How can we ever thank Tito Sotto? For so many years, he's put on quite a show at the Senate. He has entertained us with his wisdom—which is so immense that it's more than enough to sustain us for a lifetime. In fact, here are some of the things he has done in recent history that literally put us all to shame.
1. He may have given up his dressing room for a Senate seat, but he's still a showman at heart.
Despite becoming a politician, Sotto has not stopped being a thespian. He continues to give us show-stopping performances in his privilege speeches. Our favorite moment was when he likened the arguments in favor of the proposed RH Law to Nazi propaganda. He claimed that pro-RH factions are lying about 11 maternal deaths per day. Pics or it didn't happen, right?
2. He taught us that life is too short to write our own speeches.
During the RH Bill debates, it was discovered that several parts of Sotto's privilege speech was actually made up passages that he had copied from at least five online sources including a blogger named Sarah Pope. When he was confronted about his brilliant move, Sotto denied it, saying, "Why would I quote a blogger? She’s just a blogger."
When people presented proof of Sotto's plagiarism, Sotto reasoned that there was nothing wrong with copying. He pointed out: "Even our image was copied from God. We are all plagiarists." And who are we to question God?
Sotto's act of divine plagiarism was tagged as "Sottocopy,” a deed that launched a thousand memes.
3. He inspired us with his tenacity.
Even after the RH Bill was signed into law, Sotto refused to back down from his fight. In January 2016, he and Sen. Loren Legarda maneuvered to defund the implementation of the RH Law, cutting P1 billion off its budget. This teaches us that if you wait long enough and if you are sneaky enough, you will eventually get what you want.
4. His fashion choices teach us about culture.
For Halloween 2015, while everyone else was busy copping Taylor Swift’s squad or AlDub, Tito Sotto went for something educational. He wore a thawb on noontime show Eat Bulaga, which drew criticisms from the Muslim community, including former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman. We had to commend him for prepping an answer in advance. Sotto explained that he was just wearing Arab clothes and not playing a Muslim because there are Arab Christians. He added that there was nothing wrong with wearing the costume, as long as it’s worn with respect. Obviously, Halloween is all about veneration.
5. He gave us fashion advice.
Wearing shorts is the reason women get sexually harassed. Apparently. The actor-senator reprimanded a victim of sexual abuse because she was wearing short shorts. We'd believe this was true except that there have been documented cases of women being sexually assaulted while covered from head to toe.
6. He doesn't stop.
The thing with the senator is that he really knows what we want. He surprised a lot of fans when he declared during the elections that he won’t be using AlDub or anyone from Eat Bulaga for his campaigns because he doesn’t want to politicize them.
Later, however, in Pangasinan, he gave in and announced that if his slate wins, he will bring the entire Eat Bulaga cast, complete with his brother Vic, Joey de Leon, Alden Richards, and Maine Mendoza. His exact words were, “Kapag si Grace at si Chiz nanalo dito sa San Carlos City at ang buong slate ng GP, itong lahat ng slate, kasama mga mayor namin at mga konsehal, dadalhin namin dito ang Eat Bulaga. Dito kami magso-show. Isasama ko yung dalawa. Sinong dalawa? Si Vic, si Joey, at saka si Alden saka si Yaya Dub.”
7. He wants to bring back Christmas.
Last Christmas was a breakthrough for local film. The Metro Manila Development Authority decided to put a stopper on the usual unending franchises and decided on a stricter, substance-based criteria on which movies to screen. This, of course, ended the reign of slapstick comedies and fantasy flicks.
“Since [the] Christmas season is for children, and it is likewise the time when MMFF movies are being shown in the cinemas, the absence of the mainstream films in the MMFF entries for 2016 was prejudicial to the regular MMFF moviegoers, particularly the children,” the senator reasoned. Thank you, Senator Sotto, for always thinking of the children.
