SHARON CUNETA’S POLITICS

It started as an exchange of views on social media between broadcaster Ben Tulfo and Frankie Pangilinan, the daughter of veteran actress Sharon Cuneta and the directionless Senator Francis Pangilinan of the moribund Liberal Party.

Their exchange, which took place toward the end of June, ended up in a serious disagreement about the crime of rape, with Frankie insisting that men are to blame for it.

That heated discussion supposedly prompted a certain Sonny Alcos to post a rape threat against Frankie. As expected, Frankie’s parents were furious.

On 30 June, Cuneta went live on Instagram and, for a whole hour, expressed her feelings about, among others, the recent developments concerning her family, and the issue concerning her daughter Frankie in particular.

After that, the discussion headed elsewhere. Claiming she has always managed to be apolitical, Cuneta declared, “I’ve always been good, or at least tried separating politics from friendships and relationships.” Cuneta then praised Vice President Leni Robredo as a “decent” person and endorsed the latter in the next presidential election.

That endorsement was followed by a stealthy, unprovoked attack Cuneta made against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. In so many words, Cuneta said decency is practically inexistent in the Philippines as long as Duterte is president.

“I don’t know what’s happened to our country. I hope VP Leni runs for president next time, dahil hindi na rin naman makakatakbo si Tatay next time. Pagkatapos ng term ni Pangulong Duterte, sana talaga manalo si VP Leni kung tumakbo siya. Baka sakaling bumalik ang pagka disente

ng karamihan sa atin (because Tatay won’t be able to run next time. When President Duterte’s term ends, I hope VP Leni wins if she decides to run. Maybe the sense of decency in most of us will make a return),” Cuneta said.

Like her idol Robredo, Cuneta found it difficult to speak in complete English.

Anyway, many netizens disagreed with Cuneta, and a very engaged discussion on Instagram ensued.

Cuneta’s remarks are fraught with hypocrisy and contradiction.

The veteran actress claimed she is apolitical, and yet she endorsed Robredo for president in the 2022 elections. She claimed she separates politics from friendships and relationships, but she is known to have campaigned for the politicians in her family and some friends during elections.

Her Instagram hour was supposed to be about her daughter Frankie and the rape threat allegedly made by Alcos. It ended up a political campaign endorsement for Robredo.

Cuneta’s statement is also a stealthy, unprovoked attack against President Duterte because the President had nothing to do with the exchange of words between Tulfo and Frankie.

That fact notwithstanding, Cuneta declared that decency is practically inexistent in the Philippines as long as Duterte is president, but it may return if Robredo is elected president.

In all likelihood, Cuneta has been too involved in politics during all these decades that she now talks like a politician herself. Worse, she seems to believe the fiction she peddles on the social media.

At any rate, netizens who participated in Cuneta’s Instagram hour ask, “What makes one decent?” For that matter, “Why does Cuneta consider Robredo decent?”

Perhaps, Cuneta simplistically equates decency with opposition to President Duterte. If so, that explains why Cuneta likes Robredo, who styles herself as the leader of the political opposition.

Maybe Cuneta, who has extensive business ties with the ABS-CBN broadcasting network, blames President Duterte for the current inability of the network to operate. If so, that also explains why Cuneta praised Robredo, who summarily assumes Duterte is the reason why ABS-CBN is currently off the air.

Whatever the reason, it does not look like Cuneta understood the meaning of what she said about decency. Unless she is able to prove otherwise, maybe Cuneta simply has a limited vocabulary. For that reason, Cuneta should refrain from talking her head off in public.

Going back to Frankie — when Frankie engaged Tulfo in a debate on a social media platform, she should have expected that there will be netizens monitoring their exchange of views who will not share her opinion. Some critics may be unfair, and many may be rude, but Frankie must fight her battles and defend her views on her own, and not depend on her mother for that purpose.

That battlefield is called “the marketplace of ideas.”

“Whatever the reason, it does not look like Cuneta understood the meaning of what she said about decency.

“Cuneta’s remarks are fraught with hypocrisy and contradiction.