BEYOND 'CHIZ-MIS' | Gordon, Mitos on Escudero-Evangelista romance: Voters look at character

By: Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com

DAVAO CITY - In an election, not only the candidate's track record matters, but his or her character as well, two senatorial candidates of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) said.

Former Senator Richard Gordon and Zambales Representative Mitos Magsaysay issued this reminder when asked to comment on the controversy involving reelectionist Senator Francis Escudero and actress Heart Evangelista.

Evangelista's parents have earlier made public their concern about their daughter's relationship with the politician, whose marriage has so far been granted annulment only in civil court, but not yet by the church. They also said that Escudero was disrespectful and had vices.

"When you become an elected official, yung personal character mo bilang tao, kasama yan sa pagboto. Kasi kung anong ginagawa mo sa personal life mo ito ang totoo (your personal character as a person, that's part of why people vote for you. What you do in real life, that's real)," Magsaysay said.

"So this is a different view on how voters can gauge candidates. Aside from track record they will always look at your personal life on how you conduct yourself especially on people you call your love kasi kung ganun ang ipapakita mong pagmamahal eh reflection yun kung paano mo ipapakita yung pagmamahal mo lalo na sa taong hindi mo mahal (because if that's how you show your love, that's a reflection of how you show your love especially those to those you don't love)," Magsaysay added.

Gordon said that politicians should always keep in mind that they are always under the scrutiny of the people 

"Kung kayo ay nasa pamumulitika, unang-una ingatan mo yung personal relations pagkat tinitingnan ka ng mamamayan (If you're in politics, personal relations is the first thing you take care of because you're always being monitored by the people)," he said.

"What you do, you smoke too much, like somebody we know, or they drink in excess, disrespectful, those are an attack on the Filipino values. Whether we like it or not yung character ng Filipino, kung flawed tayo eh hindi nagugustuhan yan (if we're flawed, they don't like us)," he said.

Both candidates said that the parents of Evangelista deserve to be heard because they raised legitimate issues about their daughter's relationship.

"Probably the Ongpaucos (Evangelista's parents) just have Heart's interest at heart, so they say, parents know best," Magsaysay said.

She added that "maybe Heart should listen to her parents because at the end of the day whatever happens, your parents will always love you, but maybe her parents see something that probably she doesn't see at this point."

Gordon surmised that Evangelista's parents were also concerned that their daughter was being used for political purposes.

"Syempre pag sinabi nila sa anak nila lalong titigas yun, na ginagamit ka lang sa politika, hindi siguro masabi yan, kaya (Of course, if they tell their child that she's being used for political reasons, she'll only become more stubborn. They might not be saying it but) that's a big concern," he said.

The former senator said he hopes Escudero "does not commit anymore self-inflicted injury" because people's feelings are involved in the controversy.

"Parang lumalabas sa pahayag ng ibang tao, ika nga sa West ano (From what other people say, as they say in the West), he got involved with somebody popular na artista and then you create a controversy, parang lumalabas na exploited yung situation (it appears that the situation is exploited), I hope that is not the case because people have feelings, there are scars pagkatapos, so yan ang problema (afterward and that's the problem)," he added.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/57610/beyond-chiz-mis--gordon-mitos-on-escudero-evangelista-romance-voters-look-at-character