Anyone looking at our news feeds right now would know that the “toast” of the town for putting her foot in her mouth was none other than Alma Moreno, and her cringe-inducing interview with Karen Davila. When it comes to celebrities who decide to get into politics, a lot of them never fail to give the voting public a hilarious preview of why they should never be elected.
Before Alma Moreno, there was Ara Mina. In 2010, she was aspiring to become a Quezon City Councilor and decided to let the people get to know her political side better by guesting on Mo Twister’s old talk show, I.M.O. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement, as she became a walking punchline, killing her chances of winning a seat as councilor.
Let’s take a look back at 8 of the worst moments from that fateful interview, and maybe we can learn a thing or two about it for future use. And if you thought Karen Davila was pretty rough on Alma, you should see how Mo conducted this one.
Probably one of the most controversial opinions ever, you have to wonder if Ara knew exactly what having a private army entailed, especially in the provinces. It would appear she didn’t quite understand it, but it was only going to snowball from there.
Around a minute into the video, a caller named Melody Luzambe eviscerated Ara Mina when she expressed her utmost disappointment at Ara and made clear her dismay at thinking Ara was “an intelligent actress,” only to be proven woefully wrong. Ara stood no chance at this point, and you could see in her eyes the instant regret at taking this guest spot.
Apparently, Ara was so insulated from current events and what is going on in this country because the news “depresses” her. For someone who needs to know what’s going on to be able to serve her constituents, that was kind of…weird, wasn’t it? Mo wasn’t going to let this slide, and he promptly berated her on the fact that as a public servant, she doesn’t have an excuse to avoid the news just because it’s “depressing.” It’s her job, after all!
Inasmuch as we don’t want to slut-shame her and point out the multiple pre-marital, if not extra-marital relationships she’s been involved in, her stand on this issue is completely belied by the fact that her child was conceived out of wedlock.
In fact, let’s not slut-shame her and state for the record that having children or having sex is a perfectly natural thing for her to do. This is her life. This is her choice. However, the fact that she insists that she is against the very things she does and brands these things as “wrong” is a source of cognitive dissonance for herself that she needs to deal with on her own.
As she tried to dig herself out of the hole she created for herself, Ara tries to underscore that she is supposedly doing so much for her district that she can’t keep up with what’s going on in the national news. Seriously? Like what? She’s lucky Mo didn’t try pressing further.
When asked about her former sexy star status and whether or not it promotes premarital sex, Ara explained that it was just a role and that since minors didn’t see it, she couldn’t influence premarital sex. This assumes that “pre-marital sex” only ever happens with minors. R-ight.
To be fair, this is hardly any different from how Sylvester Stallone, despite all the guns in his movies, is considered the most anti-gun celebrity in Hollywood. But still, the hypocrisy is strong with the both of them, don’t you think?
On its own, especially if you believe that art can be found even in the smuttiest of works, there is nothing wrong with Ara’s stance of being against anti-pornography (yes, that’s a double negative). When put in tandem with her anti-premarital sex stance, though, that’s rather inconsistent and makes her seem wishy-washy on the issue.
The Maguindanao Massacre happened in November of 2009. It hasn’t even been three months by the time Ara Mina guested on Mo’s show in February of 2010 to talk about her candidacy. For her to not know what happened in what is perhaps the darkest day for Philippine journalism so briefly after it happened is akin to someone wondering what #Fallen44 was about way back in March of this year: not only is it inconceivable for someone running for public office, it’s downright irresponsible.
Here’s hoping that we learn from (recent) history and keep irresponsible people away from public office. Let’s not even call this “stupid,” because stupid leaders can hire great advisers, but irresponsible leaders? Don’t hold your breath if you’re not motorboating.
