buhay-buhay

Here is a reaction from my brother who is an OFW.  Noone can better express what OFWs feel about the issue more than an OFW himself.  Basta kuya, kahit axe daw ang cologne mo sabi ni Malu.. proud pa din kami sayo.  Nyahahahah!   


Recently, the OFW community especially in the Middle East was outraged by an article published in the People Asia Magazine by self-proclaimed socialite diva (on her apology “kuno”, she referred to herself as a “bitch” which I think is more appropriate to her person), Ms. Malu Fernandez.  The infamous article implicitly denotes bigotry and discrimination among our Kababayans.

From the week that passed, negative reactions thru emails and blogs streamed across the internet not only from OFWs but from Filipinos in general.  As an OFW myself (me and my wife are based in Saudi Arabia), I wanted to write my reaction to the article because I have never felt so insulted in my entire life not until Malu wrote her article.  But because I was so affected by Miss Piggy’s “wit” (sorry to offend the original Miss Piggy but allow me to use this name which best describes Malu’s physical and internal self), it took me a while to gather my senses and write.

Actually, I would not be commenting on the article because I think Miss Piggy has more than enough to handle.  So pressured that she resigned from both the Manila Standard and People Asia Magazine (which makes me wonder when the editors of these companies will follow her lead).  This was really the main goal of the campaign - to pressure People Asia Magazine and Manila Standard to fire Miss Piggy.  Again, this makes me wonder, did she really resigned or was she fired?  It is also possible that she was asked to resign to save the company from the wrath of millions of Filipinos.  And it doesn’t end here; for sure Miss Piggy will never regain the life she had lost because of one nasty article she wrote.  A probable scenario would be that not even her Jo Malone perfume or her 17kg makeup and accessories could help her find a decent job in the publication industry.  Probably not even the tabloids would have the guts to hire such a person and take the risk of being rejected by millions of Filipinos who were offended by Miss Piggy.  I don’t want to be mean but I really think she deserves it.  After all of this, she can really now say that God has sent her to her own private hell!  This is “karma” in its true meaning.  If I may quote a reaction from one of the bloggers, “…what goes around comes around.  What goes up must come down”.   And looking at her size, this is one hell of a fall!

This recent turn of events does not only represent a victory for the OFWs but for all Filipinos as well.  Going back to the week that passed, I was overwhelmed by the reactions coming from our Kababayans.  Never have I seen such a unanimous reaction from our Kababayans from all over the world.  Honestly, I never thought that such an issue would gain much attention from the OFWs. For us OFWs, maybe because we are used to being away from home, there are very few that we feel are very important – God, family, money/investment, vacation and the foreign exchange rate.  Issues other than these 5 will not gain that much interest from any OFW.  But I was very wrong.  I never thought that nationalism will be as equally important.  Come to think of it, what Miss Piggy has started might be a blessing in disguise.  It actually awakened a sense of nationalism and unity among us Filipinos. So to Miss Piggy, thank you very much. 

Lastly, on behalf of the OFWs worldwide, my wife and I would like to thank those who did not hesitate to publish their reactions against Miss Piggy’s article and for those Filipinos who are not OFWs but stood on our defense.  Thanks to my sisters for standing by our side on this issue.

Thanks to all our Kababayans at Mabuhay tayong lahat!