When Patrick Garcia opens his Pandora’s Box

In Greek mythology, Zeus, the king of the gods, gave Pandora, the first woman the gods ever created, a gift that happened to be a box. She was given the strictest instructions never to open it. Curiosity paired with stubbornness made her open it with disastrous results — humanity’s golden age of peace ended abruptly as sickness, sorrow and toil afflicted all mortals.

Recently, actor Patrick Garcia opened his Pandora’s box. His decision to present his version of the truth regarding his past relationship with actress Jennylyn Mercado triggered a cascade of complications, hate and vitriol.

Clearly, Garcia’s resolve in this was for his own vanity, with two objectives crystal clear: Absolution, or a formal release from blame, and atonement, with the hope of bringing a fractured relationship back into harmony. Garcia reaped what he sowed. All the loathing and wrath directed at him are consequences and products of his choice and his need for validation that he is a good man and father.

Lessons

What lessons do we glean from the unfolding of this real-life drama? Immediately, one learns that when it comes to matters of the heart and all kinds of relationships, timing is indeed everything. The method used in telling one’s version of the truth is crucial. To openly discuss it after more than a decade and under the umbrella premise that Garcia did it to protect his daughter, everything comes back with a vengeance: reopened wounds, invited counterclaims and reactions, resurrected past interviews, and, yes, it is a no-brainer that it has developed into a polarizing tempest.

There are better ways to come clean and settle a long-standing issue. A public revelation on an online show is most unwise. It is not the proper venue to cleanse one’s conscience, put into words the throbbing of a heart and finally get rid of the guilt.

Garcia’s action was bereft of sincerity. He could have manned up, exhausted all means to secure a meeting with Mercado personally and discussed matters about his relationship with Alex Jazz privately. Making a favorable narrative whose purpose was to save him from his erring ways aired online, the pity-party orchestration that he and his PR team mounted backfired big time.

It is lamentable that Garcia’s daughter Michelle and Mercado’s firstborn, Alex Jazz, are dragged into this and considered now the collateral damage of this history-rewriting shenanigan. The actor’s move to shield his daughter from public bashing boomeranged, and she became the easiest target of all the negative attention. The violent reactions prompted the young star’s management to issue an official protective statement, and Mercado’s son is also on the receiving end of unwanted hurt and pain.

Scrutiny of the interview has become more intensified because key people in the lives of the former couple did not mince words and acted on it: Dennis Trillo’s loaded posts; Gelli de Belen’s two cents’ worth of an opinion, which Trillo rebutted; Doug and Cheska Kramer’s (Patrick’s sister) call for compassion, grace and forgiveness; and Janice de Belen’s cryptic post — a defense of her sister Gelli — that was about intelligence, perspective and understanding over winning.

Words spoken publicly, and on social media at that, carry immense weight. The weight becomes heavier by the second because the majority of netizens who are into showbiz gossip, intrigue and scandal are quick to the draw, made themselves judges and executioners, and broadcast their opinions to everyone as absolute truths, making the matter at hand more complicated and convoluted. When personal relationships and dirty linen are exposed on social media and television, the damage and its effect are more potent and lingering.

The best non-reaction to all the noise is Mercado’s refusal to dignify Garcia’s narrative resetting.

As to when private conversations and the opening of sincere communication lines become a reality for Garcia and Mercado, let us trust the universe. The most difficult conflicts can reach the best outcome when both parties give their wounded pride and egos a rest and let their hearts do the talking.