Combing mustaches and making TikToks: What happened to politicians and their decorum?

“Elect clowns, expect a circus.”

This was what one user on Twitter commented after a video of politicians dancing in session halls went viral.

In the past week, proper decorum from the nation’s public servants became the topic of discussion the first being actor-turned-senator Robinhood Padilla combing his mustache during a Senate hearing.

This mustache combing happened back in May. As Sen. Raffy Tulfo was making a speech before the Committee on Public Safety and Drugs, Padilla can be seen in the background pulling out a comb from his pocket to brush his upper lip. This gained mixed reactions from netizens, with some criticizing the action star for not being “unprofessional.”

Senator Robin Padilla was caught combing his mustache while his fellow Senator Raffy Tulfo was giving his privileged speech during a Senate hearing on Monday.

This drew mixed reactions in social media. pic.twitter.com/PfFIGUbZCK

— Caryl Gonzales (@carylgonzales_) May 17, 2023

Padilla responded to these criticisms on June 19, defending that there aren’t any rules in Senate about this.

“Wala sa rules ng Senate na bawal magsuklay ng bigote. Kung nandun yun at sinabi nila yun, hindi ko na gagawin. Wala naman masama doon lalo na kung tikwas-tikwas yung bigote ko,” he said.

Meanwhile, other fellow actors/TV personalities-turned-politicians also got in hot water recently. Quezon City District 5 councilor Aiko Melendez posted TikTok last June 20 where she and some other politicians were dancing to Mariah Carey while inside the QC session hall. And when they were called out over this, Melendez defended that they didn’t violate any session hall rules.

Anong nagyayari sa mga politicians ngayon? Wala namang problema mag Tiktok — pero sana igalang naman yung session hall.

Lugar po ‘yan para gumawa ng batas hindi po para mag tiktok. Respeto naman po sana, Councilor Aiko Melendez & SK President Julian Trono. pic.twitter.com/01tcXajXUJ

— Deo Enalpe  (@iamdeoenalpe) June 19, 2023

Yes, politicians are people, too, and they should be able to do what they want when they want to but at the end of the day, they are public figures. They will always have the public’s eyes on them whether they like it or not so whatever they do will always be under scrutiny.

Are halls where laws are made the appropriate place to be fixing one’s appearance? They have restrooms for that, don’t they? Are these government spaces the place to make TikToks?

Proper decorum and etiquette are expected from these public servants and there shouldn’t have to be rules set to keep them on their best behavior. In addition, these officials were voted by the public for a job and their salaries do come from taxpaying Filipinos. It’s not asking for much when Filipinos want to see their politicians acting and behaving correctly.

The post <b>Combing mustaches and making TikToks: What happened to politicians and their decorum?</b> appeared first on WE THE PVBLIC.

Source: we the pvblic