Trigger warning: The following article contains themes of violence and makes mention of physical abuse.
Abuse in all of its forms is wrong and will never be okay, may it be physical, verbal, or emotional. It’s wrong and everyone who is guilty of it should be liable for it no matter what their relationship to the victim is.
For this week’s showbiz news, ICYMI: Ana Jalandoni has been rescued by the police after actor Kit Thompson assaulted and detained her. As of writing, Kit Thompson has already been arrested by the police and the PNP has filed a complaint against him for violating the Anti-Violence against Women and Children Act.
Hours after her rescue, Ana Jalandoni posted a picture of her injuries on her Instagram with the caption, “When you love someone you will never ever harm them. Minahal mo ba talaga ako? (Did you really love me?) This is me saying, you all should be careful out there. I can’t reply to all of you right now but thank you for checking up on me. I will release a statement soon.”
Her post currently has 54,735 likes as of writing.
Gabriela Partylist has also issued a statement on the reported incident, saying that they are “deeply concerned” over the issue involving Kit Thompson and Ana Jalandoni in Tagaytay City and that this unfortunate news came while celebrating Women’s Month.
“This latest incident highlights the need to amplify the #LabananAngAbuso campaign to end violence against women.”
Filipinos online are also in a state of fury as news of Thompson and Jalandoni’s incident blew up, and who wouldn’t be, right?
The author of this piece would just like to say, and in the words of the disgusting abuser himself, “Gusto kong sumabog at magsabi ng masasamang words.” (I want to blow up and say foul words.) Because seriously, why would you beat your lover? What was the reason? Why would you go to such lengths in an argument?
And why are people still victim-blaming and dismissing the fact that a person — a celebrity, in fact — has been beaten almost to death? Has our society become so accustomed to domestic abuse against women that some actually think that it’s the woman’s fault?
It’s with cases and situations like this that we see how terrible our society can be. Violence (or anything distressing) seems to be so normalized that whenever someone speaks up about a traumatic experience, people find ways to completely disregard and invalidate them.
It’s sickening to still see these deranged mindsets run free in a time when we’re supposed to have moved on from this when we’re supposed to be treating women better. But sadly, we’re still living in a time where men think beating women in the name of love is “okay.”
And that is not okay. Physical abuse isn’t a form of love, and it will never be a kind of love for anyone.
May this situation never happen to anyone dear to you.
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