By Gerry Plaza, Special to Yahoo! Southeast Asia
Many will believe that 2010 presidential candidate Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby†Madrigal-Valade really outtalked herself on this one.
Call it spur of the moment, a proverbial slip-up or, well, a senior gaffe, Madrigal’s tendency towards taking down her opponents in the political contest made her appear more irrational and dumbfounding. Madrigal criticizing celebrity endorsements, oh c’mon!
“Paying actors P30 million for endorsements is an insult to the Filipino intelligence,†Madrigal said in a presidential forum organized by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Feb. 8.
Her statement was so startling that
people in the forum had to remind Madrigal that she actually used a celebrity in her successful Senate run—an actress named Judy Ann Santos, who had been all over her campaign sorties, commercials, posters, and paraphernalia - an endorsement seen as unprecedented even in showbiz circles at that time.
Her answer: “I have seen the folly of my ways and I will not repeat that because I do not believe you repeat a mistake. I also don’t believe you should perpetuate lies (with) a thick budget.â€
A “folly,†a “mistake†– two words the good senator used to describe a celebrity endorsement that made a struggling election candidate, into a Magic 12 shoo-in in 2004. Those words could be far more appropriate if Madrigal had lost, but her wildcard 2004 victory was nothing short of phenomenal, or to some, unattainable if it was not for her famous screen partner in those political ads.
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