The Philippines this week has been struck by its worst Typhoon in decades.
Ondoy, Internationally known as Ketsana, has left thousands of Filipino's homeless or displaced and hundreds dead or missing.
The Typhoon spared no one, people in the posh villages and business sectors of Makati watched in horror as their cars got washed away. Middle class families and the poor alike on top of their roofs waiting for rescue. Hundreds stranded at their work, or other parts of the Philippines unable to re-enter Luzon.
My own family suffered its own worries when a relative of ours to this day in Batangas, we have no news of them.
I saw a video in Youtube taken by a hospital nurse filming cars being violently moved by flood currents only to realize a CRV had a woman in it, she climbed up the roof of her car while doctors from the nearby building tried to rescue her.
Americans and Fil-ams can safely say that Ondoy is the Philippines version of Katrina.
We are in a State of Calamity indeed.
The storm has passed, and the whole world seems to be in sympathy with us. Relief and Donation drives are being dispatched to those in need and resources are being pulled not only from the Philippine Navy and Police but possibly form the US and other organizations for rescue missions.
People are now wearing their hearts on their sleeves, rich or poor we are helping each other. This is what raw Human Nature is in time of adversity.
However there are still those who can find the time to think what happened to us is either deserving or maybe they are just plain ignorant of the times. Perhaps some not raised properly by their parents, a social deviant? I don't know. You can find them everywhere. In comment sections of youtube, yahoo answers and other blog sites.
But one particular person gained notoriety. Jacque Bermejo or Jackie Bermejo. A Filipina Dubai OFW worker, in text talk like English posted an insensitive comment as follows in her Facebook:
"buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners back der! so yeah deserving what happened"
Within hours enraged Pinoys from all over hunted down her Facebook and Multiply account. Fake Motivational Posters of her have been created, where pictures of her were used.
Her blog site flooded with hate comments, some with threats and other anti-Jacques pages were made.
Mind you I do not know her. And yes anyone who has read her statement even me would like to give her a smart slap on the cheek. However something didn’t feel right for me. Since then she has locked her Facebook account, which If I was her, I would have just deleted it along with her multiply account since it contained pictures of her and her work.
Upon the various sources I claimed from the net, she works as a PR person in one of the media firms in Dubai, hat of course is yet to be proven. One en so as tried posting telephone numbers of her location
These are things people can use against her, can harm her, humiliate her.
Then I thought, maybe her account was hacked? Maybe those other comments in Youtube were true, that she is a victim of Cyber Bullying?
I have been a victim of that just a few months ago, I know too well of the stress it can cause. My case was not as messy as she was, but I had my pictures taken from my Highschool webpage, Facebook, Multiply and such. Posted in sites such as 4chan. I knew the people who did it too; looking back the reasons of why they did it are petty to me, maybe to them no, but they took great pride in their work. That issue is dead over, but I do understand how the REAL Jacque feels if this is really the case.
I’ve heard and seen other Cyber Bullying horror stories. Most that of kids being picked on at school. The reasons are always the same. They may have ignited the temper of a group of techno savy kids rather indirectly or directly. The next thing you know MMS messages are being sent around in school, some in sexually compromising pictures of them, either digitally edited or not. Worse such personal information are in the hands of REAL monsters like pedophiles or serial killers.
In my years being a forum moderator, I have seen cases of Cyber Bullying gone wrong. A group of Caviteno friends decided to steal profile pictures of various people in their friends network, some are intimate family photos. With that, they created fake Friendster sites, and posted blog profiles claiming they are this person making a fool of themselves.
My team was wise enough to track them down and have the real owners alerted. But by then, their pictures have been posted all over the forums, jaunted by many.
Looking at this whole Jacque Bermejo issue, kinda makes you wanna think. Why would an OFW her age and stature would want to decide to make such bold and possibly dangerous comment that will cause such damage to her personally and publicly?
Why didn’t she locked her profile pages? Is she the real Jacque Bermejo or an Impostor? Or Perhaps some media hungry commoner basking in any type of fame the world can give her in this time of need.
Within hours enraged Pinoys from all over hunted down her Facebook and Multiply account. Fake Motivational Posters of her have been created, where pictures of her were used.
Her blog site flooded with hate comments, some with threats and other anti-Jacques pages were made.
A few claiming to know here tried to defend her. One in yahoo answers claiming to be her officemate said that she is already fearing for her public safety and that that is NOT HER REAL FACEBOOK ACCOUNT.
The same was in another youtube comment, but all fell onto the deaf ears of the angry commenters, enraged with her statement. “ Die Jacque! Die!” They clamored.
For now we may never know. The public's emotion is quick to judge. And though I am expressing my disappointment on her alleged statement, I still would like to give her that benefit of a doubt.
Rather than focusing on hate and despise towards that one person, it would be best if all this energy would be focused more on helping the Victims of Ondoy.
In the end, regardless if she is a real person or not, her comment would be the butt of jokes in the near future, she would be insignificant and perhaps forgotten.
The storm and its tragedies are bigger than her. And the morals learned from it will be far greater remembered.
As an End Note:
Knowing how our Philippine Showbiz works somehow she will be track down by some local TV talks show for an interview to clear her name. Hopefully if that's the case bygones will be bygones. That or the truth will be told.
For now, the only number that matters is that of the Philippine Red Cross
