EDITORIAL - LP should own up to douse the fire

It is, of course, preposterous to link President Aquino to that "twerking" incident that happened at a birthday bash of a Liberal Party congressman in Laguna last week. Not even the harshest critics of the president would do that. Just because Aquino is the titular head of the Liberal Party does not mean he goes over every detail of every party activity.

What cannot be denied, however, is that it was a party activity. The fact that it was a birthday party does not in any way make it a simply personal and private affair. It may have been a birthday party all right, but it also doubled as an oath-taking for new party members. In all the video footages of the affair, the venue was clearly awash in the color yellow, the official color of the party.

And then there is Mar Roxas, the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party for the 2016 presidential election. As it is with Aquino, the "twerking" that gave the activity such a bad name cannot and should not be linked to Roxas. Roxas was at the activity for only two things - to swear in the new members, and give the birthday boy his best wishes. He could not have been a party to the details. In all accounts of the incident, Roxas left before the "real party" began.

Aquino and Roxas, therefore, cannot be fairly implicated in what "happened" at the party. But it is one thing to absolve Aquino and Roxas of any association with the twerking, and another to deny that the Liberal Party had anything to do with the show that had raised the hackles of many as being lewd and obscene. The party may have been for the birthday of a Liberal Party congressman. But it was also an official party affair because of the oath-taking, with Roxas presiding.

As they say, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck. It can neither be a chicken or a cat. If everybody in the party wore yellow to impress the party standard-bearer who swore in new members, the party could not have been anything else but a Liberal Party party, and the more the Liberal Party tries to deny this, the more it sinks under the weight of its own lying.

The best thing for the Liberal Party to do is own up to the mistake. If it is supposed to be the party of the "daang matuwid" then it should lead in setting the example of honesty and humility. Lying is the worst form of coverup. Owning up the mistake will strengthen rather than weaken its claim to "daang matuwid," especially if, after the conduct of an investigation, some punitive action is taken against some members who erred.

The Liberal Party should seize the opportunity that its titular head Aquino and its standard-bearer Roxas are not directly implicated in the controversy. That should be good enough for the party. It should not try to have it all, especially this close to the election already. An owning of what can be owned at this point can make the controversy go away. Hedging on any responsibility completely only ensures the incident's continued survival all the way to the polls.