Broadway actress and singer Lea Salonga is known for being outspoken on social media be it on issues concerning politics or showbiz.
Following her numerous social media posts about the current situation of the country, Salonga has made proof that she is a person of balance. Sandwiched among media people, the ‘Miss Saigon’ actress answers varying questions about politics, something which is rarely seen.
Salonga first made the point that “[Philippine] politics is a whole different ballgame” and that nobody has asked her to run for public service.
“I have friends that have done [politics]. Some have won and some have lost. The ones who have lost kind of felt disillusioned by the process,” Salonga said.
According to her, currently, the Philippines has been very divided and that whatever one says can be misapprehended. She notes that it’s quite difficult to assess whether a certain legislation is needed or not, as one cannot tell when he or she would need a particular law or when it would be applicable to one’s life.
She also answered a question pertaining to the increasing prices of commodities due to the rising inflation rate in the country.
She said that people should first ask if inflation has also happened in previous administration before getting angry with the current government.
She said that she empathizes with normal Filipinos and would also get frustrated when she sees the prices of her electric bills and other commodities rising.
“We are affected to the point where there are certain goods and services that we buy that are affected, I mean that I don’t like to see my electric bill go up, I don’t like it when the price of vegetables, I mean we buy locally grown produce and when you see price has changed, is it like ‘why?’
“And then you wonder, you gotta wonder.. it is if we’re angry about this, we have to see if it’s happened in previous administrations before and if we got angry then too… And if it happened before and didn’t get angry, then we might examine why that is,” she said.
She was also asked if she likes President Rodrigo Duterte and how his current administration is going, to which Salonga replied: “not a hundred percent”.
Salonga said that it is only normal for a person to not totally like someone.
“You can’t like everything, and you never will. You can like some things, and that is fine. That’s as diplomatic as I can be about it,” she said.
When asked about Senate President Tito Sotto’s proposal about the revision of the national anthem, Salonga said that she didn’t find it necessary at all.
Salonga didn’t confirm whether she would have plans of pursuing politics in the future.
The full interview was uploaded on entertainment reporter MJ Marfori’s YouTube channel.
