Wild child.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

THE POSITIVE thing resulting from the tawdry saga involving Cory Aquino's wild child is that it has provoked thoughtful discussions on issues not only of gender but also of media exploitation and self-worth. Laid open as well to scrutiny is the caliber of so-called public servants, the sort that spring unembarrassed from the ripe fields of basketball and show biz, and who somehow manage to amass the wherewithal to allow them to declare that they are wealthier than one of the owners of Hacienda Luisita. In one of the chapters of her tell-all epic, Kris Aquino quoted her ex-lover, the city mayor, as saying as much-a skillful jab on her part suggesting that there are facets to train public attention and official suspicion on, apart from the supposedly sorry state of his sexual health. (Think overpriced brooms, at the very least.)

Indeed, how could the mayor have become even wealthier than the mother of his ex-mistress? Granted that he made the boast in the heat of the moment (and by accounts, there were many moments of rage in their dalliance), surely he was not just provoked into doing so? Could his past fair-to-middling performance on the basketball court, or his current mugging on TV, have earned him the big bucks? Or perhaps more stringent attention should be directed to official matters such as city contracts, and thence to luxurious condos, nifty cars and high-powered guns?

Aquino's filing of criminal charges against Marquez will hopefully mop up the steam generated by her account of their rocky life together, riveting by virtue of a face that does extremely well in close-ups, a presence indicating that she is to the medium born, and a glibness that would have done her father proud. But this is a wistful thought in this neck of the woods, where, by dint of the same riveting account, the whole imbroglio is now being viewed largely from a sexual perspective. (Think leering men-and women-sending and forwarding salacious Kris text jokes.)

Not that the former president's darling daughter has nothing to do with it. She has traipsed this road before, unabashedly presenting her throbbing heart to a public ...