THE RECENT turn of events in game show host and former presidential daughter Kris Aquino’s life has been the subject of every blind item, tabloid and entertainment column. After all Kris is a household presence, what with a daily morning talk show with bosom buddies Pops Fernandez and ZsaZsa Padilla (Kris has resigned from Morning Girls), a game show coming right after the early evening newscast, and a showbiz talk show on Sundays with the indefatigable Boy Abunda.

Add to that the fact that she is the daughter of a national hero and martyr Ninoy Aquino. The girl lives in a fishbowl.

(I’ve been a Kris Aquino follower —dare I say fan?— since I was a kid, a fact which I’ve kept to myself until recently. When I went to college my activist friend Ederic would stare at me when I’d lapse into Taglish, his brows tightly knitted and jaw dropping, “I can’t believe you actually talk like Kris Aquino!” he’d exclaim. I learned Tagalog Kris Aquino style, thank you.)

Poor Cory, everyone said when Kris got pregnant by the married (separated?) Phillip. Textbook example of an intelligent girl unversed with the real world, falling in love with a man whom everyone thinks is “bad” for her. Her theme then was “You and Me against the World.” For some time, she shared a love nest with the actor until it dawned upon her that she could never be happy if her mom was unhappy with her life. And so she packed her bags and left him, her son Joshua in tow.

About three years later, she is again the buzz of the rumor mills. “Now she’s done it again!” everybody cried out upon hearing of her relationship with the notorious playboy and almost separated Parañaque Mayor Joey Marquez. Blunt comments were heard: She hasn’t learned her lesson; she has a fixation with married men. The legal wife Alma (who isn’t so righteous herself) even accusing Kris of stealing her husband.

The poor girl jets off to do some “soul searching” in the States where, as Abunda puts it emphatically, “[she] can open the morning paper and not read about herself.” Kris supposedly had a lot of fun shopping for son Josh and her mom (sorry, no pasalubong for brother Noynoy) and hearing mass with the Backstreet Boys, reports one gay commentator.

Before this hullabaloo becomes history, let me say my piece:

Number one, I don’t see anything wrong being with a man whose marriage is on the process of being annulled. After all, it wasn’t like Kris “stole” him from Alma. (And allow me to say, once and for all: No one can possibly steal a guy from another.)

Number two, why can’t we allow them their happiness? Life is too short. Loving makes our short lives worthwhile.

Number three, on the issue of Kris falling for someone with whom she can’t possibly have a future with, especially if Joey’s annulment isn’t granted: It’s her life, let her deal with it. She’s a big girl. If they don’t end up together, charge it to experience. If they do, let’s be happy for them.

Number four, on Kris being a shame to the Aquino family: Every family has a black sheep. Kris may have been the Aquino and Cojuangcos’ black sheep but it’s a reality that we have to accept and live with. We can’t just stone people to death just because they refuse to adhere to conventions and continue to “live in sin.” This isn’t Afghanistan. Let them live their own lives. It’s between them and their God.

(Hold on, wasn’t Mikee actually pregnant before she married Dodot? Isn’t that a shame too? Why then didn’t anyone say anything about it? And people, hello, her marriage doesn’t necessarily erase the fact that she was already on the family way when she said her wedding vows in that much-publicized wedding.)

For the record let me say that I hold much respect for women who openly admit to getting pregnant before marriage. (Goodness, I did too, and I even flaunted it to every self-righteous member in my church! A baby is a blessing, after all.) Even the unmarried actress-model Wilma Doesnt’s reaction to her pregnancy shocked a lot of people. It wasn’t “Omigod, I’m pregnant!” It was “Omigod, I’m a woman!”

It does take a lot of courage to face people and admit to having engaged in an act most Filipinos consider as morally wrong. Of course if they don’t wish to share the good news with others, it’s their business. I’d rather be stuck in an elevator with a repentant sinner than someone who steals other people’s money to build mansions for their mistresses.

People didn’t give a damn (I certainly didn’t!) when Vina Morales was having a relationship with Robin Padilla (who was once Kris’s boyfriend), who already had kids with several women; ditto with the very single Miriam Quiambao who was once with a separated Hans Montenegro (although I don’t know if Hans and his beauty queen wife were already legally separated that time).

But why all this uproar about Kris? Just because she’s the daughter of Ninoy and Cory? Let’s acknowledge that Kris, Ninoy and Cory are all unique individuals, and Kris may probably not get to be as great a person as her dad, or be president like her mom, but she has certainly excelled in her own field, and, I believe, has done a great job in raising her son.

Just because you were once the daughter of the president doesn’t mean you can’t go wrong. Being a preacher’s daughter certainly doesn’t mean you can’t sin.

For Kris, dear, you’re right. You’re both too old to play Romeo and Juliet. Sometimes we have to do things that don’t necessarily make us happy, to make choices that run contrary to our personal happiness if only to make life easier for all those whom we love and who love us. We can’t forever be acting like some love-struck, impulsive teenagers. Time will show us where we failed or succeeded, but it certainly didn’t hurt to be careless and selfish even once in our lives.

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