No self-promotion

It’s been two weeks since Vice President Jejomar Binay got booed during the launching of the Sinulog Grand Parade at the Cebu City Sports Complex, an incident that he and his point man in Cebu, suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, denied.

The unfriendly response, which former mayor Tomas Osmeña gleefully pointed out in his Facebook posts, didn’t deter the two public officials from attending the opening Mass of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) which was also attended by 350,000 Catholic faithful.

Unlike the Sinulog Grand Parade launching, in which the two men shared center stage, the vice president was more circumspect and took communion from the priests along with his son, former Makati City mayor Junjun Binay, without much fanfare.

Rama also took communion though immediately excused himself afterwards to attend to the fire victims of barangay Duljo Fatima. Whether or not they learned from their experience at the Sinulog — Binay and his retinue were spotted taking selfies during the Mass prior to the street parade — remains to be seen as the campaign period has yet to start.

But they weren’t the only public officials who tried to be visible during the Catholic Church’s big occasion. Sen. Grace Poe was interviewed by national radio while attending the IEC though like the vice president, she was also more circumspect and kept a low profile in order not to distract the crowd.

We still don’t know how many national politicians/officials will drop by Cebu City for the IEC though we do know that local officials will make themselves visible during the event — acting Vice Mayor Nestor Archival was among those who assisted in the distribution of communion during the opening IEC Mass — but it’s their choice whether or not to make a spectacle of themselves in front of the faithful.

For all their political savvy, both Binay and Rama know there are limits to the public’s patience when it comes to grandstanding and campaigning. Osmeña experienced it firsthand himself when he received public backlash for the impromptu declaration he and his Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) slate held after a Mass they requested from the Church at the San Pedro Calungsod chapel at the South Road Properties (SRP) last year.

The Church has come out with guidelines for its parishes on how to deal with politicians requesting for Masses to be held for them and the order is quite clear: never allow these candidates for public office to manipulate and use the activity to promote themselves to the faithful.

We don’t know whether the IEC organizers invited President Benigno Aquino III to speak at any program during the week-long event but in the unlikely prospect that they did, we hope the faithful will be spared from a presidential harangue as well as the politicking of other candidates who may foolishly consider to use the IEC as a promotional tour.