PASIG CITY, Philippines – A somber Ian Sia faced members of the media on Friday afternoon, April 4, during a press conference he called for at a revered restaurant in Kapasigan, the city’s busy downtown area. Sitting alone and dressed in a plain white shirt – bereft of the usual trappings of a campaigning politician – the lawyer and aspiring congressman delivered his “public apology” for the joke that made him an overnight celebrity, if for an unsavory reason.
“Inaako ko po ang responsibilidad sa mga nabitawan ko pong salita. I’m sorry po na lumabis po ang aking salita at mali po ang napili kong biro para po magpatawa sa isang political caucus,” Sia began. (I take responsibility for the words I said. I’m sorry that I went too far in my speech and I chose the wrong joke to entertain people at a political caucus.)
Two days before, on April 2, at a campaign sortie of his slate Team Kaya This in Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Sia made single mothers the butt of an off-color joke that was caught on video and went viral the next day. It triggered a maelstrom of condemnation on social media, and the threat of disqualification from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“Now I better understand the phrase, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions,'” Sia continued his apology. “Hindi po sapat na mabuti ang ating intensyon. Importante rin po ‘yung epekto ng atin pong salita, lalo na po sa ating gawa.” (It’s not enough that we have good intentions. The effect of our words and, more so, of our actions, is also important.)
“Sorry po talaga sa lahat ng nasaktan. Hindi na po ito mauulit muli. (I’m really sorry, to all those who were hurt. This won’t happen again)”
‘A sort of warning from Ate Sarah’
Having been a city councilor from 2010 to 2016, Sia said politicians were hard-pressed to keep audiences interested during campaign caucuses and rallies. Having grown up in an “ordinary family” where “such kinds of jokes were normal,” he said he acknowledged that “times have changed” and “we need to improve”.
He is now running to be the city’s lone district representative against the incumbent Roman Romulo, who is running for a third and final term. Romulo is part of reelectionist mayor Vico Sotto’s Giting ng Pasig ticket. Sia is allied with Sotto’s challenger, businesswoman Sarah Discaya, and serves as her spokesperson.
“Ate Sarah issued me a sort of warning,” Sia said when asked about how Team Kaya This reacted to the controversy. (Discaya styles herself as “Ate Sarah”, and her slate’s name is a pun on her surname’s first syllable.) Discaya, Sia said, admonished him that “in the heat of the moment”, he must remember that he is “no activist but a lawyer” whose words people expect to be “measured”.
Sia said the members of Team Kaya This have expressed concern, particularly about his “mental health”, as the bashing he’s been receiving on Facebook is “no joke”.
‘No hard feelings’
The Comelec has given Sia three days to explain why a complaint for election offense, or a petition for disqualification, should not be filed against him. The poll body acted motu proprio, that is, of its own accord and without anyone else filing a complaint, because the incident has been widely reported in mainstream and social media.
Sia said he “commends” the Comelec, the Social Welfare department, and the Gabriela Women’s Party, and all other groups that called him out. Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, without naming Sia, had criticized the joke and called for better discourse during elections. Gabriela had called for his disbarment.
“Tama po ‘yon. Hinahanap po ‘yan ng ating mga kababayan – isang mabilis na pagkilos, regardless kung sino ang subject matter ng isang inquiry,” he said. (That’s right. Our compatriots are looking for that – swift action, regardless of who is the subject of an inquiry.)
Sia said that, as a lawyer, he understands the concept of due process, and “will abide and comply” with whatever decisions the Comelec and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines may make on his case.
“No hard feelings. That’s your job,” he said, addressing his would-be judges. “You have my respect.”
No politics, for now
In a now-deleted video posted Friday morning, Sia made what was essentially a defiant non-apology. He nominally apologized to solo parents for the joke, but blamed whoever uploaded the video for, supposedly, not including the full context of his statements, according to a report by ABS-CBN.
At the restaurant, before Sia arrived for his presser, his staffers distributed a printed press release in which he claims the fallout from his gaffe were an effort by his political opponents to “divert” attention from relevant issues.
Asked why the actual press conference was so different in tone and content from the preceding press release, Sia said he wanted his in-person statement to focus on his apology and not be marred by politics.
However, when asked if he thought his predicament really was politically motivated, he said that, given the national attention drawn by the issue, he “couldn’t help but think there is politics behind this.”
The original video, though, was part of regular campaign coverage by the Facebook page iNews Pasig. Splices of Sia’s offensive joke were shared by individual social media users and had started to go viral before being picked up by aggregator sites and news outlets.
Although aware of how potentially damaging this episode is to his political career, he said that, “On the positive side of things, at least now we have the full attention of everyone.”
Team Kaya This trails Giting ng Pasig in popularity. With Vico Sotto at Giting’s helm, the slate receives positive public attention largely owing to its widely-hailed good governance of the city, which Discaya unwittingly affirmed.
Discaya’s slate, meanwhile, has received considerable criticism for an obvious conflict of interest: She owns a construction company that often bids for the city’s infrastructure projects, and has been a private contractor for the government for more than a decade.
With the threat of a premature end to his political aspirations, Sia said he would work with his legal team but “refrain from second guessing” what the Comelec would do.
“It’s Comelec’s prerogative”, Sia said. – Rappler.com