Honesty, that lonely word

Cong Corrales .

“Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue.” — Billy Joel, Honesty from the album 52nd Street

MANY raised their eyebrows a week ago when presidential daughter and Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio told reporters that honesty is not an election issue.

Her attempt to downplay the lies of one of her Hugpong Pagbabago senatorial candidates boomeranged in the most spectacular way. She unwittingly declared that her party’s senatorial slate could not be trusted. So, in another attempt, she doubled down and blurted that all politicians, not just her slate, are liars.

If you come to think of it, there’s a tinge of truth to what she said. As George Carlin once said in one of his gigs: “You cannot introduce honesty in politics. Otherwise, the entire system would collapse.”

Had she provided the context on why she thinks all politicians are liars, I think people would understand her statement. Politicians have their own agenda and they would fight tooth and nail to advance it even if it takes a little lying to undermine their political foes’ agenda.

However, we need not worry about the “Inday Sara Show.” On Sunday, she told reporters that her mom, Elizabeth Zimmerman, reminded her that she may be the President’s daughter but that she is also hers. Her mom reprimanded her for “bullying” the opposition candidates and that she should be kind first and foremost.

“Sinabi nya na I should always be kind first before anything else. So, mag-pack up na po Inday Sara show. Wala na po sya. Sarado na po,” Philstar Global quoted her as saying.

So, that’s that. But a lie is still a lie, no matter the magnitude. Don’t take my word for it. It is enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. “The State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption,” Sec. 27, Art. II, 1987 Constitution.

It is mentioned again in Section 1, Article XI of our Constitution: “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”

No matter how the presidential daughter spins it now, the word is out that she has little, to no, regard for honesty in public service. As the party’s campaign manager, Sara Duterte-Carpio has her work cut out for her. It would be interesting to see how she is going to wiggle her way out of this one as campaign sorties progress.

Yes, she has declared that she will heed her mom’s advice and will stop bullying opposition candidates. However, she forgot to explicitly mention that she will stop lying for her senatorial candidates.

So, honesty, in her vocabulary, is still a lonely word.