A congressional candidate in Pasig has said at a campaign rally that single mothers, provided they are still getting their monthly period, could sleep with him once a year if they get lonely.
Another man, running for governor in Misamis Oriental, is providing scholarships for nursing students – so long as they are female and attractive.
The Commission on Elections chair, George Garcia, said he would push a resolution to declare campaign rallies, caucuses, polling places, precincts, canvassing centers, and online election platforms as safe spaces.
“Sexist remarks and gender discrimination have no place in a civilized society, more so in a political campaign,” he said in a statement.
The candidate from Pasig has since apologized – nominally so, since he justified his words in the same breath and demanded why the audience, who had been amused at his pronouncement, was not being taken to task.
As of press time, nothing has yet been heard from the gubernatorial bet.
This kind of talk is not new. Speakers would utter the most controversial statements just to get the audience’s attention. Cheering supporters embolden these candidates who could become very comfortable in the limelight that they no longer feel the need to filter their words or be mindful of how they come across.
We wonder: even when apologies follow such a backlash: what are these candidates truly sorry for?
Do they truly regret the things that they said, realizing how base and discriminatory they inherently are, and how such an attitude is detrimental to the kind of society they purport to want to help build?
Or are they simply sorry for being too upfront with their thoughts and not being careful with their words?
Do they regret being called out in public or for offending certain sensibilities, in which case they would simply be addressing the consequences of their slip?
The people must qualify any apologies, if there are any forthcoming in the first place. As much as politicians take great pains to cultivate the persona they present to their constituents, sometimes they get exhausted and simply let their guard down.
In such unguarded moments, they are already telling us who they really are. We should know better than expect otherwise.
