As a teenage disk jockey in the late 1960s, I read, on air, the poem of Rolando Carbonell entitled Beyond Forgetting so often that I, partly a romanticist, eventually idolized him and memorized his love poem. One day, while I was in Manila to attend the Second National Student Leaders’ Conference with Achilles Cañete (who later was appointed OIC mayor of Lilo-an, Cebu) and Victorino Sumalinog (who later became a media personality in Davao City) I had a privileged opportunity to meet in person Dr. Rolando Carbonell. He then had a plush office in Makati where he shared with us his philosophical thoughts and his yoga as part of his leaning for a Hindu culture.
Few days ago, I chanced upon a social media post of a Carbonell. To my surprise, the initial part of his video immediately sounded more political than literary. So, I saved the FB post with the intention to listen to it more carefully later. When I followed the post, I found out that he was not Dr. Rolando, the poet, but Waldy, a former media personality and an elected Muslim leader. Waldy even listed in his page that he “is a member of the International Criminal Court” some information that heightened my interest though I promised myself to validate at a more leisurely occasion.
The opening line of that particular Waldy Carbonell podcast that I viewed was done in the Arabic language the only portion of which that was familiar to me was As-Salaam-Alaikum, meaning "Peace be unto you," the standard salutation among members of the Nation of Islam. From there, he mentioned repeatedly the name of Senator Robin Padilla, his fellow Muslim. According to Waldy, he has high respect for movie actors and actresses, including Robin, although he expressed a general dislike for the kind of movies the senator starred in because most of the plots did not uphold the Muslim traditions and beliefs.
In a discernible effort to distinguish the person of the movie actor, Robin, from the high office of Honorable Padilla, the senator, Waldy said that “Padilla deserves to be respected because he is an elected senator” or courteous words to that effect. But, Carbonell was unkind to Robin in the latter’s discharge of his office. In so many harsh words like “gong-gong” which I think is the Tagalog word for stupid or idiot, Waldy, who claimed to be “halal,” meaning elected, bewailed the incompetence of Senator Padilla as “Haram.” Since I did not know what Waldy meant in attributing the word Haram to Senator Padilla, I Googled. The internet defines haram as “anything that is forbidden or sinful for an observant Muslim. xx Activities or actions that harm one's self or other people are generally considered to be haram.”
Probably, the single and most kind word Waldy Carbonell can use to describe the legislative work of Senator Robin Padilla is failure. In fact, he has good reasons to label Senator Robin as monumental failure. But, in all honesty, I cannot fault the senator. The failure was not Padilla. He had all the right to aspire for such an honorable office. The error was in the 26 million plus Filipinos who elected him Number 1 while they made Gibo Teodoro # 15 with 12 million votes (not even half of Robin’s) and Chel Diokno # 19 with 9 million votes (about a third only).
I believe that we need to take the lesson Waldy Carbonell very seriously specially that the 2025 elections are just 8 months away. We cannot and must not elect incompetent city councilors. By incompetent, I mean people who cannot contribute any idea to make our people progressive. It is our highest demonstration of nationalism and patriotism to vote for members of our Sangguniang Panlungsod men and women with high educational background, irreproachable morality, demonstrable honesty and a manifest heart for public service. We can all do these by rejecting candidates who, in many modes, attempt to buy our votes.