An online petition seeking 1 million signatures in 30 days to oust Senator Sotto from the Philippine Senate, initiated by a certain Matt Quiros of Caloocan City, has found its way through social networks Twitter and Facebook. The total number of signatures, as of posting time, is 1,480 and rapidly counting.
The reasons for removing Senator Sotto off his Senatorial seat were stated in the online petition as the following:
1. He is a popular public figure yet he uses his political and showbiz influence to spread misinformation about reproductive health. Ultimately, this is bad for our brothers and sisters who belong to lower-income families with 5 to 15 children and hence cannot afford proper sex education.
2. He is a serial plagiarist and shows no remorse about it. He steals other people's opinions when he doesn't have his own and shamelessly distorts them to advance his own stupid, selfish cause. He is a very bad example to the youth who might as well be allowed to cheat in their exams and he bends religious teachings to justify his acts.
3. He is sexist. He blames the death of his unborn child on his wife's unconscious use of contraceptives when he could have prevented the accidental pregnancy by wearing a condom during their intercourse. Must the responsibility of avoiding accidental pregnancy always fall first on the shoulders of our women?
Opinions showing reasons to oust the Senator prove the public's discontent and dismay on Senator Sotto's actions as a public figure and influential man. Senator Sotto's was target of a recent online public rage when he, for the second time, copied and translated into Filipino some parts of American Senator Robert F. Kennedy's Day of Affirmation speech in Capetown, South Africa.
Truly, this turn of events shows the immense power of voice and the malignant effects of opinion especially on heat-resistant debate topics such as the Reproductive Health Bill.
