We are nauseated by all this mudslinging!

By now I’m sure that people are sick, red and utterly nauseated by the ceaseless mudslinging by Presidential candidates. This filth has now trickled down to all the local candidates as well, not just in Cebu, but all over the country. I just got a call by my old friend and golf crony Boyet Plaza from Agusan del Norte that his brother Ompong who is running for the Senate under the Partido ng Masang Pilipino even went down to attacking their own mother. Don Ramon Durano, the patriarch of the Durano clan once said, “Politics is the playground of the devil!” He was very right in his comments about politics.

How many friends and relatives are banging at each other fighting for the bone of political leadership in their own locality? In this Presidential race, families have become divided, one family campaigning for one Presidentiable, while the other siblings are campaigning for their political rivals. Worse of all, these people are praying to God that their candidates would win his favor to become the next President of the Philippines! What hypocrites! Since most of us are Catholics (even more are Catholics in name only) we should refer to the Bible for some kind of solace or at least a respite.

A friend of mine pointed out a passage in the Bible to Luke 12: 49-53. Allow me to reprint this passage from our Lord Jesus Christ, “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

This passage is not so comforting, is it? There is so much division today thanks to the current elections. Even some leaders of our Charismatic Communities sworn with a covenant to God do not even heed the pleas of the Catholic Church not to support candidates who are totally supporting the RH Bill, which we all know will resurface after elections. The same is true with priests and nuns who openly support candidates who are pushing for the RH Bill.

The fire that our Lord Jesus Christ mentions here is the fire of God’s glory, as it is the unquenchable fire that purifies the spirit. We must offer our nation to God for he will not let us down. However, we must first learn to heal our divisions because we are all part of the body of Christ and there is only one Body of Christ - that’s all of us Christians.

There is only one Presidentiable who refuses to partake in the mudslinging and that is GIBO Teodoro Jr. Many people throw mud at him but he nudges on with his campaign like a meek lamb keeping his dignity intact in preparation for the time when gets to be the President so he can gather all political foes together and work together to heal our nation.

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Talking about all that mudslinging makes one wonder: What are the limits that candidates should endure and how much mud is allowable to be thrown? I read a newspaper report last week that James Philip “Jimboy” Tionko linked Vice-Mayor Michael Rama to gambling and drug lords, while admitting that he doesn’t even have any evidence to support this allegation. I didn’t know until I read that piece in the newspaper that Jimboy was running for Councilor.

So what we are seeing here is a candidate running for Councilor throwing mud at Vice-Mayor Mike Rama, totally oblivious to the fact that he has besmirched the reputation of the Rama family. As a response to that article, Mike Rama called a presscon yesterday in Parklane Hotel to report to the media that he was filing a libel suit against Tionko.

I’m sure that his political rivals would name-call Vice-Mayor Mike Rama as “onion-skinned” for filing this libel case but again we ask you, how far should candidates go to throw mud at their political rivals? Put yourself in Mike Rama’s position. Would you allow such an ugly yarn to go unanswered? It is common knowledge that Jimboy Tionko was with then Sen. John “Sonny” Osmeña; therefore, he is undoubtedly doing the bidding of his former boss. He just did a very careless and reckless move!

 I don’t think that Mike Rama is onion-skinned. He is doing exactly what right minded citizens ought to do when faced with a similar accusation. Being tagged as a coddler of drug lords is a very serious accusation that should only be presented with solid evidence; otherwise; this exercise is nothing but simple mudslinging to malign the reputation of Mike Rama.