Actors in politics

Author: Armida Siguion-Reyna
Column: From This Corner

The opposition and administration slates for the senate are out, and Richard Gomez is not listed. Even so, it was his openly-stated desire to run for the Senate that pushed media practitioners to once again discuss the (non) issue of whether actors should run for office or not. But whether he gets to run or not, allow this lola her reaction to what has lately been Leo Martinez’s and Jun Urbano’s concern.

Walang personalan, ito ang opinyon ko.

Leo is primarily a theater actor. He is not the movie industry’s choice as director-general of the Film Academy of the Philippines, but was appointed to his position by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, following his anti-Erap position in EDSA II. In other words, politics brought him to where he is now, and like his benefactor he seems to be just as kapit-tuko, refusing to resign despite the open slap to his face when another faction of the pro-GMA forces won over him on the matter of dividing earnings from the yearly Metro-Manila Film Festival.

Jun Urbano is a top-notch director of commercials, son of political satirist Manuel Conde, and himself known as television’s Mr. Shooli, commenting on anything and everything under the Filipino sun. He dabbles in politics, and years ago ran in Quezon City, for a post I now forget.

The two of them in a media forum last Thursday asked fellow actors to desist from entering politics.

“Kung ‘yung inaasahan lang nila ay ‘yung kasikatan lang, ang masasabi ko lang ay sana naman ay tamaan sila ng hiya o datnan sila ng hiya,”said Martinez. “Wala kaming kamuwang-muwang sa paggawa ng mga batas, hindi namin pinag-aralan ‘yan.”

The forum took place a day after Gomez took his oath as member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition. And since the names of Edu Manzano and Cesar Montano were still, at that time, being floated as possible administration candidates for the Senate, sila talaga ang dinadaleng paringgan ni Martinez at Urbano.

Martinez and Urbano did not clarify if their indictment covered all actors in politics and those yet wishing to enter. They did not say if Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista counted among those na sana naman ay tamaan ng hiya, likewise Lipa Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto, Caloocan City Councilor Dennis Padilla, San Juan Councilor Philip Cezar, Manila councilors Cita Astals and Robert Ortega, and Quezon City councilors Connie Angeles and Aiko Melendez.

But mainly on their hit list are actors running for the Senate, including former senator Tito Sotto.

What I have to say about turncoats will come in yet another outing of this corner, for that is another matter altogether. Meanwhile, I defend to death the right of any Filipino to run for whatever elective position, dahil ang magluluklok sa kanya sa puwesto ay ang sambayanang Pilipino. May karapatang kumandidato ang artista, higit pa sa karapatan ng matalinong napatunayang nandaya o kumatig sa mandaraya.

I am dismayed that both Martinez and Urbano did not care to speak against cheating in elections, or rail against the renewed possibility of massive fraud amidst reports of padding of voters’ lists. Parang dedma lang sa kanila ang nangyaring kabalintunaan noong 2004, at hindi pumailanlang kahit kailan ang “Hello, Garci…”

Because they keep silent about cheating, what are they saying? It’s alright to cheat and beneficiaries of electoral cheating are welcome, but actors are not?

Isagani Cruz in his last column in another broadsheet decried the presence in the Senate of “three actors of questionable competence and presumptuousness,” meaning Lito Lapid, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada. He lambasted the administration’s lack of selectivity in case it included in its “unity” ticket the likes of Gomez, Manzano and Montano for that would “further cheapen the Upper House” and proceeded to attack the opposition’s “balato twins,” “toilet comedian” and “a twice failed mayoralty aspirant relying on his father’s name to win a nationwide election.”

The former Supreme Court Justice did not know that over the weekend, the so-called “unity” ticket would drop Gomez, Manzano and Montano and get one of the “balato twins” and the “toilet comedian.”

Notwithstanding his harshness towards actors in politics, Cruz has spoken against electoral fraud, the cha-cha and other inequities foisted on us by this government. Hindi lang basta artista sa pulitika ang pinag-iinitan niya, na tulad nitong si Martinez at Urbano, at lalo na si Martinez na mukhang umiiwas makasagasa sa dapat ding sagasaan dahil sa kagustuhan niyang manatili sa puwesto.

Fair is fair. Kung talagang gustong tirahin ni Martinez, et al, ang mga artistang kumakandidato, they need not only to comment on the massive fraud of 2004, but also on the fact that two of the actors in the senate were handpicked to be there by the same person who chose him head of the FAP. They hit athletes running on account of their popularity, they are expected to identify and similarly criticize the ones bent on launching Manny Pacquiao’s political career.

If in case they say they are not stopping actors from running but simply asking actors to abstain from politics out of “hiya,” why can’t they tell known cheaters to do the same?

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And for those who wonder why, indeed, actors get elected despite the incapacity to at least put subject and predicate well together, Randy David’s recent take on the topic says it best, and here I quote him, in parts, from the same newspaper where Cruz writes:

“Many of our people are no doubt mesmerized by the heroic exploits of their favorite movie characters. But to suggest that they cannot tell the difference between fictional figures and real-life politicians is to misjudge them. They know whom they are voting for and why they are voting for them. It is not because the candidates of their choice are larger than life… (but) because the voters believe their candidates are good people and can be trusted.

“The poor who vote for movie actors are not lost in adulation; their eyes are as open as those of the educated. They invest trust, and they expect to be able to collect on their investment. It is futile to remind them that the work of a senator is to craft laws and to debate national policies, rather than to serve as a funnel for doles… the great majority of our legislators today measure their usefulness by the amount of projects they bring to their constituents rather than by the quality of their interventions on the congressional floor.

“For as long as politics in our country feeds on the deprivation of the poor, and for as long as the basic needs of our people are coursed through a feudal system of patronage run by politicians, we will have voters in search of champions. In the Philippines, we pick them from the ranks of movie actors, TV celebrities, and athletes…”

Sa tutoo lang.

(For comments, write to armida114@yahoo.com)

Source: The Daily Tribune

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