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MANILA, Philippines — After sharing the same man, actress Katrina Halili refused to share the same stage with cosmetic surgeon to the stars Dr. Vicki Belo Sunday night during the seventh anniversary celebration of Flawless skin clinic, where Halili is an endorser and Belo, a co-owner.

Halili’s lawyer did not allow her to attend the skin clinic’s anniversary and launch of a new advertising campaign held at Blue Leaf Events Pavilion at the Fort in Taguig City.

The video scandal involving Dr. Hayden Kho, Belo and Halili has put to shame the explicit American TV series “Nip/Tuck” which features the sexual exploits of fictional plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills.

In a phone interview Sunday with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, filmmaker Jose Javier Reyes quipped: “It only goes to show that reality can upstage fantasy … that the home videos shot by a Filipino cosmetic surgeon can be more outrageous than an American TV show.”

Reyes noted that national issues had been ignored because of the public’s fascination with the scandal. “Blame the cult of celebrity.”

He said that the more important aspect of violence against women was glossed over in the media’s coverage of the controversy. “A man who videotapes his sexual encounters with women is not a man. He’s a pig. He’s a misogynist.”

Halili and Belo vs Kho?

Although Kho apologized for his actions last week, his victim Halili remained unimpressed. “Sorry is not enough,” she told the Inquirer Friday night.

Ironically, Kho also recorded a sex video with Belo (who broke up with him when she learned of his videos with Halili and other women), Adel Tamano, Belo’s lawyer, told the Inquirer Sunday.

Would Halili consider joining forces with Belo in her fight against Kho?

The actress said she wasn’t sure where Belo stood, nevertheless, “Dr. Belo and the other women victimized by Hayden should come out, to teach people like [him] a lesson.”

Both are victims

In a phone interview, Tamano said the existence of the Belo-Kho video put Halili and his client in the same boat.

“Katrina and Vicki are both victims in this issue. If you think about it, Vicki’s trauma is deeper because she had a longer relationship with Hayden,” the lawyer said.

Tamano said Belo was deeply bothered by the scandal. “She’s unhappy. She’s worried about her family, her two grown children.”

“[Vicki] feels saddened by the pain the scandal has caused the women and their families. She felt that way even before the report about her own video was made public,” he added.

Still, Tamano confirmed that Belo was supporting Kho throughout this ordeal. “Whether she is helping him financially is not something I would ask … But I know that, as a friend, she is supporting him emotionally.”

Standing by her man

Lolit Solis, Belo’s friend and Kho’s former manager, said Belo was standing by her man.

“She is blinded by love,” Solis told the Inquirer in a phone interview Sunday. “She confided in me that Hayden is the only one that makes her happy.”

Belo confirmed by phone Sunday that she was set to leave for Europe with her children, Quark and Cristalle Henares.

She said the trip would be a welcome respite from the intrigues, adding that she hoped “all this would be over soon.”

“It’s their chance to bond as a family,” Solis said of Belo’s trip to Europe.

P300,000 a month

Solis said Kho celebrated his birthday (May 20) with a party “held at his parents’ house, but I’m sure Vicki paid for the catering.”

An Inquirer source confirmed that Belo attended Kho’s party. “Hayden looked happy that night. I saw him drinking wine … as if he didn’t have a problem,” the source said.

Solis said Kho was still living the high life, adding that Kho was still receiving an allowance from Belo, reportedly at least P300,000 a month, and was staying in a new condominium unit, “at Pacific Place in the Fort.”

Give Hayden a break

“He has been jobless since December last year when he left the Belo Clinic,” Solis said. “Where is he getting the money to pay for that condo? How could he afford to pay for a lawyer like Lorna Kapunan? Who is paying for his psychologist?”

Kho’s lawyer said the public should give her client a break.

Kapunan told the Inquirer Sunday that “Kho is also a victim in this scandal.”

Every time the video is shown in public, “Kho is also being violated. He didn’t want his private life to be put out there,” the lawyer said in a phone interview.

She stressed that “the Hayden in the videos is not the same Hayden now. Those videos were taken two years ago. He has since reformed. He is undergoing treatment—medical, psychological and spiritual.”

She said that Kho had sought the help of a psychologist, as well as a priest. She also noted that Kho underwent “drug rehabilitation.”

Baby steps

Kapunan pointed out, however, that: “Sexual deviants need continuous therapy … Kho is by no means completely healed. But he has taken the first steps.”

The first step, she said, was that “Kho admitted the fact that he is sick. That he is a deviant. That he is a pervert.”

She recounted that she accepted this case on the condition that “Hayden would take responsibility for his actions. And he has admitted his wrongdoing and has apologized to Katrina and the other women he videotaped.”

Media and exploitation

An advocate of women’s rights, Kapunan said she was bothered by media’s handling of the issue.

“I think media has become part of the exploitation,” she said.

Every time Halili is made to recount her ordeal in public is an act of exploitation, she said. “When a rape victim is made to talk about her rape, it’s like she’s reliving her rape.”

Media should go beyond the public’s fixation with celebrities and tackle the bigger issue of “exploitation,” she said.

Halili did not supply drugs

Still, Kapunan, in an interview with an ABS-CBN program on Saturday, implied that illegal drugs were involved in the Katrina-Hayden video, “that Hayden took Ecstasy that was provided by Katrina.”

Raymund Palad, Halili’s lawyer, told the Inquirer by phone Sunday: “Drugs or no drugs, Hayden violated Katrina’s rights.”

Palad also vehemently denied the allegation that Halili supplied the drugs. “That’s foul. We expected that line of defense, but that only aggravates his crime.”

• Inquirer.net
• Pinoy Showbiz

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