Er, I mean witness. Yep, I finally got my time in front of the Barangay officials to explain what went down on that ill-fated boat ride.

Jeff (the accused) asked us all to report to the Barangay office at 1:00. And then we waited twenty minutes or so for the officiants to return from lunch break. Ah yes, they were on Filipino time. When I looked in the door I saw Resa and Hana along with their friend Eva, another participant on the boat trip, also waiting. I stayed outside until called upon.

I wasn’t sure what format the proceeding would take, one on one or as a group, but once called inside a conference room with a large table, I observed that Resa, Hana, and Eva were on one side, with two barangay officials at one end and a third on the other. Jeff had a total of six witnesses and we all crowded in on the other side of the table.

Based on my seating choice, I was called on first to give my account of events. To summarize, I stated the following:

Resa and Hana were both very drunk, having been drinking heavily from four bottles of Emperador rum all afternoon. When it was time to depart, Resa walked out on the narrow bow of the boat giving every indication she intended to jump off. The boat crew would not proceed with her not seated. So Jeff grabbed Resa and held her down in the bottom of the boat while others tried to get a life jacket on her. She continued to resist, so finally, Jeff released her and went back to his seat. At no time did Jeff punch, hit, choke, or otherwise harm Resa as alleged.

The other five witnesses for Jeff all stated pretty much the same thing. In support of Resa, Eva testified that there was no suicide attempt. She claimed that Resa merely wanted to pee. Eva claimed that Jeff had been unnecessarily rough and held Resa down in a chokehold. Whatever Hana said, she said in Tagalog so I have no clue. Resa didn’t say shit.

With witness testimony concluded the head of the Barangay delegation spoke. She told Resa that the people present were not strangers, rather they were individuals who cared about her well-being and did not want to see her get hurt. Next, she told us foreigners that we should not have intervened. If someone has to physically restrain a Filipino we should have another Filipino do so. Then she turned to Jeff and asked him if he would consider offering an apology. Jeff said he was sorry his actions had been misunderstood and sorry that he had gotten involved in trying to protect Resa. He promised he would never do so again.

And that was pretty much it for us. Apparently, there will be a final mediation session next week. The witnesses were advised that our services were no longer needed and we were excused.

So yeah, it was all basically a bunch of bullshit. If Resa proceeds with a criminal complaint I may have to testify again. I can’t believe that she will still pursue that course in the face of what she heard yesterday. Then again, she has demonstrated that she is crazy as a loon.

In happier news, I went out this morning with Pubic Head and Blow My Pipe to scout our upcoming (March 2) Hash trail. They let me take the lead and liked what I showed them. Still a couple of wrinkles to iron out, but we should have a nice “sane” trail of 6K with a 9K version for the runners. One climb and the rest gently rolling or flat. My kind of trail!

For today’s “interesting” photo, I offer you the Department of Education’s Vision statement, as painted on a wall outside Barretto National High School:

I’m really happy to see that the President is not holding any grudge against Mitt Romney:

And at the risk of being accused of virtue signaling, I want to share with you my no meat commitment.

And that’s all I’ve got for now.