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Ondoy: More Stories of Tragedy and Inspiration

Posted in facebook, filipino, heroes, inspiration, internet, ketsana, ondoy, PBA, tony chua

Typhoon "Ondoy" has left our shores but not before leaving a trail of destruction and creating countless tales of inspiration. I was going through the news over the world wide thingamajiggy tonight and I came across a few articles that really caught my attention.

The first is a story of tragedy.

Former Philippine Basketball Association chairman Tony Chua was found dead in the aftermath of tyhoon Ondoy's onslaught. He drowned while he was apparently trudging the flood waters to get to his car near his residence in Cainta, Rizal. Being a big PBA fan, I was deeply saddened by his death. I sincerely offer my condolences to his family, and I would like to say that the PBA has indeed suffered a great loss with his untimely death.

The second story is heart-warming.

More than 600 inmates at the Mandaue City Provincial Jail have volunteered to skip one meal last September 30 and donate their rations to flood victims in Metro Manila. Their donation of four sacks of rice and several canned goods was coursed through the Office of the President through the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Even convicted criminals have a heart.

The third story basically sums up the online story of typhoon Ondoy.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter turned into disaster response hot lines as more and more concerned individuals continued to post tweets and status messages that were more like up-to-the-minute reports on the situation in areas affected by typhoon Ondoy. They provided information about missing persons or directions on where to route emergency relief assistance. This was definitely bayanihan in the twenty-first century.

As sportscaster Mico Halili put it, typhoon Ondoy was the "grim equalizer". For once in our society, prejudices and social status were rendered meaningless. Doctors, lawyers, celebrities, construction workers and even convicted criminals were united in dealing with the tragedy. Thousands of volunteers went out of their way to help those who were struck down by the calamity. In the face of adversity, every Juan dela Cruz stepped up and became a hero.

What a great nation of heroes the Philippines is.

sources:
ABS-CBN News
Cebu Daily News
GMA News

addendum: Reach out, lend a hand. More information on how to help those who were hit by typhoon Ondoy can be found on Super Bianca's blog, and on this site.

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The Jacque Bermejo Scandal

Posted in crazy, facebook, filipino, internet, post, scandal, shame, trolls, writing

From hero to zero.

If my earlier Ondoy-related post talked about a hero who saved more than 30 lives in a few hours, this one's about an overseas Filipino worker in Dubai who rose to notoriety when she allegedly made the most insensitive remark on Facebook regarding the calamity.

In a span of approximately 24 hours Jacque Bermejo became an instant Internet celebrity slash hate-puppet all across the world wide thingamajiggy. It all started when in the middle of the crisis brought about by typhoon Ondoy, a rather unsavory comment was found on her Facebook page. It said:

"buti n lng am hir in dubai! Maybe so many sinners bak der!so yeah deserving wat hapend!".

This is a prime example of how fast word can travel over the Internet. In less than a day people have started a hate page that as of this writing now has 10,596 members. One cannot blame a nation, who had just suffered one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history, for being sensitive to comments such as that, right?

Then there are also those who defend Ms. Bermejo, stating that her alleged Facebook and Multiply pages have been riddled with "trolls". They give a rather informative defense, as seen here. I just don't bite it.

Personally though, I really see no point in pursuing the matter further. If Ms. Bermejo was indeed an innocent victim of haters, I'd chalk it up to tough luck. No such thing as bad publicity anyway. She might even get her 15 seconds of fame on TV one day. But seriously, what is there to do about it? I highly doubt that anybody's gonna get a good spanking from mother, much less arrested, over this. If you're worried about clearing your name, think about the Gabby Concepcions and the Maricar Reyes's. Like I said, no such thing as bad publicity.

Now if she really was the culprit, then I hope she's ready to suffer the nation's electronic wrath.