'Damaged' people in the Tulfo-Santiago brouhaha

Written by : Mario Bautista

SOME quarters are urging the Santiago Brothers (Rowell, Randy and Jun) and the Barretto Sisters (Marjorie and Gretchen with her red stilettos and her “you want war, I’ll give you war” dialogue) to stand up and be counted and come to the rescue of their beleaguered siblings Raymart and Claudine, just like what the Tulfo Brothers (Erwin, Raffy and Ben) did for their Kuya Mon.

Some writers are “nanggagatong” and want them to react to make it a bigger fight involving more celebrities, but they choose to keep quiet. For peace-loving people, though, they’re doing the right thing because anything they’d say might just add fuel into the fire and make it an even bigger conflagration.

But we honestly believe that even if they eventually get to settle their differences amicably, both parties involved in the Tulfo and Santiago violent airport episode will come out damaged from the brouhaha they’re now involved in. So far, two witnesses have come out to say it’s Mon who initiated violence. First is a woman named Anna who said it’s Mon who kicked Claudine first like a martial artist so the people around all screamed “Hoy, babaeng tao 'yan. You don’t do that to a woman.” Then another witness who was there said Mon also became violent with Raymart first. Looks like a lot of people saw this and if they’d all come out to testify, then Mon’s goose is cooked.

This will damage him because his image is that of a defender of the oppressed, but the image now painted by witnesses seems he has no respect for women. Also, his macho image (and also macho ego) is very much hurt by him being seen in public as “bugbog sarado.”  As some wags point out, he’s not invincible, after all. His three brothers who made threats against Raymart sounding like vengeful “matons” also damaged themselves, especially after TV5 reprimanded them for conduct unbecoming of impartial and responsible broadcasters.

In turn, Claudine’s image will likewise be further tainted after losing her temper in public. Granted that Cebu Pacific is at fault, she could have handled the whole thing with more grace and sobriety. It’ll be recalled she also got mad and became emotional with some bank personnel a few months ago. Such behavior will surely not help endear her anew to the public and would be detrimental in reviving her sagging career.

In contrast, her contemporary Judy Ann Santos has a squeaky clean image.  Unlike Claudine’s marriage to Raymart that has been reported as rocky several times, Juday’s relationship with Ryan Agoncillo is all rosy and happy, which is why she continues to be in demand even as an endorser mom or wife. Before Claudine makes another comeback try, she and her handlers would have to do some serious damage control first.

Last but not the least, Cebu Pacific also gets damaged here. If they offered better service to their passengers, the whole thing would not have happened at all. We ourselves have been victim of their often delayed flights but we all take it with a grain of salt as even other airlines get late simply because of the heavy air traffic in our third world airport.

Here we are always trying our best to attract more tourists and what they get is lousy airport service where planes are often lined up for hours waiting to take off or touch down because so many other planes are using our limited airport. Oh well...

original source here