Thursday, June 19, 2008 So: Ces without the make-up By Michelle P. So Caught in the Net
THE Ces Drilon that I saw yesterday on TV was not the Ces Drilon I have watched deliver the news. Gone was her air of sophistication and confidence. She was as ordinary as the victim of a non-fatal crime that ABS-CBN reports in primetime news.
For once, Ces didn’t think of how she looked on cam. What she had on her face was not make-up but huge mosquito bites, remnants of her 10-day captivity in Sulu. Her eyes were swollen from crying. Her hair was limp.
But she looked to me that she couldn’t care less. She was just happy to be seeing again the familiar and non-threatening faces of media colleagues.
If she was abused by her captors, the Abu Sayyaf Group, she didn’t say. No one had mustered the courage to ask her during the press conference, held in Manila some 12 hours or so after her release.
Was she?
All she said was, she and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderrama were “generally treated well” although at one point, they were tied and the ASG threatened to behead Jimmy. She apologized, too, for her act of “irresponsibility” by ignoring instructions and warnings that jeopardized her safety and her crew’s.
Since news of her “board and lodging” at the ASG hideaway in Sulu broke two weeks ago, the question of her welfare and safety in the hands of her “landlords” always cropped up when the topic of the conversation segued to Ces.
The men thought of the worst occurrence, what with Ces being a woman and a pretty one too. Given her stature in the national media community, she was no regular captive. I shudder at what men think sometimes.
The women, on the other hand, wouldn’t want to think of the worst. “Oh no, I hope not” is what women say. I’d like to believe that Jimmy, the cameraman who was released with her, protected her.
Some of the early news reports said Ces was “abducted.” Abduction, when said by lawyers, carries an undertone of sexual intent. Ces was “kidnapped” because it was clear that her captors had meant to extract money from ABS-CBN for her release and that of her cameramen.
I see Ces as a strong woman. She wouldn’t have emerged calm and composed if she were made of lesser stock. That she is stubborn is acknowledged by her and by those who have worked and dealt with her. She says non-verbally, Don’t mess with me.
Fielding questions from media colleagues, Ces looked humbled and mortal.
She apologized to ABS-CBN for giving the network a “headache” and to Jimmy and Angel and their families for endangering their lives. She remained articulate and even joked about her look.
There were a lot of comments about her look. Without make-up, she looked different from her TV image, pre-kidnap. I don’t suppose the ASG had a make-up kit lying around under the cots. TV is harsh on women; it exposes and magnifies our physical shortcomings.
But Ces couldn’t care less how she looked. After 10 days of living on the basics, not even knowing if she’d live to see her family again, she set aside vanity.
I did worry about the other men held in captivity with Ces—the two cameramen and Mindanao State University professor Octavio Dinampo—but I was more concerned for Ces, an image of perfection on TV, and about how she handled the situation that left one question unanswered.
