The Subic Rape Case

SAN Vicente town in Palawan will surpass Boracay as an idyllic vacationers’ haven in the next five years.

Already, an airport is being constructed in the town about four hours by land transport from Puerto Princesa City.

In contrast, Boracay Island has no airport and is accessible only by boat from mainland Aklan.

The price of real estate in San Vicente is going up every day as the airport nears completion.

Many Europeans have bought pieces of real estate on a 14-kilometer stretch of white beach in the town.

Some islands are still for sale or are being developed for tourism.

Daclac island off San Vicente proper, whose idyllic view was on the front page of the Inquirer last Thursday, is the future site of a five-star leisure-resort complex.

Daclac’s occupants, former stage actress Ditchay Roxas and her French husband, are being made to vacate the island by the government.

“Had Ditchay followed my advice five years ago to get a special land use permit from the national government, she cannot be evicted from the island,” said Mayor Antonio Gonzales.

Apparently, Gonzales said, Ditchay did not foresee the current tourists’ rush to San Vicente.

Some good grass is trampled upon in the march toward progress. That’s the way it is.

* * *

Should he decide to run, the next governor of Palawan is a non-politician.

Billionaire Jose “Pepito” Alvarez, who insists on being called daang pobre (former poor), is winning the hearts of the poor in the province through his medical missions.

He has brought two mobile clinics complete with operating rooms into the province and built a 200-bed hospital in the capital, Puerto Princesa City.

Poor patients are given free hospitalization and medicines in the hospital and mobile clinics.

During a recent medical mission which this columnist witnessed, patients were not only given free checkup and medicines, they were also served breakfast, lunch, and merienda (snacks).

The medical mission employed 50 doctors and 100 nurses spread in three places: Puerto Princesa, San Vicente, and Coron.

Its target was to service 100,000 patients in a province with a voting population of 400,000.

“The medical missions will go on as long as there are patients to serve and cure,” said the former logger and close friend of the late Speaker Ramon Mitra whose pro-poor traits have apparently rubbed off on him.

Alvarez said it was his way of giving back to Palawan part of the wealth he has acquired from logging in the province.

Asked about rumors he is running for governor, he said in his native Visayan, “Ah, ayaw na usa na (Ah, let’s not talk about it yet).

His potential rivals must be worried sick.

* * *

All rape cases are stacked up in favor of the complainant.

Yes, a Filipino woman would not normally file a rape complaint since she would be exposing herself to ridicule.

I said “normally.”

But there are abnormal instances, as in the Nicole rape case and the rape case where a man suffering from complete paralysis was the respondent.

In some instances, the complaint was filed because the complainant was not satisfied with the amount given by the respondent after the sex act.

Or, as in the case of Nicole, she was pressured into filing the complaint.

The judge handling a rape case should dig deep into the character or motive of the complainant.