Jacque Bermejo : a bitch or a victim?
I admit, initially I had been one of those who immediately labeled her a “bitch” when I saw the very offensive statement in Facebook posted under her name:
“buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners bak der! so yeah deserving wat hapend (sic),” the comment read.
I saw red. It was un-patriotic, bitchy, too darned insensitive and a perfect plain “ready-to-kill” moment. The country just recently underwent a tragedy with Ondoy. The Filipinos haven’t got their bearings together when such comment arose and well… who are we to not show this woman the wrath of Filipinos when aroused in anger.
I wasn’t surprised by the list of comments I saw afterwards regarding the statement. Heck, I snickered to myself thinking, “This woman is getting what she deserves for mocking her fellowmen”. Later on, I saw Facebook Groups having a heated debate whether Jacque Bermejo was indeed the one who made that comment.
I stepped back and realized, yea, we didn’t even knew if it was indeed her, who made that comment. With Facebook as the current No. 1 social networking tool, it is prone to hackers for its “open” developer access to render application integrations. There is a possibility that her account is hacked or someone is using her identity.
I felt ashamed thinking the way I did. I thought back to the feelings I had and yes, I indeed felt very angry. I was ready to kill anyone who was demeaning the Filipinos upon a crisis. I was angered by the comment and I needed a target to vent the anger upon. It just so happened that a name and a face was easily provided, thus the onslaught of comments against her.
I’m relieved to know that she just made an “Official Statement” defending herself against the issue and asking aid to appropriate institutions to clear her name.
‘Official statement’
A Facebook user posted Bermejo’s alleged official statement dated September 29, 2009 in the hopes of clearing her name.
She said that an unidentified source created the accounts using her name, her personal details, and pictures.
“Because of these incidents, I reported such abuses and sent my credentials to the administrators of such sites, particularly Facebook. I have been abused and am still being abused online in social networking websites such as Facebook, Friendster, Multiply etc,” Bermejo’s statement said.
Her friends called her up and informed her about the cruel “shoutout” on the Facebook account and the numerous comments from other users.
“These malicious statement(s) which are posted under account names Jacque or Jackie are not of my doing. It is unfortunate that such statements were maliciously attributed to me and I do sympathize and understand the adverse and somehow verbally violent reaction that has been elicited by such insensitive statements or posts. Rest assured, I have taken every legal step that can be done in this regard,” the statement added
“I am devastated and shocked at the extent my character, my personal information and private space have been violated,” she stated.
I am sincerely asking for an apology for the way I thought. I just hope that this Official Statement is real and will soon be justified once the real person behind the “comment” is captured and light will be brought upon the issue.
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Help Ondoy Victims
It’s Tuesday. It’s sunny outside and I’m back in the office. I’m currently listening to RX 93.1 and many updates are being broadcasted on where donations for the Ondoy victims can be delivered.
To aid in sharing this piece of information, I googled on possible “donation sites” and I stumbled upon this:
On September 26, 2009, Typhoon Ondoy brought a month’s worth of rainfall to Metro Manila and nearby areas in just a few hours, causing severe flooding which resulted in the loss of many lives and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. This site compiles relevant information about the disaster, including a volunteer-maintained map of persons needing rescue and a list of relief organizations accepting donations, so that more help can be provided where it is needed. You can also keep track of the latest news on Google News and YouTube.
A list of Updates, donation areas, emergency numbers, etc. are found in this URL:
http://www.google.com/landing/typhoon-ondoy.html.
There are various ways to provide help. It can be in goods, sms, paypal, credit cards etc.
Let us all lend a hand for our fellowmen who are victims of Ondoy.
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A giant problem named Ondoy
I know I’m supposed to post this year yesterday but the clean-up after the Ondoy typhoon took time and a most of my strength to accomplish that I hardly want to do anything (even think) afterwards.
It was a gloomy and gold Saturday. When I woke up, I knew rain was coming from the dark skies. So I, my dad and sister prepared ourselves for it. We took all laundry in, covered our dog’s cage so she would not get wet, we prepared candles and flashlights for the possibility of blackout, etc. We take pride for being prepared for such things. But of course, you can’t be prepared for everything.
As I was focused on my laptop working on a project, my sister called my attention to an almost knee-length height of rainwater collecting outside our doorstep. I was shocked when I saw our boarders’ rooms filled with water that we hurriedly pulled our their stuff (good thing their stuff were intact within giant tupperware-like containers) into our living room. Later on, I noticed water trickling from the back of our house. Prepared for a worse scenario, I instructed my dad and sister to bring anything on the ground to a higher level. I even detached the CPU and brought it up to our second floor bedroom to avoid any complications.
I found my dog getting wet as the water reached her cage floor. I took her out and noted her shivering that I hurriedly wiped her dry. I took her upstairs to our bedroom where it was warmer and left her there while we dealt with the water that has covered our entire ground floor.
While waiting for the rain to stop, I took my camera out and took some pictures of scenarios.
Ondoy from my window. It was really dark. See the rain pouring from the neighbor's roof.
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My Horror House?
Yesterday is what I call a realization day.
I woke up late because of the heavy rain. It was cold and snuggling deep into the covers was the utmost priority. Unfortunately, work was waiting so I had to drag myself up and go into the normal chores to start the day.
After finishing all chores and waiting for my bath water to heat up, I decided to take my camera and take random snapshots of the house without any flash just to see how the house projects in a gloomy weather.
This is the outside of the house. I was trying to take a shot of the gloomy sky (the rain had ceased). It sure looks like a province scene. ^^
Outside the house in a gloomy, rainy day
Now this gave me a jolt. As I stated earlier, I removed the camera flash, so anything I would take inside the house would be underexposed. I also didn’t turn on any light so I expected shots to be dark. But the output came out creepy in the staircase landing. XD
Staircase lading shot
At the end of the staircase is a big rosary that has been there ever since I was a kid. Seeing this shot made me realize how old the rosary is and how creepy it looks on a gloomy day. XD
Rosary at the end of the staircase
You know what else what happened?
At the end of the day, when everyone was going upstairs to settle in for the night, this adult bat (I could estimate its size from my wrist to elbow!) suddenly popped out from nowhere circling around the staircase yellow light. 0_0
My friend, Denok, told me I should call a wildlife expert since there may be a possibility that a population of bats could be growing somewhere in the neighborhood. I have nothing against bats but I just hope they would not hurt anyone. XD
All these gloomy atmosphere and bat talk is like a sign or a reminder just how old the house is. But wow, the fact that the house is still standing and intact is a miracle and one I am proud to say, is something I am also working hard to maintain. 
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