“The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
Even if she is qualified to serve as Supreme Court chief justice, Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro has the “misfortune” of carrying a face only her mother can appreciate and critics were none too kind when they ripped her apart, questioning why President Rodrigo R. Duterte would choose her to replace ousted Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.
She was chosen, of course, based on seniority and qualifications, despite her “Medusa-like face,” which is immaterial and inconsequential. It’s not her fault that she was “born in the league of Charybdis,” the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia who flooded lands for her father’s underwater kingdom until Zeus turned her into a monster and had her suck water in and out three times a day.
However, some critics’ disdain for De Castro probably has cultural and historical basis, which can be traced to the Filipinos’ traumatic experiences with their colonizers.
The “doña” is primarily portrayed in movies as despicable, “mata pobre,” “maldita,” and sadistic. In addition, Filipinos have an uncanny penchant of viewing powerful woman (sometimes wearing boots and riding on a horse on her hacienda) as an oppressor, or contrabida (villain), who wields a latigo (whip) while berating and questioning the culture of a Pinay muchacha (domestic helper).
This explains why revolutionary heroes, like Andres Bonifacio, literally barbequed the fat and mestizo Spanish friars (the “demons” of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere) who were caught during the guerrilla offensives; this did not sit well with Emilio Aguinaldo and this “brutality” was reportedly one the reasons for their lingering feud.
Wonder why some Filipinos hated Jose Pidal (a.k.a “Spanish mestizo” Mike Arroyo)?
Again, it is not the newly-installed chief magistrate’s fault if “she carries the face that resembles monster Scylla’s partner,” located in a cave on the Sicilian side of the Strait Messina threatening Odysseus and passing ships. Some Filipinos are really cruel when it comes to judging leaders by how they look rather than how they govern.
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I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing a friend and contemporary of the late Senator John McCain in Springfield, Virginia only last month. 81-year-old retired Colonel Lester Marlon Romine confirmed McCain’s heroism, as immortalized in US media today by the late senator’s colleagues and people who honored McCain’s “larger-than-life” military accomplishments.
Unlike McCain, who became a politician and was twice defeated in presidential races, Romine became a spiritual leader.
He gave me a book of his biography and we prayed together with other friends.
The Office of Senator John McCain, meanwhile, released this statement hours after he passed away: “Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4:28pm on August 25, 2018. With the Senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family. At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for sixty years.”/WDJ