We’ve seen this trick before. Any time a woman raises a concern that shakes the bedrock of a man’s claims, you’ll find that she will quickly be dismissed as hysterical, emotional—or, in Senator Robin Padilla’s words—“going through something.”
That was his remark when asked to respond to Angel Locsin’s open letter, in which she urged the actor-turned-senator to “wake up.” In facing the press, he claims he opted out of publicly addressing Locsin herself, seemingly out of concern or consideration.
He even invokes a conjugal reaction between him and Mariel Padilla: “Ang katotohanan ay saming dalawang mag-asawa, no’ng nabalitaan namin ‘yon, isa lang ang sinabi namin dalawa. ‘Baka may pinagdadaanan si Angel. Kami naman wala, so siguro intindihin na lang natin,” he says.
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He speaks as if including his wife in his statement would suddenly make his remarks virtuous or shield him from potential backlash. But his intentions happen to be far too transparent. By calling into question Locsin’s personal well-being instead of addressing the concerns she raised, Padilla is playing one of the dullest tricks in the game—to make a woman appear irrational to avoid being held accountable.
It’s a form of filibuster, except instead of a prolonged speech, it’s just plain old misogyny. Padilla is not only distracting from rightful criticism against him but also suggesting that a woman’s personal life gets in the way of her sound thinking—as if she is not perfectly capable of possessing both.
Angel Locsin’s open letter
Last July 16, Locsin took to Instagram to respond to Padilla’s remarks claiming he’s a communist. She captioned the post with an open letter addressed to her former co-star, whom she affectionately referred to as “Kuya.”
She wrote of their past conversations about Padilla’s supposed participation in armed struggle, where she tenderly recalled his saying that a past partner of his used to visit him where he had gone into hiding.
Having once shared principles, Locsin writes of his regrettable silence when she was red-tagged by the government and his support for accused child sex offender and self-anointed “Owner of the Universe,” Apollo Quiboloy.
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She even earnestly compared Padilla to national hero Andres Bonifacio, whom Padilla had portrayed in a 2014 historical film. While many will fail to see any resemblance between Padilla and the Father of the Philippine Revolution, perhaps for Locsin, the similarity is drawn from their working-class upbringing.
“Kahit paano, alam kong halos pareho tayong landas na dinaanan. Galing sa hirap, [nagtrabaho] ng maaga, tinangkilik at nakapagpasaya ng mga tao. Ang utang na loob natin ay sa ating Diyos at sa lahat ng Pilipino—hindi lamang sa isang tao,” she writes.
Public support for Angel Locsin
While the comment section of Locsin’s post offered mixed reactions, many celebrities flocked to support her. Actress and daytime television host Anne Curtis shared her support with a series of emojis and an affirmative message, writing, “Welcome back mars, ay Darna pala.”
Other celebrities like Enchong Dee, Bea Binene, and “Drag Race Philippines” Season 1 runner-up Marina Summers also made their support known.
On the other hand, many social media users questioned why, instead of writing about the flood control issue, she wrote about red-tagging. The criticism is rooted in accusations that Locsin is focusing on trivial matters and “kaartehan.”
And yet, her statement is clear-eyed in its approach. She wrote about her experience of red-tagging in direct response to Padilla’s statements on claiming to be a communist, highlighting the hypocrisy in Padilla’s political alignments with Duterte in light of the impeachment trial.
Many of the comments on her post are beyond the point, and equally as misogynistic as the remarks of the senator they defend.
