Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma’s call for voters to elect decent leaders in response to the now controversial viral video in which Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made what was deemed offensive remarks over a female Australian missionary who was gang-raped and killed should also apply to other candidates.
It’s no small coincidence that days after the controversial video found its way to social media sites that Duterte followers also managed to make viral a video of a Liberal Party (LP) campaign sortie in which the speaker called on the crowd to cheer louder lest they won’t be given envelopes.
Envelopes, as most people know by now especially during the election season, usually mean cash or gift certificates. LP standard-bearer Mar Roxas, who gave a resounding denunciation of Duterte’s remarks, was quick to deny and denounce the envelope approach, but the damage had been done.
Even Sen. Grace Poe, usually perceived as being lily white, can also be held accountable due to her remarks over the coco levy funds in which she pushed for the re-identification of the beneficiaries.
Her remarks earned widespread denunciation from the coconut farmers who fought decades-long legal battles to reclaim the funds benefited from by Poe’s perceived patron, businessman Danding Cojuangco.
When it comes to Palma’s call on the public to vote for decent leaders, the list of candidates can be quite narrow indeed. Each and every candidate has a political and personal baggage that voters may be unable to accept or willing to overlook.
Duterte’s remarks, which he said expressed his frustration over the gang rape and murder of Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill, didn’t come across as being borne out of rage on the incident.
And does one’s personal station in life deny him or her the capacity to learn how to respect women even if only in public? Millions have said their piece on Duterte’s crass remarks which he admitted was “gutter language,” but none more so than the family of the late missionary who rightfully felt that her memory was desecrated with the Davao City mayor’s statement.
If the mayor is to apologize, he should do so to the Hamill family whose loss more than two decades ago he made into a very offensive joke.
Duterte’s supporters may point to the LP pre-campaign sortie of erstwhile Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis
Tolentino in which he hired female dancers to entertain voters as proof that the LP also committed the same offense against women to defend the mayor’s latest misstep.
But since Tolentino is out of the LP lineup due to that incident, it’s that “envelope approach” they allegedly employed in that Pikit, North Cotabato campaign sortie that voters should look into.
These two incidents only serve to reinforce Palma’s call to vote for good leaders all the more urgent. Let’s all heed that call.
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