T(h)rash talk of the town

Talk about being the talk of the town. And to think it all began with a Facebook post. 

As we all know by now, actress-singer Agot Isidro found herself in this double-edged position after criticizing President Duterte’s dare to the United States and the European Union to withdraw their aid to the Philippines, and his bold assertion that we’ll survive without it, by calling him a “psychopath” in a cutting Facebook post dated October 7.

It may be argued that the Probinsyano actress used the word rather loosely. It can be argued that she said that as a mental-health advocate, having played a schizophrenic wife and mother in the award-winning Mga Anino ng Kahapon (Shadows of the Past) and later joined other celebrities in a television commercial appealing for the passage of a mental-health law. We’ll never be sure.

But that obviously didn’t matter to Mr. Duterte’s legion of enraged supporters. They bombarded her Facebook and Instagram accounts with expletive-laden and threatening comments that hit at her lack of children and her support for Vice President Leni Robredo, and questioned her patriotism.

That’s not all. A few also gave their two cents on the matter, branding her comments (or her defenders) as either elitist, ignorant, or far removed from reality.

Alarmed by the vitriol Agot attracted, members of her family, friends, fellow entertainers, and a few politicians rushed to her defense, many of whom agreed with what she wrote in that Facebook post. Some even came up with appropriate hashtags.

And what’s President Duterte’s response to her accusation? To his credit, it was tactful.

“I leave her to her Constitutional rights to free expression. She should enjoy that,” the Philippines News Agency quoted the former Davao City mayor as saying after he swore in his newly appointed officials and League of Municipalities of the Philippines leaders in Malacañang last Tuesday.

For his part, actor and staunch Duterte supporter Robin Padilla, who declared in a recent interview with The Market Monitor that celebrities who oppose the President are paid to do so, told ABS-CBN, also last Tuesday: “Lahat naman tayo ay may opinyon, dahil tayo ay nasa [isang] malayang bansa [All of us have an opinion, because we are in a free country].”

These didn’t stop pro-Duterte websites and social-media pages, though.

Last week saw the controversy escalate to a hilariously absurd level when links to clearly fake, horribly written or copy-pasted news reports circulated online. A headline from the DW-TV3 site said: “Actress Agot Isidro is dating two Drug Lords, One killed in Police raid.” Another blared: “Actress Agot Isidro hospitalised after mob attack.” And a third, from newstrend.com.ph: “Video of Actress Agot Isidro and Drug Lord Boyfriend to be Shown to Senate.”

This is the best they could do? What a riot.

And how is Agot taking all these? Judging by her recent Facebook and Instragram posts, remarkably well.

In one post, she showed a picture with a quote attributed to the American poet Robert Frost: “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”

In another, she posted another quote: “You’re a diamond, dear. They can’t break you.”

Agot even showed her sense of humor in one Facebook post, posting a YouTube clip from the 1980 Joey Gosiengfiao camp classic Temptation Island with this caption: “Pag nagutom na tayo [If we go hungry]….”

As US First Lady Michelle Obama said in her speech during the Democratic National Convention in July: “When they go low, we go high.” That, I think, captures Agot’s classy response to all the flak she has gotten since October 7.

It has been said that you can measure the strength of a person’s character by the amount of criticism he or she can withstand at any time. You look at President Duterte and all the attacks he has endured since he took office, and you wouldn’t help but concede that he’s made of much sterner stuff. The same can be said of Agot.

That’s something her bashers, particularly those who truly don’t know her, should realize by now, if they haven’t already. The invectives they’ve hurled at Agot can wither weaker folk, but not her.

If this entire affair proves anything about Agot, it proves that she possesses admirable fortitude and a great capacity to persevere. She showed her critics that she isn’t easily cowed into submission, that she can handle the consequences of her actions.

As of this writing, Agot is yet to publicly apologize for that polarizing October 7 post. That’s unlikely to happen, and I believe it has more to do with principles than pride. The same can be said of some of those who bashed her on social media.

If there’s anything positive that should come out of this, it’s the comforting knowledge that our right to the freedom of speech continues to be vigorously exercised in this country, even if a lot of people have been reckless with it. As far as I’m concerned, that’s way more preferable than if that right—God forbid—is taken away.