Sen. Manny Villar and his party mates at the Nacionalista Party must be very desperate. Indeed, with less than a month to go before the elections, desperation would understandably set in when you still trail by double digit percentage points in surveys after spending millions of pesos peddling lies in full page advertisements and radio-TV commercials.
Desperate situations demand desperate measures. When his claims of being a poor boy who became a billionaire through hard work were shattered by documented charges that he used his position and influence to make those billions, Villar’s “bright boys” came up with one of the dirtiest and most contemptuous tricks ever in the history of Philippine elections.
They fed ABS-CBN with an alleged psychiatric report from the Ateneo de Manila stating that presidential rival Sen. Noynoy Aquino suffered from clinical depression and smoked marijuana in 1996. ABS-CBN, Ateneo de Manila and the alleged author of the report, Fr. Tito Calauag, all denied that there was such a report and stated that it was a forged document.
Veteran broadcaster Tina Monzon-Palma said the document was fed to ABS-CBN by the Nacionalista Party. Tina has no reason to lie. Why Ces Drilon did not verify the report before airing the story should be investigated.
Villar’s chorus boys were quick to deny that the report came from the NP. As usual, they demanded that Aquino prove that it came from the NP. In investigating a crime, the one who usually has the motive to commit the crime is considered the primary suspect. Villar, being the main beneficiary if the fake report tarnishes the image of Aquino, thus becomes the prime suspect. It’s possible though that Villar was made to believe by his dirty tricks department that the document was authentic. But a person who aspires to become president should have the decency to stop his followers from releasing the report unless he was certain of its authenticity.
But instead of stopping his “bright boys,” Villar used the fake report, even after it was determined to be a forgery, to ask Aquino: “Did he really use marijuana?” and “The allegations of major depressive disorder, is that true or not?”
My goodness, Senator Villar, did you expect Aquino to respond to those silly questions after it had been established that the report was fake? Why give substance to a fake report? Why insist on something that had been established as a fake? Where is the decency here?
Almost the entire NP senatorial slate and vice presidential candidate Sen. Loren Legarda quickly joined in the chorus, with former Joseph Estrada spokesman Adel Tamano challenging Aquino to undergo psychiatric test to dispel rumors that, in the first place, the NP obviously spread. Even Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., whose daughter Gwen is running for the Senate under Villar’s ticket, insisted that the mental fitness of candidates should not be withheld from the public. But Nene, sir, what was revealed to the public was a fake, so why rise to its defense?
Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, who is running as senator under both the tickets of Aquino and former President Joseph Estrada, demanded that Villar apologize for his party’s indiscretion. “Instead of cashing in on this propped up controversy which is only wasting our time and hurting many people, Villar should be responsible enough to order his people to stop from further escalating the issue,” Lim said.
Even presidential deputy spokesman Gary Olivar was sensible enough to call for an “elevated and civil” level of campaign to balance the public interest with the private rights of a candidate. He said those digging into personal records are insulting the intelligence of Filipino voters.
“These types of behaviors do not do credit to people who are aspiring to lead a country of 90 million people. It doesn’t do credit,” he added.
Sen. Dick Gordon, who is runnig for president under the Bagumbayan party, also assailed the fact that the campaign has degenerated into a mudslinging contest. “There is so much black propaganda coming out, and that is really tragic because this has the effect of muddling the issues,” Gordon said.
With less than a month before the elections, the people still have no idea what the various candidates’ platform of government are. As in past presidential campaigns, the election has become a battle of personalities rather than of issues. And the voters will be going to the precincts armed with information based mostly on rumors, lies and innuendoes. And we expect them to vote intelligently?