Masks at the Podium: Is It Fair to Dismiss Celebrities Who Run for Public Office?

By Vincent R. Pozon

“Basta Huwag Artista”

Ben Tulfo once said of Regine Velasquez: “Ano bang alam nitong si Regine Velasquez other than kumanta lamang? Pag ikaw ay isang entertainer, entertainer ka lang. Ang trabaho mo ay magbigay-aliw sa pamamagitan ng pagkanta.”

That’s how easy it is to dismiss a person’s desire to serve. As though once you sang or danced, boxed or played basketball, you forfeited the right to lead.

I’ve tried to understand this reflex — the automatic scoff, the knowing sneer. We have a word for it: arogante. There are worse words. Elitista, for one.

Why are we so quick to write them off? Who says the artist is less fit to govern than the soldier, the lawyer, the economist? Who decided that talent in music or film is proof of shallowness, or that laughter disqualifies one from duty?

Who says they care less?

We remember a Senate once filled with orators and scholars. But were those decades any kinder? Did their eloquence translate to shelter, to justice, to food on the table? Were we better off?

The Case for Merit

Popoy De Vera once reminded me that Senator Freddie Webb, a basketball star by trade, authored major health legislation: the PhilHealth Act, the Salt Iodization Law, the Voluntary Blood Donation Act. He chaired the Senate Committee on Health without ever having worn a lab coat.

Manny Pacquiao — eternally a punchline to some — authored or co-authored 36 bills in his first 18 months in the Senate. One of them became the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act. He championed higher tobacco taxes — an unpopular but vital reform. That took conviction and daring.

The multi-awarded actress Vilma Santos served three terms as mayor of Lipa, and then three as governor of Batangas, where she was repeatedly cited for good fiscal management and disaster preparedness. As a congresswoman, she co-authored landmark measures: the SOGIE Equality Bill, Expanded Maternity Leave, the Cancer Control Act, and laws benefiting senior citizens and day care workers. She was known for showing up, reading the bills, and asking the right questions. She is regularly urged to run for national office.

I’m sure many more examples exist.

It is wrong to pigeonhole people. Wrong to assume the doctor is wiser than the dramatist, that the poet cannot also be pragmatic. Poets have led nations. Artists have fought wars. America's progressive standard-bearer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a bartender—albeit a well-educated one. She is now one of the sharpest interrogators in Congress.

And Then Came Robin Padilla

Robinhood Padilla singlehandedly wrecked the very case I was trying to make. I had been inclined to be generous—to believe in learning curves, in the possibility of transformation. But Padilla made me question my openness.

In less than a term, he has made a mockery of deliberation, treated Senate hearings as theater; he displayed ignorance with pride. He is not failing quietly; he is failing loudly. And yet he chairs the committee on constitutional amendments.

Regarding celebrities of the sort, many voters say, "We get to choose 12 anyway — let’s throw him in." Padilla revealed how badly that chance at high office could be wasted.

Robinhood Padilla is a case of validation for every prejudice against entertainers in politics, proof that Les Brown was right, 'When you open your mouth, you tell the world who you are.'

The country is relieved that Bong Revilla, Willie Revillame and Philip Salvador lost in their bids.

And Then I Think of Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a comedian. A clown, by his critics' reckoning. He now commands a wartime nation, armed with little more than nerve and duty.

He had no background in foreign policy. He never served in the military. But he risks his life with frequent visits to the frontlines. He begs the world not to forget his country. He manages to shame Russia with out-of-the-box tactics. One former comic stood up—and the world watched a superpower stumble. Ukraine, under Zelenskyy, has laid bare the illusion of Russian military supremacy—showing the world that Moscow can be stalled, bloodied, and humbled by a far smaller nation.

Zelenskyy is no outlier

Ronald Reagan was once dismissed as “just an actor”. He went on to become one of the most consequential American presidents of the twentieth century. Whether you agreed with his politics or not, he reshaped global alignments and redefined the American presidency.

Václav Havel was a playwright, a dissident poet who wrote in secret and was imprisoned for it. When communism fell, it was the artist—not the general—who led a free Czechoslovakia.

Angela Merkel was a quantum chemist—introverted, uncharismatic. And yet when Europe needed ballast, she steadied it.

So Check the Heart

So maybe the question isn’t what they did before politics. Maybe it never should have been.

Maybe it’s time we asked different questions.

Do they care? Do they learn? Do they show up?

The law degree hasn’t stopped the looting. Stentorian speeches did not feed the hungry. We’ve had decades of technocrats and lawyers. Still, we sweep floodwater out of our homes. Our students languish last in pertinent lists. Still we count the dead.

Maybe what we need isn’t fluency. Maybe we need hunger. A conscience. Some fire.

To discern the clown from the committed, the kenkoy from the can-do, we have to go deeper than résumés and roles. Forget what curtain they once stood behind. Check the heart.

But yes—draw that line. Some, like Bong Revilla, Willie Revillame, Philip Salvador, and Robin Padilla, remain cautionary tales.

Vincent R. Pozon

After a year of college, Koyang entered advertising, and there he stayed for half a century, in various agencies, multinational and local. He is known for aberrant strategic successes (e.g., Clusivol’s ‘Bawal Magkasakit’, Promil’s ‘The Gifted Child’, RiteMED’s ‘May RiteMED ba nito?', VP Binay's 'Ganito Kami sa Makati', JV Ejercito's 'The Good One', Akbayan's 'Pag Mahal Mo, Akbayan Mo')). He is chairman of Estima, an ad agency dedicated to helping local industrialists, causes and candidates. He is co-founder and counselor for advertising, public relations, and crisis management of Caucus, Inc., a multi-discipline consultancy firm. He can be reached through vpozon@me.com.