In that part when Gwen was to flutter eyelashes demurely and say yes, she offered no sympathy, which would have gone well with Capitol coffee.
She foiled arguments. “Compassion”: Did Leo show any of that in his attacks? “Inconvenience”: Are complainants not made to suffer from KBP bureaucracy?
And she turned tables: Why has KBP not acted on foul and murderous prose on air?
Before station chiefs bearded the lion’s den, their Capitol reporters could have told them that Gwen, stung by “media abuse,” would rather get even than forgive.
Mike’s case
KBP officials took cue from First Gentleman Mike Arroyo who after a heart surgery dropped all his libel cases against media.
“We are never as virtuous as when we are ill,” said Pliny the Younger. Mike nearly died, felt he was mortal and must be kind.
Not Gwen who’s in good health and high spirits.
She just got reelected (with a thunderous vote) and her kid brother PJ and dear pa Pablo won House seats. She was in a mood to open wine bottles but not to bury hatchets.
Leo has to live with the civil case in Barili and the criminal case with Cebu City fiscal, as every journalist similarly burdened must.
Courts will uphold Leo on valid questions about Capitol spending and other public issues. Supreme Court has stoutly defended journalists who stand up to snooty public officials and has punished only those who confuse slander with free speech.
As to the KBP, it can lick wounds inflicted at the Capitol meeting and, by doing a better job, refute its critics.
