Outrageous

Today’s thought: “Do you still love nature, despite what it did to you?” – professionalheckler to Malu Fernandez

The Malu Fernandez bruhaha spread like wild fire in the internet and has caught the ire of almost everybody not just the OFWs she maligned through her column. Excepts from her column “FROM BORACAY TO GREECE!” are featured below:

“However I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them.

While I was on the plane (where the seats were so small I had bruises on my legs), my only consolation was the entertainment on the small flat screen in front of me. But it was busted, so I heaved a sigh, popped my sleeping pills and dozed off to the sounds of gum chewing and endless yelling of “HOY! Kumusta ka na? At taga sann ka? Domestic helper ka rin ba?” Translation: “Hey there? Where are you from? Are you a domestic helper as well?” I though I had died and God had sent me to my very own private hell.

On my way back, I had to bravely take the economy flight once more. This time I had already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while Jo Malone evaporated into thin air.”

This has eventually caused her to resign from her post (and save face before People Asia and Manila Standard sack her). You can check this link for the full article but this is gonna make you rant the whole day, so beware: http://qa.filipinoexpats.com/malu-fernandez-articles-ofws-boracay-greece.

She came to her defense and write non-apologetically, which made it worse. Excerpts here again (full article is available at http://qa.filipinoexpats.com/malu-fernandez-articles-ofws-am-i-diva-or-do-you-lack-common-sense):

“I wrote a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn’t get the meaning of my acerbic wit. The bottom line was just that I had offended the reader’s socioeconomic background. If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny. Most people don’t get the fact that they need bitches like me to shake up their world, otherwise their lives would be boring and mediocre. I obviously write for a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.”

I find no humor in any of her articles. Maybe it’s because I do not belong to her ‘target audience’, and her kind of ‘acerbic wit’ does not appeal to me, but being an OFW myself, she also caught my wrath and I really think that her writings were done in poor taste. I’ve travelled and have shared the economy class with OFWs myself and surely, most of them tend to be chatty and to some extent noisy once the pilot announces touch down to Manila airport. All dashing towards the exit door, lining up to get their balikbayan boxes and some are even clapping their hands in excitement. But none break rules and all are ever so friendly and polite. Malu, the socialite elite (kuno) should understand that we are just extremely in high spirits to meet our family and friends we left in PH. There is no need to criticize the smell of their perfume and besides, its been known that Filipinos are the most OC when it comes to cleanliness so I doubt that those OFWs she was with really smell foul. Hinde naman sila nakasabit sa jeep o nakatayo s loob ng regular bus n parehong nasa kahabaan ng traffic s EDSA. Dun talaga hindi maiiwasang mag-amoy tambutso at pawis.

She has, as she confirmed, been receiving death threats because of what she wrote which prompted her to resign in the first place. I wonder now where she can possible go to after all that she’s written in her column. I’m sure that every Filipino in the Philippines is connected in some way to an OFW. Having her face posted in countless blogs; feeling ko tinalo p nya yung collective pictures ng most wanted criminals in the country, I doubt there is nobody in the Philippines and Filipinos abroad who hasn’t read her discriminating column, except those that do not have internet access. But with 15-20 pesos/hr rental, I doubt there will be much.

Karma boomeranged so soon she didn’t know it hit her twice as hard as when she threw it. She’s now out of job. But it should not be a problem as she is rich and this she flaunts callously. I hope she learned her lesson well otherwise she is an abomination to her kind which I happen to love – baboy.

P.S. Check this site http://professionalheckler.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/this-is-for-you-malu-fernandez/ for top 10 Things to Tell Malu Fernandez When You See IT. Now this is my kind of wit.