I had little to say for Kris Aquino’s latest debacle because most of what I thought at the time, I had written just over a year ago.

(Backgrounder for those just arriving: Kris is the daughter of a national martyr and a former president, who is now a shrill and ditzy talk/game show host, and makes a habit of consorting with rich, married, high-profile movie stars. Now she says her latest boyfriend, a city mayor, was physically abusive, pointed a gun at her, and gave her a venereal disease.)

I cannot bring myself to feel sympathy or admiration for her. I know I tread on eggshells when I say that; certainly no woman deserves to be so treated for not having known better — even when she should know better. But when the lady publicly gallivants with married macho men, runs home to mommy after being jilted/abused, makes a showbiz spectacle of herself, then repeats the whole cycle all over again; at what point in this recurring drama are we supposed to consider her a heroine or a role model?

Lia points us to an important bit of perspective here: Incredible Kris (also published in shortened form in Inquirer). Meanwhile, another commentator considers other takes on Kris’ story.

At first, I had thought of commenting on Kris’s poor taste in men as typifying the Erap-esque macho stereotype which so pervades the Filipino psyche. Then I tried paralleling Kris’s own repetitive relational disasters as symbolic of the country’s penchant for electing, ousting, forgiving, and re-electing the wrong politicians. Then I thought about the fiery circus surrounding Kris’s “shocking revelations” and how the Philippine media milked the debacle for all it was worth, little helping the nation’s collective IQ.

Finally, I decided to just empty my mind and let Teta do the Tohking.