Ka Leody’s Christmas greeting draws flak

CONTROVERSIAL POST Presidential bet and labor leader Leody de Guzman gets attacked on social media for his lavish-looking Christmas dinner. —photo from Twitter account of Leody de Guzman

The camp of presidential candidate and labor leader Leody de Guzman has no comment after he drew controversy over a viral Christmas greeting picture posted on social media showing him, his family and their pets corgi and cat at a lavish-looking dinner table.

Reporters asked his campaign staff for a statement but were told, “No comment as of now, KL (Ka Leody) prefers to comment on the burning issues of the Filipino people. Thank you for reaching out.”

Some netizens accused De Guzman of secretly having a “bourgeois” lifestyle and being a hypocrite with regard to his leftist and socialist advocacies.

The dining table was laid with what looked like red crystal goblets and golden spoons and forks. There were also Christmas decorations made of pine cones and holly berries.

“Santa Claus? Reindeer? And he’s angry at colonialism, capitalism and imperialism? OK,” said a commenter regarding the Santa Claus hat worn by De Guzman and reindeer antler headbands worn by two family members.

“His house is beautiful! Like a hotel! May everyone afford a split-type AC,” added another, referring to the air-conditioning unit reflected on the large mirror.

Several of the critics were supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo, who were apparently slighted when De Guzman posted in October another controversial picture of him eating a carbonara pasta dish, which he described as “colorless spaghetti.” This was interpreted as an attack on the supposedly “anemic” spaghetti that the Vice President fed to people during one of her sorties.

But De Guzman’s party mates and supporters said the picture merely reflected the comfortable middle income lifestyle that the Laban ng Masa standard-bearer wanted all families of Filipino workers to have if they get decent pay and security of tenure.

Herbie Docena said that De Guzman counted on his family as he had no regular source of income for the past three decades and no multimillion-peso retirement package to look forward to.

“And yet, through these decades, Ka Leody’s wife and children have stayed by his side. As others have pointed out, they’re really the ones who have worked so hard, as full-time employees and small entrepreneurs, so that their household can have those nice dinner plates and that adorable corgi,” he said.