Sinigang

I AM PERHAPS the last person to blog about Malu Fernandez. Frankly, I have been debating whether to ignore her, pretend I hadn’t read her downright brash and cocky article and move on with my life or write my own two cents worth (before I slit my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane seated next to her in economy class!). I decided on the latter because I know there are still a few out there unaware of the huge fuss over Malu Fernandez, no pun intended. I also have to let out steam.

Who is she? Why is she getting her 15-minute of fame online and offline? If not for the forwarded email that circulated like a virus on the net, she would have remained an unknown, save for the certain target audience she claims she writes her stories for. Out of curiousity, I googled her and came 377,000 articles tagged with her name! The odd thing is, not one of the random results I clicked all the way to the end says anything about her career, or previous writings or a simple background on who she is. Every single result are blogs and commentaries on her now ill-famed write-up. I’m disappointed. All I know is she writes a column in Manila Standard Today in the Lifestyle section and a contributing columnist for People Asia Magazine. Other than that, she has no books to her name, no affiliations, not even her own blog. How do I validate if she is the "diva" she claims to be?! How do I verify if she is indeed nothing but a spoiled rotten brat of aristocratic lineage who is simply ignorant and oblivious to the realities of life?! I would have somewhat understood her myopic view of the world based on ones socioeconomic status if she were born royalty and never experienced financial constraints but the fact of the matter is she flew coach! How do you justify an utter disdain for the people smelling like Charlie and Axe cologne when YOU are packed with them like sardines (the term she used)?! She could have flown first class and then bash at the people on the economy class, while totally uncouth, would have given her credibility.

Please read her entire article by clicking on the photos  before you continue so you get the whole picture. While you’re at it, click on her response defending her essay. Her defense is the clincher! It made things worse and by this time the entire blogsphere is calling for her resignation on the Manila Standard Today and
People Asia Magazine and she has had thousands of hate blogs calling her names and have given her the expletives, and not to mention the death threats she has gotten. By this time, I have been boiling and the only way to appease my anger is by expressing them. The publisher of People Asia washed their hands on the matter expressing that in the light of the matter, they were going to fire Fernandez but Fernandez went ahead and gave her resignation. The publisher further added that "there is a fine print in the magazine’s staff box stating that the opinions and views expressed by writers are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the editors and the management." How convenient! Perhaps in fear for her life, Fernandez then issues a public apology stating her deepest regret and sorry but by then the damage has been done. Her words meant nothing. When she decides to actually slit her wrist as an act of contrition, or wear Charlie cologne for the rest of her life, or suffocate herself daily spraying baygon and lysol all over her body, maybe then, just maybe, the Filipino people will forgive her. For now, all she is to me is a shallow, hypocritical, pretentious, pompous ass!

This Malu issue consequently raises more questions and arguments beyond what she wrote. I’m no saint. I’m admittedly guilty as the next person of having some prejudices and bigotry in my own choices. Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes goes the song from Avenue Q, the musical, but that doesn’t give us the right to insult people for who they are. That’s when decorum and sensitivity come in. I’ve never flown first class in my life. I told myself, even when I can afford to someday, I won’t. I cringe at the thought of wasting US$20,000 (based on current Cathay Pacific fare: US$24,660.70 from Boston to Manila!) to fly first class from the U.S. to the Philippines round trip! I could buy low-cost housing for that price or send a lot of kids to school for a year there! Sure, there are annoyance flying economy from crying babies left and right, the endless loud chatters, tv-dinner food, the cramp seat with little or no leg room and yes, the different smells! Big deal! That’s part of daily life. We are constantly inconvenienced by something in one way or another. We can complain, whine and bitch but we don’t have to be downright rude and insensible. Insulting people is not a laughing matter. Filipino humor is almost always self-deprecating. We make fun of ourselves by being excessively modest or belittling our capacity. We do it to ourselves. When someone makes a mockery out of the expense of another, that isn’t funny. That’s insulting. What did the OFW do to you, Malu to deserve such nasty and biting remarks? If anything, OFWs pump up cash to the Philippines so you can get paid in your job! OFWs stabilize the draining economy by feeding it countless dollars so you can better sleep at night! How could you call your essay "humurous and tongue-in-cheek?" There is a line you don’t cross in being funny and hope to get away with it by calling it acerbic wit.

A formal complaint/petition has yet to be endorsed to the Manila Standard calling for Fernandez’ resignation. Meanwhile, I am aghast by the silence of the newspaper to take action on the issue. Malu Fernandez is still seen in her weekly column on the paper as of this writing. Clearly the newspaper, who is only the fourth read newspaper in the Philippines is using the Malu Controversy to their advantage- in the hope of pooling in more readers to buy their newspaper. But see whatever they do, they are a far cry from the Philippine Daily Inquirer who retains roughly 1.47 million readers nationwide on a recent survey while Manila Standard isn’t even mentioned. Their circulation is unknown and I can only assume it is way under 100,000 copies daily. Even when I was in the Philippines, I never read the Manila Standard. I didn’t know anybody who read that paper. There was no reason for me then, certainly nothing can make me read their paper now- not even malu fernandez’ empty, lacking in substance articles on its lifestyle section which to me read like a very, very bad copy with ideas lifted from a cosmopolitan, vanity fair or good housekeeping magazine.