Of truth, and lies

“WALK FOR TRUTH & INTEGRITY.”
So screamed the streamer held by the Reverend Governor Eddie T. Panlilio along with the Reverend Auxiliary Bishop Roberto Mallari, the Reverend Father Mon Torres, a slew of reverend sisters and brothers as they marched for the prayer rally last week in San Fernando.
So many reverends there that I nearly genuflected upon beholding their picture.
Of Bishop Bobet, Father Mon, the sisters and brothers I give the utmost reverence. They indeed walk tall for truth and integrity. The clerics I have long known for their devotion to their calling. Bishop Bobet was in infima to my poetry class at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary.
Of the Reverend Governor, I have my respect. For his priesthood. Of his politics, I have my doubts.
Hence I find him the odd-man-out in that picture. If there is one man who has no business walking for truth and integrity, it is Governor Panlilio.
The truth about the governor is not an established one. The lie about him is pervasive.
What is the truth about his winning the governorship?
Panlilio would not stay for an answer. His battery of lawyers barricading the due course of action resorted to by his rival with a heap of legalities that ran up to the Supreme Court.
So what has Panlilio to fear, if indeed he won – by the grace of God Himself – the elections? If Truth be by his side, nay, in his own persona, how can he lose?
As John Milton’s Areopagitica has long affirmed: “And though all the winds of doctrines were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple, whoever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?
“For who knows that Truth is strong next to the Almighty. She neds no policies nor stratagems, nor licensings to make her victoritous – those are the shifts and the defenses that error uses against her power.”
So, why not Panlilio allow himself to “grapple” with Baby Pineda? If only “to ferret the truth” as her lawyer asked.
What is the truth about the contributions to Panlilio’s gubernatorial campaign?
Panlilio would not say. Neither would his Kapampangan Marangal Inc. So where is their honor here?
Willie Villarama came out in the open asking why his contributions and those he solicited from friends were not included in the list of campaign donors and their respective contributions submitted by Panlilio to the Comelec.
Madame Lolita Hizon, the most visible financier of the Panlilio campaign, has also asked why her contribution was so conspicuously missing from the Comelec list?
So where is Panlilio’s truth here?
Gall, indeed, has he for “walking for truth and integrity.” Isn’t truth blasphemed, integrity desecrated here?
No, I would not succumb to the temptation of asking Panlilio the truth about all those nasty allegations about his vow of celibacy. That is thoroughly between him and his God.
I take my leave of truth – and lie – with the essayist Montaigne: “If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, it is as much to say as that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men.”
“For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man.” As Bacon interjected.