NOT MANY in Manila know, but two prominent families are heading toward a court showdown, not over wealth or business, but over family honor.
One family is accusing the other of slander/harassment, after the daughter of the other family reportedly told her friends and other people that she had been raped by the scion of the other family in-hear this-the early ’90s in New York (talk about ancient history).
Now the scion’s family has hired a lawyer who then wrote the girl’s family, actually the girl’s boyfriend, a demand letter for an apology, or else the scion-a young hunk of an executive known for extreme sports-goes to court.
It’s a plot with a colorful list of characters. What is interesting was that the girl began telling friends of the “rape” in NY only after the hunk executive got engaged a few years ago. The hunk executive is now happily married to the daughter of a highly respected (and feared) show-biz executive.
It is said that things got messy after the girl told her boyfriend or fiancé about the alleged rape. The boyfriend, a wannabe actor, reportedly began sending threatening e-mail to the hunk executive-and would even accost the hunk executive in the elevator or lobby of the condominium where the executive lives with his young family.
“Rapist!” he’d rail at him, the story went. It is also very ironic that the girl, her boyfriend, the hunk executive and his young wife happen to live in the same residential building.
Now, the hunk executive and his family have gathered all the e-mail and condominium run-ins as evidence of harassment, and their lawyer has sent a demand letter to the boyfriend and the girl’s family.
What many may find sad but also interesting is that the two families are bosom friends. They have been close for more than a generation now, with the children growing up together. In short, the two families, through the decades, have been like one big family, bound by their place in high society, involvement in business, government and diplomacy.
That’s why, one family claimed, the alleged “rape” in NY couldn’t have been rape because the girl would pop occasionally into the hunk executive’s apartment there and sleep over. The alleged “rape,” the girl claimed, happened after a party and drinking spree in the hunk executive’s apartment. What the hunk executive’s family is saying is that the two had a “fling.”
Get this clear, however-the girl did not and hasn’t filed a rape case. (It happened in the early ’90s, remember.)
The girl has her own career, has lived in the US and Europe, and has had her string of relationships. The hunk executive, too, has had his share of girlfriends.
Nonetheless, the family of the hunk executive, particularly the mother-who is known in Manila for her fantastic cooking and classy dinners-is furious at what it calls “slanderous accusation” and seems determined to have her son’s name cleared. It is said that not only his family, but also the hunk executive’s wife and in-laws, are solid behind the man, and are bent on seeing the case through.
Meanwhile, the very few people who know of this brewing scandal are hoping the case can be resolved, and that the two families don’t have to go to court.
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