Let the trial begin

By Al S. Mendoza

 

 

 

THE case of the “sex-for-flight” scandal raised by our dear female overseas workers must be pursued up to the ends of the Earth.

 

But what is “sex-for-flight” again?

 

It means women offer themselves for free to men of power in exchange for a hassle-free trip back home from overseas.

 

The trade-off is sex for either a quick travel pass to Manila, or even fare money to a poor migrant worker dying to come home due mainly to homesickness or some emergency?

 

Mostly, the alleged victims are employed in the Middle East, notably either in Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Kuwait, holding jobs ranging from domestic helpers to employees in hotels or malls and the like.

 

They have accused top-ranking personnel of our Labor consular offices in the Arab countries, not to mention possibly other staff at the Department of Foreign Affairs there.

 

At first, three female workers surfaced to hurl their “sex-for-flight” accusations, pointing the accusing finger to one of the top Filipino Labor officials in the Middle East.

 

Next, three more Filipinas joined the fray.

 

One Labor official, named by the complainants, has denied the accusation, although soon after the scandal hogged the headlines, he was recalled to Manila to face an “impartial investigation,” according to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

 

President Aquino has ordered a “thorough probe,” telling Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa, Baldoz and Justice Secretary De Lima “to get your act together” and file “the appropriate charges” against anyone “found to be involved.”

 

Although a case has yet to be filed, the scandal has become an international black eye once more for the country wanting badly to perk up its ecotourism and investor-confidence thrusts.

 

While I take pity on the complainants, I also have the heart for the accused as those charged would almost immediately fall into the dreaded quagmire of “trial by publicity.”

 

For, in the case at hand, there will always be cynics, who say not all the complainants are telling the truth, saying, “Some will always invent stories so that they could go home quick.”

 

And then this: Will the accusers tell lies and, in the process, subject themselves to public scrutiny – if not ridicule – just to get what they want?  Instant flight for home?

 

When one is homesick, when one is sick, when one couldn’t bear the sufferings anymore in a land far from home, at times, to be true to one’s self is no longer an option.

 

Let the trial begin.

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