Kiss, thrill, kill

Two years ago, this happened: the Liberal Party provided entertainment to its members in the form of female dancers twerking, and everyone got angry and cried exploitation.

Now, things have changed. When a president spoke in a forum of Filipinos in South Korea, and he wanted to amuse the crowd, he asked for an OFW for a kiss on the lips. The crowd goes wild, in gusto.

This is the irony of the times. That it is okay for a “rockstar mayor-president” to entertain us with a smooch, as he has oftentimes do in the past and up to the present.

A smooch is okay to bring kilig to the OFWs, but is that any different from a smack that another OFW in Middle East get from her master?

Many OFWs, especially women, are prey and entertainment of their masters. How many stories have we heard of them being beaten and even thrown off from buildings, or dumped in freezers?

That is why there is protest over that smooch. Because it represents how women are treated.

When students get preyed by their teachers in exchange of passing grades, when workers get to be called by their employers for a “quick pass”, when girls get invited by friendly-looking foreigners, the list goes on. It is misogyny so prevalent that represents power, like that of the president who wants to have fun at the moment.

And while we’re at this, it is sad that women who seek change are themselves victimized by this structure of violence.

A week ago, a Lumad mother of three in Trento, Agusan del Sur was buying school items for her children, but she was shot dead while her eldest daughter was wounded. Neighbors and school teachers said that prior to this tragedy, Beverly Guillermo was harassed since she is a leader of the PTCA of the Lumad school Misfi Academy.

This Monday, an assistant prosecutor from the Ombudsman, Madonna Ednaco-Tanyag, was stabbed dead in Quezon City. She was working on graft cases against corrupt officials. She was a mother. She was five months pregnant. She is a victim of impunity.

That is why that kiss is not just a kiss. It sounds more of a smack on women who are reduced to the whims of those in power. It is a smack that drowns us from truly grasping the struggles of women for survival and change in this system.