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.
