Image: Facebook/Ogie Diaz
Actor-talent manager Ogie Diaz has come to the defense of senatorial candidate Florin “Pilo” Hilbay days after President Rodrigo Duterte accused him of being gay.
Duterte claimed on Tuesday, April 16, that Hilbay was pretending that actress Agot Isidro was his girlfriend, adding that God made a mistake in creating him. Following this remark, Diaz took to social media to shoot down the President’s accusation.
“Kahit sinisipon ako, maaamoy ko kung bading o barako (Even if I had a cold, I would still be able to smell if someone is gay or straight),” Diaz said on Facebook yesterday, April 18. “At wala namang problema kung bading ka o tomboy ka basta hindi ka sakit ng lipunan (And there is no problem whether you are gay or tomboy, as long as you are not a liability to society).
He said he had met and spoken to Hilbay and never had any inkling that he was gay. What he felt, instead, was his sincerity in his advocacy to defend the Philippines and be the voice of the people in the Senate.
“Mas naramdaman ko pa yung sincerity niya na tulungan at ipagtanggol ang Pilipinas, kaya gusto niyang maging boses ng taumbayan sa Senado (I felt more his sincerity in helping and defending the country, which is why he wants to be the voice of the people in the Senate),” said Diaz.
Diaz drove his point home and said Hilbay is the kind of person the Senate and the nation need: “Kailangan natin ng mga ganitong klaseng damdamin sa Senado at sa BAYAN. Kulang na kulang tayo sa totoong SENADOR sa tunay na kahulugan ng salitang SENADOR.”
(What we need is this kind of fervor in the Senate and the nation. We are very much lacking in senators who are senators in the truest sense of the word).
Meanwhile, Hilbay has since shot back at Duterte on Wednesday, April 17, saying he is a straight man, but that there was no shame in being a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) community. He also said that unlike Duterte, he is secure in his relationship with Isidro.
Isidro also clarified on the same day that she and Hilbay are straight and noted a person’s gender has nothing to do with his or her integrity.
“#LGBTQIA supporter ako, naniniwala na ang gender ay walang kinalaman sa integridad ng isang tao,” she said then. “Pero ang pagmumura at pagpatay, well that’s a different story.”
(I’m an #LGBTQIA supporter and I believe gender has nothing to do with a person’s integrity. But cursing and killing? Well, that’s a different story). /ra
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