Gays slam Senate homophobes
A national organization of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders took up the cudgels yesterday for beleaguered Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Romulo Neri and criticized people preying on his supposed “secret, personal life.”
The group Ang Ladlad chided the “scare tactics” against Neri who, the group said, has been subjected to “threats” and “malicious snide remarks” by Sen. Jamby Madrigal and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos in the course of the Senate investigation on the canceled national broadband network (NBN) project.
“We support the call of whistle-blower Jun Lozada for truth and transparency on the NBN-ZTE scandal, and we deplore the continued silence of CHED chairman Neri on the issue,” said Danton Remoto, chairman of Ang Ladlad.
“However, we are also uncomfortable with the scare tactics being made against Neri by people who promised they would spill the beans regarding his secret, personal life. On record, Sen. Jamby Madrigal has threatened to do this in retaliation for what she said was Neri’s statement regarding the patriotic fund that supposedly besmirched her good family name.
“While we laud the strong stand taken by Sen. Madrigal to ferret out the truth, we are unhappy with the bullying and aggressive, if not crude, tactics being used to reach this noble goal,” Remoto said.
Remoto, moreover, took as an attack on homosexuals remarks made by Abalos on why Lozada was always with Neri at the Wack-Wack Golf Club.
Ang Ladlad previously had a verbal tussle with Abalos when, during his term at the Comelec, Abalos refused to accredit the group as a party- list group because “the group lacks national constituency” and merely has “phantom voters,” according to Remoto.
“We call on Chairman Neri to disclose everything he knows about the NBN-ZTE deal. He should step forward into the light and leave the shadows behind. In that shadowy world, talks are rife about his alleged homosexual relations that supposedly prevent him from disclosing everything he knows about the issue. In this way, homosexuality is used as blackmail to prevent one from speaking the truth,” Remoto said.
Even gay websites and chat rooms are busy with messages discussing the reported threat from Madrigal regarding Neri’s personal life.
“So what if she (Madrigal) would bring up something that could be compromising because he’s gay? Just because one is gay, is that compromising and should be used against you?” said one participant in one of the gay e-groups at Yahoo! Groups.
But Madrigal said she is not judging or condemning Neri and there is nothing wrong if gays and lesbians support him, although it would reveal something about his sexual preference.
“The only reason I brought out his personal life is when someone’s personal life becomes a hindrance to his testifying for the good of the nation,” she said. “Anyone can support Neri. I hope they will also encourage him to come to the Senate and testify because the issue is not Neri’s preferences or his personal life. The issue is corruption.”
Meanwhile, the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns in the
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