Thursday, May 08, 2008 Seares: Unmasking Jan-Jan (2) By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
SUN.STAR and other Cebu media haven't named the homosexual florist whom Vicente Sotto Hospital doctors operated on to remove a body spray canister stuck deep in his anus.
Jan-Jan (aka Danilo, George) was first reported as having been raped. Inserting an object into another person's private part is rape under an amended law that doesn't distinguish a pencil from a sex organ.
But was he raped? Jan-Jan has clung to his story when admitted to the hospital: The injury was "self-inflicted," meaning he himself put the can in there.
That version guided doctors and nurses in not treating him as a rape victim. And affirmed by Sotto and ombudsman investigators, none of whom wrote in their findings the issue of forced sex.
Jan-Jan wasn't a victim of child abuse. He's 39 years old, way beyond the pale of the law.
Media sympathy
Why then has he remained unnamed in the local media when he's identified in public documents and news reports of Manila-based papers?
No question about media sympathy for Jan-Jan and media revulsion over the Sotto Hospital circus that ridiculed his condition and exposed it to the world.
But he cannot remain nameless and faceless when he now asks for P6 million damages from his tormentors. What "besmirched" reputation can his lawyer cite as basis for his claim? He can't litigate for money and reject exposure at the same time.
Doctors and nurses are being named, with their career and reputation hurt by the publicity. Jan-Jan switched on publicity devices and yet wouldn't face the light without shawl and shades.
He also sinned and yet wouldn't pay any of sin's wages.
