By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Comments and remarks to the sexuality of “persons of interest” (POI) in the death of Christine Dacera more than a week ago may cause greater problems to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other gender minorities (LGBTQ+) sector, according to a University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) professor.
Eleven males became persons of interest in the case of 23-year-old Dacera, who was found lifeless in a Makati City hotel room where she and friends celebrated the New Year.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) initially ruled it as a rape case, but later reports indicated the lack of proof proving such claim.
Days after the news of Dacera’s death blew up, several friends of the 11 POIs reacted online in their defense, saying that these people were “gay” and that they would have never abused her.
By the way, POI is euphemism for suspects.
Some of the POIs came out in press interviews and echoed the defense, asserting that it “would be impossible” for them to do that to their female friend.
In relation to their defense, Makati City police chief Col. Harold Depositar said the POIs were “still males” and while they were gay, getting drunk would “turn them” into “straight” males.
The Dacera family’s lawyer, Atty. Jose Ledda III, also refuted the defense, saying that being a member of the LGBTQ community did not discount them from committing rape.
The reasoning of the POIs, coupled with the statement of Depositar and Ledda, led to the topic of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) to be included in online discussions surrounding the incident.
Assistant Prof. Moniq Muyargas, head of UPV’s Gender and Development Program Office and an LGBTQ+ advocate, said the defense of these POIs was a “natural” reaction to the accusations thrown against them.
“It’s natural for us to use it for a proof of innocence because this is my identity. It’s like saying, like a mother whose kid died in their presence, they would say that they can’t do that to their child. You’d be questioning the person’s identity. It becomes a first line of defense, first line of argument to prove their innocence,” Muyargas explained in a phone interview with Daily Guardian.
Muyargas said this line of response was partly due to the PNP’s initial report of rape.
“This is not even in defense of the crime itself, but in defense of what the PNP said to the public, and later found scientifically that there was no rape. It’s unfortunate that it got muddled somewhere along the line, and then we are now doing even more injustice to Christine Dacera and her family because of this investigation,” Muyargas said.
She added that while the POIs could have waited for the PNP to come out with a more concrete statement on their findings before speaking to the media, they reacted promptly because it was being demanded of them.
“I guess they shouldn’t have spoken to the media unless they talked to a good-sense lawyer. They should’ve waited until the PNP released a legit statement which also doesn’t keep changing. The social milieu demands statements, because it’s natural for the persons of interest and their families to really say that they are suffering and that their lives are being destroyed. It’s a fight or flight because it’s a survival of the fittest. This is a declaration of their identity,” she said.
She warned that Depositar’s statement was “double-edged” and “problematic” to the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
She cited the psychological associations’ assertions on SOGIE which are “natural, normal, and enduring”.
“It’s a very problematic statement in all aspects of it because it becomes, first, it’s double edged, because you’re assuming that alcohol can actually transform an individual’s sexuality, or change his or her sexual orientation, and we very much know that one’s sexual orientation is enduring, more or less, consistent, in a way, that it doesn’t change overnight,” she said.
Muyargas enumerated three implications that may arise against the LGBTQ community if discussions on the case would continue to include the topic of sexuality.
These are “stereotypes”, “stigma”, and “generalization”.
“We’re trying to get out from that stereotype of what a gay person is or what the LGBTQ community is, and there’s a perpetration or prevalence of the stereotypes that we’re trying to break down and dismantle for a long time. Secondly, people are making assumptions about the LGBTQ community, particularly gay men, because this is very unfortunate, it’s automatic in psychology, it’s a heuristic. We make assumptions, based on what we hear, what we see, what we encounter, and what we experience, and it’s very unfortunate that the stigma now becomes one of the consequences of this thing. Another one is that, it is being generalized,” she explained.
Muyargas said this may take LGBTQ+ advocates “five steps back” in their struggles for equality.
“It’s an unfortunate baggage we have to carry as the LGBTQ+ community because we are trying to highlight our identities, but at the same time our identities can be used against us. Some, I must admit, within the community might not be able to handle this kind of backlash, and that’s what we’re here for, advocates, activists, academicians, and LGBTQ experts, to make people understand. I would like to be more positive about this and take this as an opportunity to educate people. We can agree to disagree sometimes, and it’s okay. It’s a healthy discourse. But when it comes to name-calling, that’s the ugly consequence of what is happening, the name-calling, victim-blaming, perpetration of sexism, it hurts more because although we’re moving two steps forward, you’re pushing us five steps back,” she said.
As of this writing, the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office has ordered further investigation of the Dacera case.
