Just the other day, Carlos Celdran was telling Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to die. Today we get the news that he has died. No, not Duterte, Carlos. Carlos Celdran is dead.
When some people die, specially at such a young age, people are at a loss for words. Celdran died but there remains a lot to be said about him. He died in “exile” his fans say. Others, however, would argue that he died a fugitive. Either way, it is a sad ending for a person many would claim encouraged Filipinos to love their country and its decrepit capital city. Sad, not necessarily because he is dead, but because he died fleeing the country he claimed he loved. In the end, Celdran did not walk his talk. He is lauded for being “courageous” in publicly — and loudly — expressing his position on a controversial issue. There is a price to pay for that if you do it in a manner that is against the law, however. Fortunately for him, he possessed — and wielded the resources he had at his disposal — to opt out of his responsibility to the state as ruled by a Philippine court. That’s not a choice the vast majority of Filipinos are at liberty to make. Celdran took his liberties. Other Filipinos in similar situations lost theirs simply because they did not enjoy the privileges Celdran possessed.
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Celdran could have been remembered for what could have been an honourable legacy — taking the Philippines’ Roman Catholic Church to task for keeping Filipinos imprisoned in primitive thinking. Indeed, this was the good fight he fought. Serving a few months in prison would have been an even more noble fight. Celdran, however, stormed away from that latter one and, in the midst of doing so, threw the baby out with the bath water and, in essence, gave up on the Philippines. In an Instagram post in March this year, Celdran expressed his relief from the “stress” of his life in the colonies and his gratitude for the “gift” of legal Spanish residency.
No traffic, no stress, no trolls, no haters – in both political and art arenas, no political divisions and no white sugar. I didn’t want to leave Manila, but I must admit the decision to ditch all of the toxins created by the times we live in is the best thing I’ve ever done. #muchisimasgracias Lolo Pedro for the gift of legal Spanish residency/possible citizenship and for saving my sanity and perhaps even my life.
It seems, Celdran the “provocateur” as Coconuts Manila describes him, was not up to bravely facing the consequences of provocative influencing. Indeed, he went on to tread a path that would ultimately see him squander the political capital he had accrued in his crusade against the Church for which he had already paid dearly. In siding with then 2016 elections presidential candidate Mar Roxas, Celdran divided what had once been a solid following. Like many others who supported Roxas, Celdran would be left high and dry by the Palengke King following his catastrophic defeat at the polls. As in many such endeavours, there too was a cost to Celdran’s disastrous decision. Celdran had viciously and rabidly attacked people who did not support Roxas at the time and, for that matter, anyone who held political views opposite to his. And while Celdran was good when the going was good and the following was strong, he had consistently proven to be ill-equipped to deal with challenge to his hallowed personal beliefs.
Now that Celdran is dead, it is quite interesting that his “supporters” are baffled by how so many have something “ill” to say about him. Indeed, they presume to be the judge on what is “ill” or not in what is being said of the dead. These are people who remained silent when Celdran wished death upon no less than the President of the Philippines. Do these people who are now calling for “respect” and “deference” for the dead actually think they can silence the many enemies Celdran made over the course of his ill-thought-out social media tirades? In calling for that silence, Celdran’s fans are, in essence, putting up the topic of Celdran’s misguided activities before his death as a sacred cow that is not to be touched. But, see, these people forget that Celdran himself had made a name for himself attacking sacred cows. In that we see the all-too-familiar inconsistency that is a consistent feature in the edicts of hypocrites.
Even in death, Celdran contributes to the highlighting of the fundamental hypocrisy deeply-baked into the psyche of those who adore him. This is the legacy he leaves behind.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Let me spit on his grave.
Why should he “bravely [face] the consequences of provocative influencing.”? What would be the point?
The Philippines is a lost cause. He tried, and (predictably) failed to convince Filipinos to step outside of the prison walls that they’ve constructed for themselves.
Refusing to allow Filipinos to indulge their vindictive streak upon his person was a sensible, rational decision.
Let the dead , Celdran rest in peace…he had his time. If he supported Roxas, and was a “hiding YellowTard”, so be it…he took the powerful Roman Catholic Church,,,then fled the country, he cannot understand.
Like other “political stars” who hugged the political limelight,,,they had their time, and soon they will fade away…
Maybe he will be remembered as an angry man who took on the catholic church for a reason we may never know (maybe sex abuse? what else reason could one get angry for?). Being a hero was something others(yellowtards) wants him to be seen but I think the motive is really a personal revenge, not really much fighting for the people.
What a sad thing, that his life was ruin due to a bad choice of political color, and what a relief for the catholic church ( or is it?).
His friends and family will want to remember him as an activist who loved his country and culture. To me, he is one of that certain culture, “elite” or known families of the land who tried to remain relevant or famous by representing a “cause,” as most of them do, though mostly for show than with a genuine cause. His opposition towards the Catholic church seemed more of that than anything else. In the end, he was undone by embracing a political color, one that actually said, “bahala ka sa buhay mo!” He sort of lived that quote at the end.
Carlos Celdran is the same as Amos Yee a “Singaporean Free Speech Blogger” when the western media defended him, and once he arrived to get asylum in the US, he quickly showed his true colors as an internet troll celebrity who makes outrageous comments and videos about “Pro-pedophilia” or how his free speech, and the threat of being imprisoned in Singapore for bad mouthing their leaders is somehow brave, once he stopped doing that and enjoying his paid vacation in America. To top it all off, both were living better than the people they claim to be fighting for.
Now the platitudes are coming that he was a “brave soul” fighting against “tyranny” by running away, and impotently making “change” by taking his sweet time doing interviews and doing hot takes in social media, and there’s the art project begging he did in the past with indiegogo that constantly failed, then he begs for money for his living expenses, and lastly, he was complaining in twitter about his Tour Guide job while not getting a full physical check-up to see if he can handle it, then we’re here, this is his legacy.
This will be a wake up call to the Yellowtards & other Duterte critics who are always complaining & cursing against him without giving them a great solutions or results to our country’s main problems like corruption, poverty, crimes, transportation crisis, etc., etc.
Karma will bite them in the end, seriously.
Forget about Carlos Celdran since he died unexpectedly, we already have this Youtube sensation/former reality tv contestant by the name of Mikey Bustos & unlike Carlos who’d criticize & cursing President Duterte, he’d respect him so much & in fact he’e some of his video that’s featured on his visit to Davao City:
1) When he’d visited to President Duterte’s home: https://youtu.be/GSODQlyKFSo
2) A video to prove that Davao City is really safe: https://youtu.be/DfhpgELDfZA
And IMHO, he have more humor than Carlos Celdran because as we all know it, Mikey Bustos had joined in a reality TV show known as Canada’s Got Talent but he’d lost from an audition a long time ago & after that, he made his own Youtube channel to show his talents, his comedic skits & his visits to some of the places in the Philippines. And the rest as we know it, its history. 🙂