P2M offer made for a demolition job

Raising questions about the sexuality of a candidate is one textbook strategy that’s been used in the past by some dirty tricks operators. Some of the schemes worked, others fell flat on the face of rumormongers.

Remember the case of former senator John Osmeña? A few months before the 2004 elections, he was among the potential winners in the senatorial race, placing 3rd or 4th in pre-election surveys. That was until he was accused of allegedly raping a male prostitute. Even former senator Ping Lacson’s sexual preference was questioned at one point, and so was former senator Migz Zubiri’s. 

Do these affect a candidate’s chances of winning? A political strategist and an election operator both agree that for local candidates, talk about sexual preference has no bearing. “It’s money that does the talking. Negative campaigning has little effect.”

For national candidates, gay rumors could affect their chances of winning “but it’s not a career-ending issue,” says the political strategist. “As long as the rumors remain in the realm of conjecture, there’s nothing to worry about.” But in a tight race it could have some palpable effect.

Are Filipino voters biased against closet queens? The election operator says what’s clear is that Filipino voters are still “macho-oriented and are quick to forgive marital infidelity.” Case in point is Camarines Norte governor Edgardo Tallado who got caught in a sex video scandal. “The governor and his wife are now back together, and the wife is supposed to be running for a congressional district [post].”

As a muckraking tool, spreading talk that a candidate is gay remains one element of negative campaigning in Philippine elections as long as no one admits to being one. If talk and reality do not match, however, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Fast-forward to 2015

Perhaps all too aware of this, henchmen of a powerful businessman sympathetic to a presidential candidate long at the center of a legislative inquiry made their move recently. There was a badly felt need for a demolition job that would silence anyone who wanted to jump on the bandwagon that was threatening the chances of a strong presidential win.

Combing through perceived enemies of several target members of Congress, the henchmen found damning evidence – 3 of them, in fact, that had something to do with sexuality too.

Eager to make the alleged evidence public, the henchmen set a meeting with our source to make an indecent proposal. They showed 3 photos that in court, could qualify as prima facie evidence. “Can you make this public?” one of the henchmen asked.

“We’ll give P2 million,” he offered. Where the P2 million came from or whether the principal gave the go-signal for the dirt-digging was unknown to our source. But suffice it to say that the guys were trusted people of the businessman.

Not exactly in desperate need of money, our source refused the offer, seeing it as being no different from the sexuality attacks of the past.

“I will not do it. Find another person,” the source told the henchmen. And their meeting abruptly ended. The men will have to look for another possible taker. And a higher offer could perhaps seal the deal. – Aries Rufo/Rappler.com