Does Leah Navarro advocate a repeal of the Bill of Rights?

A self-described stalwart of everything that quintessentially Filipino oxymoron “civil society” stands for and staunch anti-Corona crusader Leah Navarro let loose what sounded like a whopper of a Freudian slip in a tweet she issued last Tuesday the 15th May:

If a public official or citizen has nothing to hide, the possibility of an audit or probe should not be a concern.

It is an ironic assertion coming from a supposed advocate of “justice”, “truth”, and da Pinoy way. Implying an advocacy for unwarranted search on ordinary citizens was something few people found even remotely amusing. A response from Human Rights Watch researcher Carlos Conde sums up the issue surrounding Navarro’s ill-thought-out tweet:

@leahnavarro that is dangerously close to saying if a citizen didn’t commit a crime, she shouldn’t mind the police barging into her home.

He revealed in a subsequent tweet that his mother was herself a victim of a baseless malicious accusation and ended up languishing in detention for months — an experience that “broke” her, according to Conde.

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Leah Navarro was still in her late teens when she became a major pop-music star in the Philippines in 1970s-80s.

Born to a well-off family, Leah’s mom is Nelda Navarro, a singer herself who used have her own TV program The Nelda Navarro show. Leah was practically convent-bred and finished college at Assumption College in Makati City, around the time alumna Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was teaching there.

Her singing talent was discovered while still in school and she went on to sing pop music hits of the 1970s-80s such as Kailangan Kita and Saan Ako Nagkamali (both by George Canseco, Lagi na Lang (by Nonong Pedero) and Ang Pag-ibig Kong Ito which was later revived by Racel Tuazon, Moonstar88, Sheryn Regis, and most recently Frencheska Farr. Her interpretation of Isang Mundo, Isang Awit won the Grand Prize in the annual Metro Manila Popular Music Festival then actively sponsored by Imee and Irene Marcos, presidential daughters and music aficionados.

Her discography includes such singles as Hindi Ka Lilimutin, Totoo ba’ng lahat ng ito?, and songs from the stage play Tales of the Manuvu. Her debut album was self-titled, Leah.

Since the mid 1980s, Leah has taken an active role in “Civil Society” movements. She is co-convenor of the Black and White Movement which opposed the rule of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

[NB: Parts of this article were lifted from the Wikipedia.org article “Leah Navarro” in a manner compliant to the terms stipulated in the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License that governs usage of content made available in this site.]

11 Replies to “Does Leah Navarro advocate a repeal of the Bill of Rights?”

  1. Yet another perfectly reason that artist (at least the majority) of them should not be meddling in politics.

    Hmmmm, I wonder what tune will she be singing if the same thing happened to her?

  2. I also read the same message from @JimParedes. I can’t believe a lot of people are listening to her and that she’s popular in the twitterverse. This might work assuming that the state is benevolent which is hardly the case. But even if so, you just violated the indivual’s right to due process…

  3. leah navarro doesn’t know what she’s saying. she’s a canadian citizen, no? does canadian law back up her views?

  4. Before Navarro starts yapping, she should first look at herself hard in the mirror and ask herself about her professionalism and behavior. She was replaced in the “Alikabok” show at the CCP produced by Celeste Legaspi, by Rachel Alejandro due to alleged professionalism issues. She was also yanked out of a broadway-themed show directed by Danny Favis. She was the cause of the flap in the Jukebox Queens of the Philippines – USA Tour, causing the producers tension and headaches, and was eventually ditched in favor of comedian-singer Fe de los Reyes. When she was going steady with matinee idol Matt Ranillo, the latter’s mother, Gloria Sevilla, had a beef about her by just staying in the car and not paying her respects during a loved one’s wake, not to mention her general aloofness and indifference towards her. Indeed, her mother Nelda Navarro (who spoke fluent Italian), was one classy lady, which sadly she didn’t take after!

  5. I bet you if the rights of someone on their side was trampled on in the same way, they would be shouting foul to high heavens! Which reminds me. Would the CHR be objective and fair enough to make a statement on human rights trampled on by the present administration? Ms Etta Rosales, is it?

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