Media attention is something most politicians crave. But not Senator John Osmena. Not now. Not when the attention involves a young man, handcuffs and a blindfold.
Several weeks ago, a male prostitute went to court accusing the senator of rape. The details are unclear, but the 24-year-old claimed he had been hired in February by someone fronting for the senator. He agreed to be handcuffed to a bed and blindfolded so he would not see the client, but, he alleges, still managed a peek and recognised Senator Osmena. What angered him, he said, was that during the 'transaction', the senator behaved in a way that had not been agreed on.
Senator Osmena, 69, is running for re-election this year, so his camp was quick to denounce the accusation. But what is odd is how the senator himself sounded. Interviewed on radio the day the charges made the headlines, he did not explode into righteous wrath or issue bloodcurdling death threats. Instead, he seemed at a loss for words and when asked what his reaction was, replied his lawyer was studying the charges. What was there to study? The contract?
As the senator has admitted, he has been dogged for decades by charges that he is a homosexual. It's not that being gay in this country is something to be ashamed of. It is just that being seen as openly gay is a kiss of death in politics.
A politician can be a murderer, rapist or thief and can still be re-elected. But if it is so much as breathed that he is a homosexual - bakla in Tagalog - and he will spend most of his time desperately trying to prove his masculinity against the sniggering in the background.
This means that homosexual politicians have kept themselves firmly in the closet ... not that this has stopped the country's notorious gossip mill from discussing their proclivities. One staple of Manila's coffee klatsches concerns two old queens, both famous politicos, who go to the United States to indulge their penchant for dressing in drag.