GLIMPSE: Senatoriable faux pas

Politicians are often wary of compromising situations, avoiding any circumstance that might jeopardize their position. Unfortunately, they cannot entirely evade each instance that poses as a threat to that, as their position being public figures would inevitably be subject to public scrutiny. Candidates therefore strike others as people pleasers with a fervent hope that they will earn majority of the people’s vote. 

A faux pas, however, is another situation to be avoided; wherein candidates commit mistakes—often uncalculated, tactless ones—that, as a result, affect their reputations and the way the public perceives them. As situations like these happen beyond anyone’s control, the online public quickly understand them as cues in ascertaining whether these candidates really are what they claim to be. 

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Nancy Binay vs. the internet

One thing that has been in circulation for most of the duration of the campaign period is the internet meme ridiculing senatorial candidates Nancy Binay and Risa Hontiveros’ track records.

Looking to resolve the issue, Hontiveros challenged Binay to a debate to settle matters. Binay responded in decline, expressing how she wished to concentrate on campaigning and interacting with the electorate. However, she agreed to the debate if she and Hontiveros win seats in the election.

The event caused an even bigger tirade online, with many concerned voters saying that the behavior Binay exhibited was an implicit concession of her reluctance to discuss issues that concerned the nation, in turn depriving the voting public of knowing each candidates’ platforms entirely—hers in particular, and having her competence questioned.

This added to the list of angry discussions online which started with her previous work experiences as the personal assistant of his father, having tourism as her undergraduate degree, and being a humble housewife, that caused her being dubbed unprepared for public service.

Binay responded by asking the critics to formally file a disqualification case to the Comelec if they see her so unfit for her position as a senatorial candidate, instead of keeping the steam online.

In the various pre-election polls however, Binay has nothing to worry about as she sits comfortably over and over again at the top spots, with the latest from Pulse Asia, fluctuating between 5^th to 11^th in ranking.

A public slander

Who could forget the ABS-CBN coverage featuring two senatorial candidates, Migz Zubiri and Koko Pimentel? As the program progressed, Pimentel mentioned the 2007 elections, bringing up the alleged “cheating incident” that Zubiri had supposedly benefited from by obtaining a seat in the senate.

Zubiri then responded with a personal accusation against Pimentel; that Pimentel physically beat his wife, former beauty queen Jewel Lobaton, several times.

The public already knew that it was a ploy to escalate into a heated argument between the two senators who, to this day, are unable to reconcile past incidents.

Involving their personal matters was marring for Zubiri in the polls, while Pimentel’s trust ratings remained untouched. Still, the two share bright prospects in the polls, although still occupying the lower half of the tier according to recent surveys. 

Mrs. Villar’s Freudian Slip

In a senatorial forum featured in GMA News TV, economist Solita Monsod asked Mrs. Villar to explain why, as chairman of the House committee on higher education, she opposed the move to close nursing schools that the CHED mandated.

Villar’s response was as unforgettable as it was appalling to Monsod, whose visage was visibly aghast.

Her controversial response reputedly undermined the Philippine nursing profession, and her statement has dealt with harsh criticism from, yet again, the internet.

She has since issued an apology to appease the public, after first defending that the two minute time constraint was not helpful to her nervous demeanor. The subsequent apology was enough to keep her on the 4^th to 9^th rank of Pulse Asia’s latest release. 

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While it is at times humorous and most times unnerving to watch these politicians slip from their routine of people pleasing to commit something so candid that may or may not affect their status in their campaign, the evidence provided by these compromising situations have made them more vulnerable under the public watch. And while conversations over these events happen online—usually in the pursuit of influencing a bigger pool of people to think twice of their personal picks—the poll results have proven that these conversations unfortunately stay trapped in cyberspace for only a mere handful.