordeal; longer than most women who have suffered rape.

Just a little over a week ago, I had to double check some documents from the Bacolod police because they initially seemed exaggeratedly negative. Of 36 cases of acts of lasciviousness report last year, only six were filed with the fiscal. Of 943 cases of violence against women, only 13 were filed in court. Of 26 rape cases, only six were filed. In the case minors, the ratio was nine of 34 rape cases ending up in court.

Nicole, at least, braved cross-examination and the harsh glare of the media spotlight, including the baring of her real identity name.

She mustered the strength for this because many of us supported her – whether because rape alone was enough to stir us to outrage or because she was a vehicle to reach a higher goal.

And now she has crumbled. Why are we so irate? How many friends do we know who voluntarily joined this or that cause but dropped out after sometime? Do we sneer and call them traitors? Don’t we even share meals with those who now serve the government, no matter if the thought of this government makes us puke?

How many on Facebook were once firm believers in this or that cause? Nobody pressured us to join those causes, right? Did we face a mob when we decided to leave?

Well, Nicole never volunteered for the cause. She had to be raped to join it. She never asked to be poster girl for nationalists; she was made one by virtue of rape.

There are a million and one reasons for despair and hopelessness. A noble cause cannot always hold one above the waters. Nor will a lynching make our cause more right.

Nicole is not the enemy. Let’s not treat her like one.

Justice Secretary Gonzalez said that if he had granted Suzette’s request to remove the MEATY portions of her rape affidavit in 2005, there would NEVER been a rape case.

Yes, convict Smith after Suzette already submitted an affidavit that there was consensual sex.

So that the international community (aka other countries) will look at the Philippine Judicial System even MORE of a JOKE.

This is now all over the international news including Wall Street Journal.

i was among those surprised by the recantation. i worked closely with those involved in the case until it was won in december 2006. i admit that i was at first disappointed at nicole, after all that people had done for her, but i think i understand now why she did what she did. i can’t even muster the gall to personally ask her. it wasn’t easy for her, so please, leave her in peace.

We may leave her in peace but what she has left behind is in chaos and tatters. From the beginning of the case I doubted, then by the time that Smith got convicted it looked too predictable. Now that Nicole has reversed, what does makes us (and her) look like before the eyes of the world?

Somewhere, someone is very happy with the outcome, and we all ordinary Filipinos are the losers in the invisible power struggle between the Americans and the Chinese.

she just wanted to have her visa and fly to the US and look for an american cock to fulfill her sexual desires… maybe she doesn’t like small ones that is why she is looking for the big ones… lol….

I wouldn’t be surprised if Suzette has another affidavit stating that she was pressured by Ursua, Gabriela, Bayan Muna, EnGende Rights, etc., to sue Smith for rape.

Hi Ms. Noemi. I’ve always been a fan of your articles and how you consistently react to public issues. Don’t be affected by such negative comments. Just keep it up. I don’t see anything wrong with your commentaries. This person is just one of the few people with no substance at all..in short trying hard to make comments pero wala namang alam..He/She’s over reacting..Perhaps he/she’s a relative of the victim whose so affected here. We can’t blame her if that’s the case. Let’s keep in mind that everyone’s entitled to his/her opinion..For as long as we don’t step on somebody, it’s alright to leave a comment. Will support your blogs, ms noemi.. no worries on that 🙂 Luijoe is looking down from heaven so happy and proud of you! cheers!!!