Mala Malu, Nuestra Senora de la Matapobre
I disagree with Tingog.com and his otherwise worthy anti-Malu campaign, on one, single, point of principle: I’m not for firing people on the basis of what they write. So boycott as you please, but I don’t support having anyone fired. Why not take her travel photos and run a Mala Malu photo caption contest instead? Loads of fun and extremely educational.
Here, you can play with these charming photos and add your own captions:
This all reminds me of something I noted on November 4, 2006, concerning the daughter of a Singaporean MP who snapped, “please get out of my elite uncaring face” in response to the angst of another Singaporean. Revisit muddynights and then see the odd joker and The Intelligent Singaporean, and then top off your visit to Tomorrow.
The Spanish have a maxim for everything, but for cultivated Filipinos of an older generation, one of their all-time favorites (my father used to quote it to me whenever he thought I was being rude) was:
Lo cortes no quita lo valiente.
It means: One’s valor is never diminished by one’s courtesy. But of Mala Malu and her que asco columns, I think I’ve found a word our elders would have thought fitted her to a “t”: a more cursi set of opinions would be hard to find.
Thanks to this great find, you don’t have to guess what our elders meant by using that word -cursi- to describe the Mala Malus of their generation:
In his book Cassell’s Colloquial Spanish, A. Bryson Gerrard explains his British take on the word:
“A colloquial but widely used adjective meaning something like ‘socially pretentious’; it describes people who give themselves the airs of a higher social class, non-U pretending to be U. When applied to things, e.g. furniture of clothes, it contains the idea of noveau-riche. High-class houses in the best Spanish tradition are furnished with an aristocratic simplicity and restraint, and the gaudy, ornate Empire-style furniture which you sometimes find in city apartments would be described as cursi. I once heard a Spaniard say of a friend’s tie ¡Qué corbata más cursi! He was being facetious but i wondered what an Anglo-Saxon might have said … ‘What a fancy tie!’ … ‘What a pansy tie!’ … perhaps ‘What a ghastly tie! since it was not a compliment. Affectation, pretentiousness, excessive ornamentation are all involved.”
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Noted. (just joking)..
But, honestly, if Don Imus can get fired, I believe Malu should also as well. I don’t think it’s too an extreme of an action, we must all face consequences, otherwise, how else can we learn from these mistakes.
To walk away and have other individuals with the same mindset think that it’s alright to make such discriminatory comments will only perpetuate such attitudes, and maybe next time, she may not stop at her own acerbic wit.
And believe me, these statements were discriminatory and goes to the heart of our own nation itself.
With the recent issue of the Mayberry testimony, as well as the Filipino human trafficking issue in Iraq, I don’t think any of our OFWs deserve such bigotry leveled against them.
To teach Malu a lesson, is to truly have her learn the hard way.
M,
Good point. Revenge is best served cold. Let me start the educational process with a photo caption for the second picture:
“MaluMala keeping her stomach in, boobs out with her patented constipated smirk este smile”
Photocaption for third picture:
“Gaudy shades, fancy necklace, faux boobs before being thrown over the cliff. What can be more cursi than this!”
Photocaption for first picture:
“Is that a butt crack?”
Another caption for the first picture:
“The Joker – after he had a sex change!”
well, she was a virtual unknown to me until this thing blew up. thank your lucky stars Malu, you’re now (in)famous. You’ve reached Tim Yap stardom. And all you had to do was spew a whole slew of words that belittle your own countrymen. Talk about one’s words showing one’s character…
And Don Imus uttered only one word to meet his downfall…
Of course I’m not judging. it remains to be seen if she really meant what she wrote, or if she was just trying to be sarcastically funny, wanting to sound comical by poking fun at other people. after all, some writers claim to fame had been their ability to be funny when making fun of other people. but guess what Malu? they had CLASS, and you AINT got it.
and here’s what else, try riding ordinary in a Raymond bus. I do it all the time when tickets for an aircon Raymond bus run out. yes, my idea of luxury is an aircon Raymond bus.
I vote for punishment: firing AND community service along the lines of mingling with people she consider to be a blight to her olfactory senses. malodorous? better than being “Pierced and Pabilog…”
I also favor the boycotts but not the demands for firing. For one thing, how would we otherwise know how the ‘elite’ truly thinks if we shut them up? At least now we have a better understanding of Malu and her circle of friends’ worldview. I do believe that contempt for the ordinary Filipino is the norm among people belonging to her class. She’s just not that good in hiding it.
BUT OF COURSE MLQ3! You’re a columnist too! That’s a given answer on your part. It’s sort of an “allowance”, just in case!
Why do most newspaper columnist have that braintwits running in their crackhead? They think that just because they’re columnist they could just hurl insults like that?! And to all OFW’s at that?!
If Manila Bastard err Sub-Standard have any decency at all, why have a bitch on their list of columnist? She not only deserves to be fired! She deserves to be fried!!!
I agree with Manolo and that was my stand too when I joined the call of Nick to condemn the lady columnist and her article. As I have said, it is not the columnist who’s going to suffer when the paper loses revenues because of the boycott. The small workers would be the first in line when there is downsizing. There are also thousands of newspaper boys (never mind the distributors, they have other magazines to sell) who will be affected.
It’s not Malu’s bread and butter btw. She got a boutique.
For one who writes about lifestyle and fashion, she is one victim of haute couture that she flaunts in her column.
Let’s see her much valued accessories which together with
her make-up weighed about 17kg in the pictures above.
Picture 2
NEVER WEAR BIG Accessories like gigantic beads when you get fat neck. Worse, she got three layers of them. Yuk. Where did she get her fashion sense? From her boutique?
Models can get away with that outfit of hers, sports collar, white fancy blouse and boring grey necklace because what they wear in the fashion ramp is not their everyday wear. Besides she got a face which is a dream for those who want to paint a full moon. Lalong nakipagaligsahan sa bilao ng pansit Malabon.
Picture 3
NEVER, NEVER, (repeat after me, malulukah ako)wear turtle necked tops when you can hardly find where your neck starts and where it ends. Maseshera ang aking pagkafasionista. Sampalin siya ng papel na nakasulat, kahit mahal yan, huwag magsusuout ng PUTI o light colored
outfit especially when you’re on the heavy side.
And please…please lang, the necklace again is out of place. That’s more appropriate for reyna elena pag may santakrusan. Pakibuhusan ninyo siya ng holy water para maexorcise ang bad spirit na nag-advise sa kaniya ng ganiyang suot. Maria de Capra.
Picture 1.
Okay, black ang suot niya na puwedeng magtago ng mga kaniyang mga kabilbilan pero ‘day tingnan mo naman ang braso. Puwede sa WWF. NEVER NEVER wear sleeveless if your upper arms would shame the Christmas pata.
Shame, shame, shame. And please, not that cleavage. And I see that necklace. Repeat yan sa picture 3. Akala ko ba marami siyang accessories. Bakit yong evening at casual, preho? Gusto niyaing idonate ko yong iba kong accesory sa kaniya?
No amount of accessories and expensive perfume (yong pabango niya, air freshener dito) can give that lady, class.
pic one, just cover the upper part and show the cleavage, not dissimilar to Britney’s.
pic two, not bad looking a little too heavy on everything.
pic three, lots of support there hon!!
No it’s not the airline’s economy seat too small, you’re just too fat and wide…
As to firing vs boycott(in this case,not in general)
As to what the the Cat said, mas madaming maapektuhan sa boycott,pati yung mga walang kinalaman sa kanya.
No one is indispensible as they say,they can find a better replacement.
re captions:
I like all the captions of the commenters. I could not add, since first time ko madinig ang fashionistang yan, sa totoo lang.
No, getting her fired and her editor would be best. The lesson is more concrete and will be understand by all classes.
The CAT is right on the last part of her comment. The first part is the opposite of the second part. If you care about the employees of the paper, don’t boycott; just get her and her editor fired.
Manolo, what if someone lambasted an Ayala, Lopez or Gokongwei in a paper and these people get angry with the EIC and the Publisher and put pressure on the owners. FIRED, right?
Maski saan ko tignan BABOY talaga mapa-hitsura or sumulat man. I go for “fire”….underneath her para malechon na yang baboy na yan.
I’m sure Malou Fernandez’s greatest failing is her lack of writing talent and that she has the subtlety of a pig that’s about to be butchered. That’s not the point. The point is policy. There’s a saying. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. This Malou did just that. It’s OFW money that keeps local businesses on the black despite the dismal economy. Local businesses are dependent on remittances. Besides that, sheer respect for humanity should make everyone feel for the OFWs.
Locsin is a tough dude with elitist tendencies. Hell, the guy is a true elitist. He’s not reacting fast enough.
“Lo cortes no quita lo valiente.” What kind of Spanish said this, Don Quixote. The Spanish are the most racist people in Europe today. They are uncouth, lacking in culture and a little stupid. Nobility of spirit is alien to them. You atch soccer?
i’m in LA now and i fly quite a bit to and from Manila, so i encounter a lot of immigrants and OFW’s.
it is true that there are some things about them that are quite annoying or irritating. but what people group does not have anything annoying about them? you can’t stand some things about them, but that does not mean you should disrespect them. they might have less money, have lower jobs, be less cultured, or use bad cologne, but at their core, they’re still HUMAN BEINGS. and that’s where the respect should be on. treating someone with respect shouldn’t be dependent on what he/she has, makes, does, or uses (although there’s a strong tendency to).
each and every person, rich or poor, big or small, educated/cultured or not, gainfully employed or otherwise, should be treated with respect and dignity. it is everyone’s right as a human being. if malu is as educated and cultured as she makes herself sound to be, then she SHOULD know this and should even be the first to uphold and defend this right whenever it is trampled (as it often is).
one can make fun of others, but that isn’t the same as degrading them. at least the OFW’s are trying. is malu even trying (to lose weight, for one)?
@BrianB:
i wouldn’t quite call the Spaniards (that’s what the people are called, BTW) racists. sure, they exhibit some discriminatory behaviors, but only in certain instances.
i’d like to think that it’s not really “racism”, but rather “nationalism”. they don’t really think of themselves as a superior race in all circumstances, only in terms of being the carriers or bearers of “Spanish culture”, in the sense that they think they’re the real, authentic, original Spaniards in the world – which they really are. they consider Spanish-speaking colonies like those in Latin America to be “2nd-class Spaniards” and not the true, original bearers of the Spanish culture and language, no matter how similar they are to those in Spain – which is true as well, because the culture of the colonies, no matter how Spanish, always has a mix of the local culture in it*.
but outside of that context? i don’t they’re racist at all. i was there for a month and they basically just left me alone.
*case in point: in Mexico, you call everyone “amigo” and you’ll be fine. in Spain, you’ll get weird looks. the meaning of the word is the same, but the culture is different. in Mexico, whose culture is more American, or in the Philipines or U.S., you can call somebody you just met “pare” or “buddy”, and you’ll get away with it. in Spain, which is more European, you never call somebody a friend if they’re really not.
“Lo cortes no quita lo valiente.†What kind of Spanish said this, Don Quixote
With all due respect BrianB,MLQ3 was talking about his dad that time.
I agree with jumper’s views on thelast two entries, give or take a hundred percent.
“With all due respect BrianB,MLQ3 was talking about his dad that time.”
You mean “papa.” Pretentious quote from a pretentious elite. The Spanish calls Africans monkeys and South Americans like Maradonna “Indio.” They are racist. People I know in Europe, and I have tech-blogging friends in France and Germany, agree with that assessment. The Spanish are the most openly racist people in Europe. They were never as paranoid as the Nazis but they are racist. You don’t have to kill Jews and enslave Africans to be racist.
I’m not picking a FIGHT HERE, BUT THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT (sorry hit caps lock) somthing about these genteel quotable quotes that drive me nuts. It presupposes a superior stance to the sayer. I see a knight in shining armor hold the door for a woman, I’d shoot him through his visor. I hold the door to women, but only because they expect it. I resent it later, don’t get me wrong.
I think getting Malu Fernandez fired from both publications would be the ultimate act of making her responsible for what she has has said. She wrote her columns for public consumption. She justified what she wrote in a broadsheet, let her answer to the same public.
As I have said elsewhere, it would be a symbolic victory for this new media and the clamor coming from OFWs all over the world. It is a signal, to all and sundry, that views like Fernandez’ will no longer be tolerated in this emergent society. 8.3 million Filipinos, as of last official count.
Besides, if she can afford 17 kilos worth of make-up, she can afford not subjecting the population with her unimaginative, Tim Yap-ish writing.
brianb I’m not picking a FIGHT HERE, BUT THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT (sorry hit caps lock) somthing about these genteel quotable quotes that drive me nuts.
I think this is Manolo’s subtle reminder, to Fernandez if she ever reads this, that he too is from the elite. But unlike Fernandez, Manolo doesn’t write in contempt about those whom he may perceive below his social class. And reading his columns, you obviously see that unlike Fernandez, he doesn’t count himself useless in “bridging the gap between socioeconomic classes.”
Apologies Manolo, as a reader this is my interpretation of what you wrote. You may have different reasons altogether.
What! Never heard that Manolo is a Jacobin? Bridging the gap my tush! Apologies for my pig latin.
No one can bridge rich and poor, Sparx. Rich and middle class maybe, and the middle class will be delighted. The poor want to stay as far away from rich people. Not unless they make libre their 3 meals a day and give them a little allowance for some fun time in the malls. Have you no idea how much an empty stomach resents a full stomach. Even worse, what if the usually full stomach is on a diet? The gap will never be bridged. All the better.
There’s a blogger (don’t remember who) that pointed out that Fernandez is Miguel Zubiri’s aunt. Someone has a comment on this? Is this why Malou Fernandez is an “writer” now?
brianb,
sobra namang yatang talunan and pilosopiya mo kaibigan. at lahat na lang ba tayo hahayaang magpadala sa agos ng kasaysayan? ayaw mo ba’ng lumangoy? ayaw mo ba’ng magturo sa ibang lumangoy? ayaw mong tularan sa sarili mong sikap?
dahil ang yaman ay “finite”, totoo’ng palagiang may mas naka-aangat sa iba. pero naman, sa pahanong ito, makatao ba’ng may nagugutom pa rin? rasyonal ba’ng may nagugutom pa rin?
i’m not trying to defend fernandez, i think what she wrote about ofws was reprehensible. but like me, most of the commenters here don’t know her as a person (kg claims this is the first time she heard of her). how can these people judge her with such venom and putrid language? what does her looks, body size, clothing, make-up, etc. anything to do with her article, detestable though it may be?
blacks often call each other “nigger” and they just laugh it off. seldom do they take offense in that case, unlike when someone other than another black (whites, especially) do it wherein they would surely make a federal case out of it, if not resort to physical violence.
as a filipino herself, i see fernandez as trying to be self-deprecating – maybe even thinking that a good number of her own kind shares her observation. her fault lies in not realizing that she was committing the worst kind of political incorrectness – insult a class she thinks is lower than her’s.
Sparks, this Filipino attitude od absolute forgiveness is Unique, I repeat, UNIQUE in the world and the entire history of human race. My suspicion is this isn’t forgiveness. Why forgive criminals who haven’t been punished? Why forgive people who continue enjoy the fruits of their injustices. I don’t understand why Filipinos are so forgiving when it comes to their oppressors. They don’t forgive cellphone snatchers, do they? Binubugbog bago ipa-pulis.
You call my attitude a loser Philosophy? I call your attitude slave mentality. Or maybe I just don’t understand your Tagalog.
On softer note, I like Malu’s logic, though I already lambasted her and I take responsibility for my thoughts and actions for that (for comparing her to a driftwood..yaiks..)
To quote Malu Fernandez, “Although it may sound elitist to you the fact is this country is built on the foundation of haves, have-nots and wannabes. One group will never get the culture of the other. Although I could mention that it is easier to understand someone who has a lower socioeconomic background that would entail a whole other page and frankly I don’t want to be someone to bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes.”
Siguro these lines, they are undisputable, flawless. But of course it should not give anyone a license to degrade the Filipino expat.
Unwittingly, Malu was the person to represent this truth she said. Ika nga, at the wrong place and at the wrong time. We also have our version of Malu’s Syndrome, I don’t deny it and we can do far worst than her, hindi ako proud dito.
Sir if I may quote Jodie Foster, she said “it is a reality not a disability.” So far as the equation is concern, our reality, this reality we have is our very own disability.
But everyone has to start somewhere else, our “sacrificial lamb,” siguro is destined to be the starting point.
Hopefully we won’t be fooling ourselves twice or forever, and won’t wake up one morning and get another kick for the next-best-thing-after-7/11, the Malu Version 2: Return of the Queen Aboard the Boeing Dreamliner Economy Class!
Thanks for this MLQ3.
Just to react to some comments – as for invoking Ms Fernandez’ rights as a journalist (which I presume you were also thinking of when you wrote your stand on the anti-Malu campaign), she may have had the right to write what she did, but there’s no defending her lack of tact & her utter disdain for people who know how to earn an honest day’s work by the sweat of their brows.
Ditto the offence said article has inflicted on a significant sector of Philippine society. Ditto Ms Fernandez’ editors for allowing the release of this. There are limits – laid down by Supreme Court cases both here and the US – to these rights. Best to be mindful of these limits before writing pieces like this.
Quid pro quo, the sectors Ms Fernandez has managed to offend have a right to react and demand an apology too.
PS: As for trying a hand at “acerbic” writing, she needs to read things thicker than whatever she’s been reading to cultivate this writing style. Try “wry and dry humour”, dearie. Or better, sign up for a writing course, dahling!
“I’m not picking a FIGHT HERE, BUT THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT (sorry hit caps lock) somthing about these genteel quotable quotes that drive me nuts. It presupposes a superior stance to the sayer. I see a knight in shining armor hold the door for a woman, I’d shoot him through his visor. I hold the door to women, but only because they expect it. I resent it later, don’t get me wrong.”
Tagakotta de Cebu, time for deadmatology my man(not kimosabe)
Malu Fernandez really is a caricature! She’d be right at home in the pages of Noli and Fili — probably a matapobreng matandang kapatid ni Kapitan Tiago or some other
BrianB, the best hope for our country lies in having an enlightened elite. Without that, we would have to spend at least a generation engaging in class warfare (in its various forms) before we finally have the chance to prosper.
The Philippines with a “class†society? Elitist, sultans, warlords, sir, madame, senoritas, senor…hehe..
Back in l9l9 when this country, well of course I’m talking about Canada again, is still a baby, MP Nickel decided to slowly dismantle the so-called British “class†based society by a resolution introduced asking the crown not to grant Titular Titles to Her Canadian Subjects as it is against the Democratic Principles of the young Country. Then comes the l960 Bill of Rights, followed by the l982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms to make Equality, pigs and horses and pretty white skins and ebony blacks, and little browns and yellow asians equal = = .. One may be a zillioner or a beggar, belong to the Yorkdale glitz or the Yonge St. Crowd (the rich and the poor) but call your self an elitist and there is one place every one will refer you to including ur family doc… 100l queen st, the mental institution… malu fernandez you are one lucky bitch….
brianb,
this Filipino attitude od absolute forgiveness is Unique
I don’t follow what you wrote about forgiveness. Who said anything about forgiving anyone? If you mean getting MF fired, I have expressed support for this.
You call my attitude a loser Philosophy?
I was responding to you saying “the gap will never be bridged. all the better.” I took it to be defeatist (talunan), implying what? That we should let the gap remain there?
Show me any key agent of social change who doesn’t come from elites. Who organises those marches on Mendiola? Who teaches Marx in universities? Who is Marx? Who is Bonifacio (huge debate of course). Who, among socialist scholars here and abroad, for all time, are not bourgeois? Who is the Chinese Communist Party? Who is Fidel Castro? Who is Che Guevarra? Who among NGOs and civil society movements are not bourgeois? Sila nga mismo, they call themselves middle class.
A slave mentality you say? To what? To dogma?
I think a successful boycott as Manolo suggested would actually lead to Tingog’s objective: faced with a choice between keeping Malu and keeping revenues alive, I suppose Manila Standard editors would choose the latter.
I can still see Malu’s smirk! Why can’t I picture her saying “Mea Culpa!”?
If that’s the way you put it cathcath, then I’d rather see her fired na lang instead of the newspaper boys lose their jobs over Malu’s bigotry.
But if the owners of the newspaper Manila Standard Today shares her views or see nothing wrong with what she has written on OFWs and poor Filipinos, then I don’t see anything wrong at all with the boycott option.
From Bencard, who uses the example of blacks calling each other “niggers”:
Blacks do sometimes call other blacks “niggers”. I guess it’s a question of intention or how they intended to use the term. What was Malu’s intention when she was writing (and defending) those articles of hers?
http://www.tingog.com/social-concerns/malu-fernandez-people-asia-article-controversy-manila-standard-columnist.html
reyna, nick, i don’t know, really, if simply demanding a writer get fired accomplishes anything. issues of free speech, indeed -and that freedom includes reacting to free speech that offends you.
unlike the net, where the give-and-take is basically unlimited, someone writes, people immediately react, in a publication the writer is presumed to appeal, if not to every reader of that publication, a chunk significant enought to make it worth the publication’s while to pay the writer. in which case the readers wield their ultimate editorial authority by means of their pocketbooks.
a boycott doesn’t mean someone will get fired, but it does mean the publication has to realize it has a larger audience than perhaps it assumed, and is thus accountable to a larger audience. it can embrace or shun that broader audience.
if it’s smart, it will revisit its editorial policies, give the writer concerned a chance to rectify their errors, reaches out to the public, everyone ends up scarred but maybe a little wiser.
and if not, well… the original constituency reasserts itself and wins out.
My simple tribute to Malu:
http://www.opmb.com/posting/0000000001/malu1.jpg
http://www.opmb.com/posting/0000000001/malu2.jpg
http://www.opmb.com/posting/0000000001/malu3.jpg
Is this really an issue about elitism, class consciousness, class wars? Or is it just a matter of good taste?
Because if it about the evils of elitism, then the suggestion of a boycott should include all newspapers that have society pages. Kung yung newspaper nya lang yayariin nyo, madami kayong masasagasaan na wala namang kasalanan. I don’t think she needs the money from the newspaper to feed herself. She just writes to feed her ego.
My suggestion? Flood the newspaper with letter complaints that demand an apology from her. I think she’d rather resign than issue one.
http://www.opmb.com/posting/0000000001/malu4.jpg
http://www.opmb.com/posting/0000000001/malu5.jpg
“If that’s the way you put it cathcath, then I’d rather see her fired na lang instead of the newspaper boys lose their jobs over Malu’s bigotry.”..john marzan.
jm, like the old saying goes, the sick old man dyeth, a healthy child born to carry on. not worried about one Newspaper folding down, one will rise to take its place and provide more employment, even a better one…
Whether we opt to boycott Manila Standard or have Malu Fernandez fired from the same paper, what is clear is that her outlandish statements has caused a stir among a portion of the paper’s readers and a significant sector of the pinoy blogging world.
I support the campaign started by Tingog.com although I have reservations with the objective of firing her. I think the campaign should accommodate Manuel’s points in this blog entry. It’s never to late to change some of the action slogans anyway.
Calling for her dismissal over her reprehensible write-up raises issues of free speech. What if other people begin campaigns via the blogging world to have decent writers ousted from papers where they work for some less reasonable cause.
And still on the issue of free speech, we wouldn’t want our blogs shut down over what we write like they do in China or in Turkey where wordpress was recently banned.
Viewed in this context, the “fire Malu campaign” may start a dangerous precedent.
I think the loss of profits caused by boycotting the paper should be enough to lead the owners to have Malu reprimanded so she say nicer things next time.
P.S. Thanks for the pictures.
i do think ms. fernandez will survive this blogstorm. i don’t think this story will ever reach the mainstream media. hanggang sa internets lang ito.
“BrianB, the best hope for our country lies in having an enlightened elite. Without that, we would have to spend at least a generation engaging in class warfare (in its various forms) before we finally have the chance to prosper.”
Darn, our elite are primitives, and they are hopeless because they are pretentious. How can you improve when you pretend you are already better than you are.
“if it’s smart, it will revisit its editorial policies, give the writer concerned a chance to rectify their errors, reaches out to the public, everyone ends up scarred but maybe a little wiser.”
Manolo, come on. You are deliberately being naive. Yhe publisher to firing Malou Fernandez is the biggest, clearest, no-doubt-about-ittest statement the newspaper and the magazine can make. It is APT punishment, so apt I’m getting an erection.
Let’s face it, it’s all about how big you are. If you are little, no one will bother being ethical, moral or legal with you. If you’re big you get every benefit of the doubt they can squeeze out of existence and every privilege that can be provided by man.
We are not kids that you could just pacify, Manolo, tell your mentor that.
dz, please find Malou Fernandez’s email and send that, or even better, send it to People Asian and Today Standard (or what the heck is it called nowadays). Tell them that’s how people feel. I’ll sign it… with my real name.
brian, you’re talking of the same paper that wanted to fire tony abaya, because he opposed the president. and what saved his column, was a reaction from the public. it cuts both ways.
the paper can denounce fernandez, it can censure her, even suspend her. and she’s free to bow to public pressure and quit. if she’s fired she can always pass the blame to her bosses, no?
you may want to consider the proposal for ofw’s to take out an ad:
http://www.ellaganda.com/?p=197
hehehe.. instead of venting, i just made a homage to her…
http://jobert.blogspot.com/2007/08/homage-to-malu-fernandez.html
Been awhile since I’ve been fired up like this.
oh ho! this now shows how remorseful she is and how much she REALLY MEANT what she wrote. well Malu, sorry, but keep digging your own grave.
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=goodLife1_july30_2007
“I obviously write for a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.”
and that target audience would be? bigots perhaps? and stop reading? oh ho! thank you for the encouragement, but i dnt think its needed. you see, there is ALREADY a call for BOYCOTT of YOU. and yes, if MST wants to be profitable, it better listen to your “target audience..”
“I don’t want to be someone to bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes.”
Perhaps that’s what you should exactly try out.
“Now I seriously ask you, am I being a diva or are people around me just lacking in common sense? Perhaps it’s a little of both!”
Seriously? Neither! you’re the farthest thing from a diva, and people who actually have common decency have a lot of common sense too. and yes, common sense. this country has 85 million OFWs and chances are, at least one “target audience” will have one OFW relative. how da hell do u think they’d react? call u and congratulate you on your “acerbic wit?”
oh. did i forget to mention my Mom’s an OFW nanny and my sis one too? (though she’s luckily been “upgraded” into a much classier job) so thank you for your “wit,” but id rather have drollness anytime if your kind of “wit” is the only choice i’ll have.
Besides the ad, how about a talk show spot for this? Anyone with connections to one of the talk shows? And let’s consider her connection with Senator Zubiri as well. She’s an awful writer and have nothing really to share to the public, even for a socialite. So why is she a columnist?
Devil, I happen to have connections in Paris. Real friends, some Turks and Frenchmen. I’ll email them her picture. I have a waiter friend in a rather famous restaurant on St. Germain. Now I’m not threatening violence or anything, but if any time this year she happens to be in Paris or happens to be eating in the restaurant, my friend will call me and I’ll be giving herm instructions. I sure hope she’s not just pretending to be a jetsetter.
Yeah, the French hates mata pobres. Really hates them.
One pretentious socialite about another pretentious socialite. And read the comments.
http://www.bryanboy.com/bryanboy_le_superstar_fab/2007/08/malu-fernandez-.html
Brian, her connections speak for itself. she’s a columnist bec of that. Not bec of her writing prowess or the lack of it. Unlike Manolo that earns his pay not bec of his name, but bec of the ideas he brings forth. if there is someone who should have a better claim of being part of high society, it should be him, not her, who obviously has no class at all.
Obviously, the reason MST is doing little to take disciplinary actions agst titatita, is that her pieces has actually sparked interest in their rather “unnoticed” publication. So notoriety is better than nothing at all. i would even take a wild guess that their circulation went up from all this furor and that people are now watching her divaness’ columns more closely for future matapobre probings.
God! are we really so bereft of talented writers that people like Malu are paid handsomely for CRAP like that? and you’d have noticed it too, the way our TV shows are going. good writers are more of an exception than the norm. and its not for the lack of them. just the well-connected elbowing out the more talented.
and its not just in this industry, but everywhere else that this is happening. is it any wonder then that the best of the Filipinos left the Philippines to have their talents noticed elsewhere?
From Lorna Lardizabal-Dietz’s comment on Tingog.com
(hope she won’t mind me lifting it)
Maayong Buntag, gikan sa San Francisco!
I’ve sent an e-mail to my friends in my press club, Riyadh, London, and other Filipino global leadership who are focused on helping OFWs, informing them about this latest Filipino blogosphere’s fracas. I totally believe in the empowerment of Overseas Filipino Workers and Overseas Filipinos worldwide  that this outrage about a columnist being accused of bigotry (re: OFWs) got my attention. Truly, I think Malu Fernandez doesn’t know what it’s like to be living in a foreign land as a contract worker or a visiting tourist where the sight of any Filipino is a welcome antidote to homesickness. What if I were to tell you that some OFWs and nurses in Europe told me last year (during my visit to London) that they have problems with nurses having an arrogant attitude toward the domestic helpers who had arrived before they did (in the early 1970’s). “Social class†discrimination is probably unique to the Philippines and similar developing countries. There is a shared truth among ethnic journalists and other media professionals here in the US: that we represent the VOICES of our communities, when mainstream media oftentimes doesn’t look at our in-language, in-culture news as “news† because we’re considered minority populations. That’s precisely why ethnic media umbrella organizations such as New America Media exist.
I’m mentioning this perspective because Malu Fernandez needs to understand that, with her supposedly insouciant observations about OFWs, she comes out being perceived as shallow-minded, ignorant, and disempowering. Malu, you’re also making our work in helping promote and implement Filipino empowerment worldwide a lot harder. With your flippant comments, you seem to be saying that OFWs are not important, thus they don’t need to be honored. Many of us who live overseas want to be sure that OFWs know their rights in any foreign soil that they consider home for a contracted time or permanently.
My call to action for Malu Fernandez would be a public apology and a writing assignment for her: To work as an OFW (a domestic helper would be good!)  and who goes through the process of being recruited, going to the CFO offices, etcetera. The whole enchilada!
People are calling for her resignation BUT I think if her newspaper sends her out on this kind of writing assignment for three months, and evaluates her article as publishing-worthy or not, then that resignation would be a more potent solution by then  and who knows, her credibility could still be restored!
Inasmuch as I deplore Malu Fernandez’s excuse of using “dry wit†to keep her audience entertained with her “Louis Vuitton†eyes(â€Âeyebagsâ€Â), and understanding the uproar among media colleagues and bloggers, I would rather practise compassion and ASK MALU FERNANDEZ TO LIVE THE LIFE OF AN OVERSEAS FILIPINO CONTRACT WORKER FOR THREE MONTHS AND WRITE ABOUT IT.
Then, and only then, maybe we will know if Malu Fernandez understands why we treat OFWs as our modern-day heroes. That is, if her gold, open-toed sandals will survive her personal OFW journey.
Whatever, don’t ever send Malu to Canada, because we never treat our OFWs here any differently than landed immigrants or any others and after two years of continuous working they are eligible for landed status. or maybe it is a good idea, for she will learn how to live in society that tolerate and accept diversity and espouse such ideals in her future writings… bring her on…
No Vic, since her aversion to Dubai or Middle East OFWs are more obvious, and to domestic helpers as well, I suggest that’s where we send her and have her working as one.
I’m all for telling Malu Fernandez that she made a great mistake writing that article. However, I’d rather that our fellowmen refrain from throwing invectives at her. Why should we give her more reason to think that we cannot even settle an argument with wit and intelligence? Why should we go down to the level that she thinks the middle class belongs?
hmmm…this is waaay better than reading stuff thicker than a magazine
seems to me that ms. fernandez is cooped up in her “elitist” world and chooses to keep things that way. unless she opens her eyes (herself) she’ll never see the way that other people do, much less feel. is she’s as self-absorbed as she appears to be in that column of hers, she might actually be loving all the attention. but i do hope her editors are doing something about this. or were they among ms. fernandez’s friends who found her article “hilarious”?
From the responses on Malu’s bigotry, we can see where the commenters are coming from.
My work experience is bridging the gap between management and labor or employer versus employee at the least possible cost and less traumatic for stressed employees.
You just don’t fire people without due process.
You just don’t fire people just because the complaint box is full of hate letters.
In the enticement of new capital investment, the most important question i entertain when a project proposal is being deliberated upon is not the ROI,not the IRR but the employment that it is going to generate and the raising of the standard of living of people in the community where it is going to be located.
Destruction mentality just for a single individual’s fault
is a sign of immaturity.
everyone:malu’s comments may rankle and hurt. but isn’t that what the freedom of expression is all about? free speech is there precisely to guarantee this kind of retarded writing.
Manila Standard may be assessing where the noise is coming from. From the OFWs themselves or from people who may not like their political leanings?
As I read blogs which join the bash- and- bust Malu until she’s fired advocacy, I believe that many of these blogs do not even have the right to cast the first stone.
There is one blog that regularly denigrate the Filipinos as third world country citizens. And I do not take the articles as witty and humurous.
Besides did you look into the demographics of people buying Manila Standard? Only a selected group, unlike inquirer and GMA7 where the readers come different income brackets including the emerging new middle class, the OFWs.
Newspapers which do not cater to the mass-based market like the tabloids derive the bulk of their income from ads and corporate/organization subscriptions.
You do not see Tempo or People’s in offices which offer reading materials at the reception room.
When ex-President Estrada tried to “kill” inquirer, he addressed the boycott to the advertisers.
ca’t & rom, i fully agree. as the sun shineth equally on both the just and the wicked, speech is protected no matter how hateful and irrational, unless impinging on individual right or national security. malu’s comments cannot be any worst than the criticisms heaped upon the “elites”, the “trapos”, the “administration legislators”, the military, the “taipans”, even supreme court justices (when they vote in a “politically incorrect” way), the pro-abortionists, the gays and lesbians, and, of course, the ruling class of the moment.
i think, generally, the response to malu’s newspaper article in this blog is emotional as opposed to intellectual – another showcase of filipino’s tendency for targeting the messenger on account of her absurd and unpleasant message.
ca’t, your observation that it is a matter of “immaturity” is right on the money. malu’s comment was despicable but the general reaction to it was nothing to be proud of either. evil triumphed again by generating another evil far worst than it was to begin with.
Whatever. Say what you want Malu, invoke your right of Freedom of Speech. Just don’t LIE to world.
I read your article in People Asia and you said “I hate going to the beach because of bugs and mosquitos and the sand…” The is straight up LIE my dear. It’s not about mosquitos, it’s not about sand between your toes. It’s about you being grossly overweight! Whether you admit it or not, there is no Signature Swimwear Brand that could make you look halfway decent and to me that’s the only reason for hating the beach. Plus we all know mosquitos love munchin’ on the fatties.
Girl, being pasty is OUT, you as Fashionista should know that, spend some time in the sun will you?
I would have considered you an ICON in the leagues of Imelda Marcos and Baby Arnes until you spelled Marc Jacobs Mark Jacobs, Annick Goutard Anik Goutard, called Jo Malone a HE and wear an ADIDAS sneakers on the beach?
Next time also, stay away from RUBY TUESDAYS, girl, you know that is a factory of TRANSFAT, go ask Bryanboy his diet secret, definitely no eating at American middle class chains…
Oh, never ever fly COACH, for pete’s sake! Traveling for rich people is all about convenience my dear, rich people would dare not think about saving a dime in to comprimise convenience and privacy. Other than that stay fab my dear. Tah tah!
Your girl,
Paris Hilton
HOW’S THAT FOR BEING PRETENTIOUS?
cat & ben,
Section numero uno (Section 1 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom) from the country of immature:
Limitation of rights:
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
And under the Criminal code of Canada, publication in any form, unless for religious discussion or for the prevention of such hatred, of any material that promotes hatred or humiliating a group of people because of race, ethnicity, colour or religion is a Crime…and these limits had already been upheld by the courts that’s why you don’t see the immature and the elitists showing or bragging their so-called elitists attitudes just say what they want, even if they want to, because they could liable both criminally and civilly for their big Mouths.
by the way, we also stop using prefixes or appendexis to our names, like atty so and so, engineer so and so, my name, CPA so and so, unless of course in the signs of businesses and letterheads, but i still call my doctor Doc, especially my two siblings. hehe…
I just can’t understand why the editors let the article get published. Columnists have the prerogative to choose the contents of their articles, but to write something blatantly offensive and insensitive is something else. Ano pa nga ba ang trabaho ng mga editors kung hindi mang-edit?
vic, i’m really sick and tired about you lecturing me about canadian law and way of life. we are discussing the press freedom of a filipino under philippine law, the general reaction of many filipinos to what she wrote,and whether such reaction is appropriate in any manner, shape or form, including legality, in philippine context. to each his own. who cares about canadian values and practices? what have they got to do with the ‘price of rice’?
when in canada, you do as the canadians do, not necessarily because it is the universal standard of propriety, but because you don’t want to get into trouble them.
i mean “get into trouble WITH them”.
Malu, this is Paris Hilton again.
Whatever! Girl what is up with you? You do you LIE to the world?
I read your article in People Magazine and you said “I hate going to the beach because of bugs and mosquitos and the sand…†And I was like, uh ah! she is straight up LYING! It’s not about mosquitos, it’s not about sand between your toes. It’s about you being grossly overweight! YUCK! Nicole Richie and I agreed that whether you admit it or not, you hate the beach because Donatella Versace or Gucci or Karl Lagerfeld or even Michael Kors does not have a Swimwear line for OBESE PEOPLE! Plus, I talk to Britney and Lindsay Lohan, yes, the famous FIRECROTCH, a call and we three agree you will not look fabulous uncovered. Plus we all know mosquitos love munchin’ on the fatties, so you def need insect repelant, although, Star Jones think that may be bad for PIGS, check the label before you spay it on, if it’s made in CHINA and CONTAINS LEAD, go for it! It’s perfectly safe! It will not only protect your PIG SKIN, it will give you a slimming effect. Not to mention CANCER, that will hasten your weight LOSS, if your ever considering it!
Girl, being pasty is OUT, you as Fashionista should know that, spend some time in the sun will you? On second thought, maybe you don’t TAN, maybe you get SUNBURN, boy of boy that will make you look like a ROASTED PIG, we don’t want that happening do we?
I would have considered you an ICON in the leagues of your 3rd World Contry’s Imelda Marcos and Baby Arenas until you spelled Marc Jacobs Mark Jacobs, Annick Goutard Anik Goutard, called Jo Malone a HE and wear an ADIDAS sneakers on the beach? Oh come on! Perish the thought! Posh Beckham will roll her eyeballs when she hears this!
Next time also, stay away from RUBY TUESDAYS, girl, you know that is a factory for TRANSFAT, go ask Angelina Jonlie her diet secret, definitely no eating at American middle class chains. It is not only a FAT TRAP, PAPARAZZIs don’t hang out there as well.
Lastly, never ever fly COACH, for pete’s sake! Traveling for rich people is all about convenience my dear, A LISTERS like us would dare not think about saving a dime to comprimise convenience and privacy, unless of course there’s photo-op… Other than that stay fab my dear. Tah tah!
Your girl,
Paris
P.S. I am sorry I have to re-write my first letter, I thought it’ll be more effective if I call on my Hollywood friends and drop their name. Guess I am not smart enough, it’s friend ready the 3 dollar tabloid mags I guess? Who has time reading a book anyway? I’d rather party in Vegas, or Miami or the South of France wouldn’t you agree? Love Paris.
It’s obvious that our kontrabida gusto lang magpasikat. I mean she must be very insecure with that pig-ish body. I don’t know if she’s that rich, but there are rich people who take pride in their bodies, and looks. They would go to great lengths, use a substantial amount from their wealth, to at least look good and presentable. Well, if she’s rich, she must have done so to no avail. So nagpapaka-kontrobersyal na lang. I am just silently amused thinking what she must feel reading all the tirades against her. Oh well, maybe she does not read them at all. Still, if she has friends, NAKAKAHIYA!
Oh my gosh, I am obssessed with the fatty mc fat! I posted the same letter here: http://www.opmb.com/forums-mb/view_topic.php?id=11044&forum_id=1&jump_to=166596#p166596 complete with pictures! Thanks guys!
Am I talking to the 17 year old again or to the immature uncle?
I am condemning the lady columnist but I am not for the decision that would affect many lives of people.
I believe that you do not deserve to hold a position in an organization. Scary. The more if you will become a president. Baka icriticize ka lang ipabomba mo na ang buong village kung saan nakatira ang nagcriticize saiyo.
GROW UP OLD MAN.
And if this man from Canada can just stop citing Canada for every rebuttal that he makes, he would know that the people are barking up at a wrong tree.
It’s the advertisers’ silly that can force the publication to react.
The columnist can always invoke freedom of speech. The management would not act since they may be careful not to set a precedent.
There are other ways to lose the lady. One is to make her take a vacation.
In business, we “freeze” the person or send him away for a much needed rest. When he comes back, he will find out that his “horn” has been trimmed by limiting his power or reducing him to a staff position.
Sorry, my dear Canadian, I am only applying the crisis management experience that I gain due to my title.
“ca’t & rom, i fully agree. as the sun shineth equally on both the just and the wicked, speech is protected no matter how hateful and irrational, unless impinging on individual right or national security”
People you are all being naive. If it was someone else without connections, manuelbuencamino for example he’d lose his column.
hi guys… long time. i see everyone is still as sharp as ever.
well, my two cents i guess. malu fernandez is an example of how this patronage-based society can allow practically anything to get into the media.
mlq3, cursi indeed. in my experience as well, it’s the pretentious who are noisy and garish.
as for what to do next? who knows? if people will actually not allow this issue to die an ignominious death, some lessons might actually be learned here.
and ms. fernandez, please, you want acerbic? read the commenters on this blog, who can pull of acerbic far better than you… on a bad day even.
Why can’t older people be more like Tony Abaya or my lolo, especially my lolo’s brother who died a hero during Japanese occupation. Most old people especially those with power are losers and don’t bother acting like it.
Someone here described me as cynical. No, I am idealistic, that’s why I keep complaining. It’s the corrupt who are cynical. They don’t believe in anything and just go about acquiring more power and more money like devil-possessed termites.
“And if this man from Canada can just stop citing Canada for every rebuttal that he makes, he would know that the people are barking up at a wrong tree.
It’s the advertisers’ silly that can force the publication to react.”
How about an effective Protest or Boycott of the publication’s product or its advertisers’? Could it works too, just asking since you are the expert on this field.
I’m just a naive Canadian, who don’t know much, just happen to also detect my kind maybe? and there are quite a few around here, but I remember the first posting I made with MLQ I specifically mentioned to Him that I will be posting on Canadian perspectives, when he first asked to give him some summary on Electoral Process here. so just like what Malu Fernandez said if you don’t like it, just don’t read it and since nobody here can fire me out (I could retire anytime, not grown up yet) go ahead and fire me out anyways, just pay my severance..not very much, any Philippine Big Time Politician can afford it in a day’s work… meantime off to work…
Vic, don’t mind the Fil-Ams. Keep those Canadian benchmarks coming as we all (including Fil-Ams) could learn from them. Nevertheless, i do agree that Malu Fernandez is protected by her right to free speech. I’m not that sold on the liberal application of ‘hate speech’(although i acknowledge the concept exists) as we can get to all sorts of complications. If they apply hate speech laws over here, it might get turned around and applied against those who are campaigning for Fernandez’ termination.
vic, you can listen to cvj and not mind us, fil-ams. but i, for one, can learn about canada, if and when i need to. just address your “lecture” to cvj – he likes anything foreign anytime, relevant or not.
“Mabuti pa ang bahay kubo, kung ang nakatira naman ay tao. Kaysa naman sa bahay na bato, kung ang nakatira naman ay si Malu.”
Here’s something to think about: –
ON Freedom of Speech – the guarantees of free speech are NOT UNLIMITED. There is only so much you can say which can be considered protected. When speech results in harm or injury or when it is used to spread bigotry and discrimination against a particular class, when it defames, when it results in slander – then it loses the protection of that freedom.
Check the USSC and supremecourt.gov.ph for the cases, and see for yourself. Free speech is not some protective blanket bigots can always rely on to shield them from taking responsibility for statements they utter or write.
what?!? with teddy boy locsin no longer at its helm, you mean the manilasub-standardtoday has readership?!?
Anna: ON Freedom of Speech – the guarantees of free speech are NOT UNLIMITED. There is only so much you can say which can be considered protected.
So far so good. But then it becomes iffy when you said
When speech results in harm or injury or when it is used to spread bigotry and discrimination against a particular class, when it defames, when it results in slander – then it loses the protection of that freedom.
Are you saying these types of speeches should be stopped? Bigots should be muzzled? ‘Defamers’ should be silenced? Who gets to determine what defamation is?
In my opinion, Fernandez’s stupid drivel is protected speech. And she is being righteously defamed for it.
From Rom:
And that’s why i’d rather not see her fired.
btw, i think bencard’s using the blacks calling other blacks niggers doesn’t apply.
it’s not about race, but economics.
one in the upper middle class looking down on poor working class filipinos.
Now, THAT’S an interesting theory, cathcath.
Manila Standard,a newspaper, has political leanings? What has the world come to?
=wink=
The focus should be on getting the discussion going, not on shutting up the Other. We bloggers, of all parties, would stand to lose if the emphasis shifts to what can be said and what cannot be said. For example, what is stopping an elderly Spaniard from accusing BrianB above of ‘hate speech’? In a similar manner, what is stopping BrianB from accusing Ca T of hate speech? I can understand the passions unleashed, but by concentrating on trying to shut Fernandez up, we have shifted the terms of the debate and as a result undermined the moral authority of the aggrieved party (i.e. the OFW’s) by setting her up as a martyr for press freedom.
I do remember 4 prominent US journalists and personalities resigning (or getting fired) because their actions or comments sparked a controversy that started in the blogosphere (issue was driven by blogs) and slowly but surely (albeit sometimes reluctantly) got picked up by the major media.
- Trent Lott over his Strom Thurmond comment, resigned as Senate Majority Leader
- Jayson Blair, along with NYT Editor in Chief Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd. The Raines firing was a big deal. Not often do you see a executive editor of a major newspaper getting fired.
- Dan Rather, after using forged documents to tar Bush re his stint in the TANG in 60 minutes.
- Eason Jordan – CNN’s chief news exec (the guy who helped build CNN) resigned over his comments na US soldiers were deliberately targetting media people, without providing proof or backing it up. He also wrote an controversial op-ed piece in the NYT back in apr 2003 called “The News We Kept to Ourselves” re Iraq and Saddam.
Medyo nakatakot na nga lang when people like someone posing as Paris Hilton starts attacking Malu Fernandez about her obese physique. It was getting personnal na. Racism is the worst kind of hate, but when you jump from her racist remarks to making your own unpolitical judgement of Malu just because she is obese is also racism in another perspective. From the frying pan into the fire, this Paris Hilton look alike(?) has jumped down to the level of Malu F.
Stop the ad hominems and face the real issues.
John, but Trent Lott is a politician. The others are journalists who are perceived to have lost their credibility because of inability to back up what they reported so they had to resign. Fernandez is just a society page writer so is not subject to such high standards.
true cvj.
i just cited some examples of media controversies that was first noticed by bloggers, and it became bigger and bigger until ole MSM had to cover it.
I guess i now know what cathcath meant by her “political leanings” comment.
http://www.sassylawyer.com/2006/01/24/another-case-of-stolen-blog-materials/#comment-977
sometimes, you have to create a noise in order to be heard, but you have to know where the noise is coming from. check.
If Malu Fernandez is indeed as wealthy as she purports to be – something we take with a pillar of salt, for what rich woman would dare ride economy – the loss of a column will not sting her financially. One less dalliance for her to consume her days with, and one less society column in the pages of one newspaper and one high-brow glossy magazine, either of which have probably never been read by good number of the people seeking her head. (Myself included.) We are obviously not her ‘target market.’
No, the punishment being sought for Miss Fernandez – ouster from the Manila Standard Today and People Asia – is not half as horrific as the infamy to which her name is now attached. The sheer online vitriol, sure to spill over into traditional media before the week is through, is probably more than enough to send Miss Fernandez into self-imposed exile! At this point, after so much anger directed at her and her publishers, will Miss Fernandez even want to continue writing?
At this point, we need to remind ourselves that we must conduct ourselves calmly and rationally. What does it say of us the public, despite the outrage to which we are entitled, if we cannot exhibit the class that Miss Fernandez has obviously failed to demonstrate despite her wealth and pedigree?
I think the Philippine blogging community has more than said its piece. Malu Fernandez will rue the two days she wrote those horrific twin pieces, as surely as the editors of Manila Standard Today and People Asia will think twice about publishing their columnists’ flights of whimsy and self-congratulatory delusions of acerbic wit.
Meanwhile, Miss Fernandez must be held accountable for her material and face the consequences of her actions, preferably in the form of her ouster from both publications. Should she be fired, I am sure the call for a boycott of either publication will be rendered moot, and all that should rightfully remain of this event are the decomposing remains of Miss Fernandez’s brief print media career.
ganns,
If she has any savvy, she can quickly turn this around by apologizing tearfully in a TV show and then share her personal life like a labandera washing dirty comforters on Ayala.
She can even be an artista after that. Public opinion in this country is fickle, so fickle, fickling fickle.
jm,
the case of pcij using happy’s and retzwerx’ cartoons without expressed permission from the two young bloggers was not politically motivated. It was a case of copyright infringement.
Before sassy’s blog was made in defense of happy, i was already exchanging emails with retz who asked for my help regarding unfair use of his works and sheila coronel for the explanation on her side.
Sheila Coronel rectified the omission of giving credit to these bloggers in that book published by PCIJ.
There was no call for boycott, there was no call for rallying of the bloggers.
I dealt with Sheila Coronel personally. The e-mails are still in my archives. Before that, I called the attention of Alex Pabico’s use of my study about bloggers in the seminar conducted.
These cases were copyright infringements by the organization affecting two bloggers.
The case of Malu is entirely a different thing.
jm, do not compare apple with star apple.
Prudence is the keyword for the management reaction to any credibility crisis that may affect other innocent people in an organization.
=wink=
Are you reading newspapers or just playing naive?
I don’t think that’s factual, cathcath.
http://www.sassylawyer.com/2006/01/24/another-case-of-stolen-blog-materials/#comment-977
i suggest you read the post above. and try reading the other comments. interesting to see some people’s agenda and other motivations in using that issue.
as for the non-calling of a boycott, what for? sheila and PCIJ already apologized, unlike you know who. and was even willing to offer compensation.
And like DJB said, how original were the cartoons anyway? Hindi ba mga screen grabs sa tv yung mga yon?
so IMO, the pcij cartoon scandal gets a “3″ in the outrage meter. the Malu controversy is around “8″ or “9″.
The fact that ms. fernandez not only refused to apologize, but taunted emailers who were offended with her article in her subsequent articles shows lack of remorse, IMO.
john marzan:about DJB’s challenge to originality, the same problem confronted DJs awhile back. By using snippets – or samples – of other songs in their mixes, were they guilty of infringement? I think the consensus that eventually developed – although by no means universally accepted – was that the DJs art consisted of taking these samples and making something entirely new (if a bit derivative). Can we apply the same reasoning to those cartoons? TV grabs yes, but their unique arrangement in the cartoon made the comic strip ‘original’?
Malu F. tried to be funny with her ‘acerbic wit†which turned out to be wry, tacky humor. Her recount of her supposedly miserable trip to Greece via Emirates Airlines was riddled with inconsistencies. I’ve traveled on Emirates Air and find our OFW’s to be respectable folks who let other passengers mind their own business. OFW’s returning to their overseas jobs are not a rambunctious lot. They are sad to leave their families and such mood is reflected in how they behave on the plane. It is not fair to characterize OFW’s as trapo or vagrants who have no manners. I’ve seen strange things happen on regular trans-Pacific PAL flights from North America to Pinas where passengers take home paltry items such as coffee creamer, sugar packets and left over buns. Only in these flights will you see “ STEALING LIFE VESTS IS PUNISHABLE BY LAWâ€Â. These are not OFW loaded flights but why are these things happening ?
Malu F should have traveled the comfort of first class or business class for that matter if she did not want to rub shoulders with proleat folks. She was obviously on a shoestring budget so she had no reason to bitch. She was the author of her own misery so to speak.
Lo cortes no quita lo valiente. or “ One’s valor is never diminished by one’s courtesyâ€Â. What has this to do with Malu F.’s stuck up , fuc*ed up mentality? Is this supposed to be a justification for her bigotry? What “valor†are we talking about here – the frigging oppressive and racist Spanish mentality that ravaged the entire country?
If we are unable to fire a cheating President, how much more a pedestrian and pathetic travel columnist ? Was this fat biyatch trying to pull a Rosie O’Donnell stunt to raise her popularity? We can’t do much about a bigot matapobre can’t we?
whose agenda?
it is not surprising for happy to consult sassy for his case. She’s a lawyer and happy once designed her template.
I helped out retz because he was my webmaster at that time. Besides, I was the one who advised him to choose another theme for his blog and avoid politics.
What’s the agenda? To attack PCIJ? gawd….
It was an insult directed to thousands of Filipinos… It was a direct insult to the sacrifices made by OFW…
how can you say that she did not deserve to be fired?
how can you say that mere playing with captions on her photos take but what she said?
does she alone help our country? if it is only her damn wealth that runs the country then i wouldnt have the right to complain and be outraged…
if i were to ask she should be stripped of her citizenship not just her job…
probably you are like her… well off and have enough money to keep you happy…
sad…
For starters, she is not a afraid, she used her column and displayed her picture proud enough then did the bashing. It’s either she is into the whole freedom of speech thing or just plain ignorant and clueless. As a member of the media, whether legit or not, there is a level of political correctness and discretion you need to maintain as well. We all know the OFWs contribute an equivalent of 5% of the country’s total GDP. I think the group deserves a lot of respect.
Really, she is entitled to her own opinion and she is not a coward, she did not hide her identity by using an avatar and screen name, and I think she’s ready for the backlash and for all we know, this might all be intentional, you know naman Pinoys, kahit anung paraan basta mapagusapan okay lang or she’s just really clueless.
Anyway, my advice to the defenders of the OFWs, stop focusing on the obvious, of her being over weight, that is so childish and we do that ourselves all the time too, every now and then you read a comment about a Binibining Pilipinas bound to Miss Universe or Miss World saying “mukhang katulong naman iyan, wala na bang iba?” or “mukha siyang yaya ng ibang candidates! mukha siyang domestic helper!” these comments do not make us any different from her. I am sure this Malu is not even reading all this suff so just email her publisher and editor. Who proof-reads her work anyway? Sabi nga sa ibang blog, she spelled her Marc Jabocs Mark Jacobs, she called Jo Malone a HE, and spelled Annick Goutal Annik with a sigle ‘n’. So next time you bitch Miss Fernandez, do it right otherwise, you look trying hard.
And no, I don’t hate you for name dropping or your jetset lifestyle. If you have it, flaunt it, when you are earning the money, you have every right however you spend it. I hate you for hating on the OFWs, they can afford expensive cologne and trips around the world too, you know? Just leave the OFWs alone.
Round Trip ticket to Greece on Coach Class, $1600.00
Dinner at Ruby Thuesdays, $25
Jo Malone perfume, $35
Real Class and substance, priceless!
For everything else there’s Master Card, unfortunately, it can’t buy you respect and class. Sorry Miss Malu Fernandez, have a good life.
Jeg, part which you say becomes ‘iffy’ – that spells instances when what we call speech crosses the line and incurs punishment. Like I said, free speech is protected, but when it crosses certain limits, it becomes punishable. The Revised Penal Code of the Philippines provisions for slander, seditious statements and libel are examples of instances when the law intervenes.
You ask: -
“Are you saying these types of speeches should be stopped? Bigots should be muzzled? ‘Defamers’ should be silenced? Who gets to determine what defamation is?”
No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying there are times when speech becomes slanderous, seditious and libelous – and when it does, the writer/utterer loses the protection of free speech, and is subject to Philippine law.
Hope that’s clear enough.
BrianB: While there is no doubt public opinion is easily swayed one way or the other, recent memory will not provide similar instances of this magnitude.
It is unfortunate she chose to denigrate the OFW. Six degrees of OFW will find every Filipino has some connection, whether familial or through a social network, to another Filipino working abroad to provide for her/his family.
The reason why people are so affected by this particular writer is because no other haughty society writer has dared write to mock the one Filipino phenomenon to which most Filipinos, if not all, have emotional or financial stakes. Whether there is actual merit to the veracity of her claims is no longer relevant; she has stepped on the hopes and dreams of the Filipino at large.
Only time will tell if the damage to her and her career is irreparable. I am inclined to believe it is.
feeling ko tlga she wrote it para mapagusapan sya.
now she’s in the limelight.
she must have sought it so much that she’s willing to do anything to be under it.
alfonso, i explained why, above and also, here:
http://www.ellaganda.com/?p=197#comment-7505
mlq3, from alfonso collado’s response, you can see that if and when our Bastille moment arrives, you’re one of those who will be the potential victims of our local Robespierres ‘Terror’, which will be kind of ironic since you’ve been accused (without basis IMHO) of being a Jacobin yourself.
Yar. don’t you think everyone of us here will qualify?
well, at least Bencard, Benigno and you will be safe. You’re in Singapore right?
And I thought BigFoot was just a rumour.
As a Jacobin or a victim of the Terror? I’m in Singapore but my parents are in Manila so i’m also not that keen on a ‘Bastille moment’ and the chaos that might come with it.
cvj,
I don’t like the word “enlightened.” It presupposes the others are in the dark. That word is elitist in itself.
no wonder she bruised her legs in the standard airplane seat–she’s fat! a fat ‘b-i-t-c-h’ and a virtual unknown pretending to be an arbiter of good taste and the finer things in life… pathetic, isn’t she? perhaps if she’d heard of bariatric surgery she could have altogether avoided getting those embarrassing bruises on her overweight legs.
too, if she lives her life with a little bit more compassion for others, people wouldn’t focus so much on her ugly bulk. most socialites we know aren’t bitches, or at least they don’t go around recklessly writing about their bitchy thoughts in a publication. discretion is the mark of the truly well heeled.
the definitive new york socialite brooke astor, who died earlier this month, spent four decades of her life caring for the needy. she traveled very stylishly and partied relentlessly, yet she constantly rallied those in her ultra loaded circle to donate to charity, to care for the poor. ‘money is like manure, it has to be spread around,’ she said. in the end, she gave away to the underprivileged close to 200 million dollars through the vincent astor foundation. now, that’s a true social diva!
as for the unremorseful malu fernandez, the two-bit, obese writer who proudly calls herself a ‘divalicious babe’, she’d be lucky she gets cast even as an extra when ru paul meets the hog in a sequel to that pig movie.
sparks, any suggestions on an alternative term?
Sorry my dear piggy Malu, you are the PAIN IN THE BUTTs…for OFWs….I am hoping that you will consider everything, every angle of your articles….have someone to read it and ask their opinions before you go on publishing …just to beat the deadline….To the publisher, have brains naman,…read first the articles before you proceed …. think about future responsibilities rather…than thinking about MONEY!…Hahaha bastards! Shame on you!
Well, if its any consolation, Malu has just handed her resignation and has issued a public apology for what she wrote in her column.
well, as with all races and cultures, di talaga maiiwasan na may mga “maamoyâ€Â
the issue here is not the aroma, but the way miss fernandez wrote her article.
theres a world of difference between being tactfully honest, and being downright obnoxious.
miss fernandez belongs to the latter category, which earned her the ire of her countrymen
she made a sweeping generalization, a fatal error on her part.
still, imho, she deserves all this hate for being such an elitist self-proclaimed “diva”
meh… IMHO, on the flipside
People-Asia Magazine, and The Manila Standard are not popular publications…
conspiracy theory angle: Shock journalism for free publicity for increased circulation?
I wish Malou will BURN in the pi of HELL!!!!!!!!!!!
If I were her, I would worry about my safety on international flights or areas where there are overseas Filipinos, not just OFW’s. It’s always dangerous to upset anonymous groups of people. Malou tries to pretend she’s upper class when she can only afford “discounted” economy and even more likely a complimentary promo ticket from Emirates. If I were her I would worry that my face is now public, people may just spit at her, put unsavory substances in her food, or “unintentionally” hit her. She will not be safe on cruise ships, airlines, hotels and restaurants. I remember an infamous lawyer during the Erap trial who had people spit in his face or spill hot coffee on him while he was sipping coffee in Starbucks. Another waiter at a 5 star hotel confessed to putting phlegm on top of this lawyer’s mashed potatoes before covering it with a layer of gravy. Another pretentious fellow was brained from behind with a shovel while traveling abroad. She’ll now need a first class bodyguard, because one of these days someone might just throw battery acid in her face or put a bullet in her 3rd cervical vertebrae and paralyze her from neck down. I really pity anyone who looks like her who might become collateral damage.
puta yang baboy na yan parang walang pinag aralan puta hampas lupa kasi social climber bitch puta kaw artista ur ass bitch puta na baboy ka resign ka na wawa naman puta kasi pig
yan bang tinuro ng hampas lupa mong pamilya yung ka baboyan mo
this incident simply reflects our society right now.
it just shows how the “rich” and the “elite” see the poor, or simply those who are not like them. i really do not want to generalize, but still, there are people – especially the pseudo-rich folks, in this country who see themselves as gods and see others as nothing but scum on their toes.
it’s sad but it’s true.
as long as there are a few who enjoy their cups of starbucks coffee every morning, or those who celebrate the opening of a gucci or a prada outlet in the city, while there are many who suffer just to have a little something for their grumbling stomachs and those who die of hunger and cold just by trying to survive in this jungle, this country will never learn.
let this be a wake up call for all of us. stop the hatred now. let us move on and see the real picture.
Hi sir,
this is my caption to Picture 3
“Nasaan na Ilong mo?” – Pilipino
“Where is your nose?” – English
Thanks for the picture sir.
lo and behold – she has resigned.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=89652
Photo Caption for Photo #2:
“A FACE that launches a thousand ships…and a BODY that sinks them all!”
Give the poor woman a break. She HAD to fly to get to Greece. Cruise ships wouldn’t take her since she ate all the food at the buffet line on her last cruise.
MALU FERNANDEZ STORY
Let us send our feedback to the Manila Standard editor on the ff URL:
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=contact_us
Let’s make Manila Standard Editors/Publisher responsible for publishing the story without giving thought to the consequences of it. OFWs brought home US$ 12 BILLION last year to make the Philippine economy sane. She’s quite oblivious to this simple fact, and the fact that the OFWs do not deserve this kind of media-sponsored slander.
It’s not enough for her just to resign. Pwede naman sya i-reinstate pag malamig na issue sa December ah. Dapat she should write public apology as her “Mi Ultimo Adios†on Manila Standard and People Asia, plus apology over a press conference and prime-time TV news over ABS-CBN and GMA.
Also, to make amends, she should establish a foundation seeking welfare for all OFWs, organize a monitoring team to monitor PEOA and OWWA disbursements and program implementation, monitor all embassies extension work, monitor and file charges against those who committed atrocities to OFWs, take to task all illegal recruiters, lastly donate na rin sya marami branded perfumes and LV bags to all OFW na konti or walang maipasalubong pag-uwi…
Pleaseee…..
Stop maligning that creature named Malu. We should be celebrating because she is the first pig clone that can read and write. Another milestone in our Philippines swine industry. So be kind to animals, lets just reproduce her photos and be made part of our nursery coloring books in gratitude to her full transformation from a high breed pig to a not so human form.
MALU FERNANDEZ: TALK OF THE YEAR (BIGLANG SIKAT)
I’m sure all docu-tv series (Correspondents, Probe, SOCO este…bantay bata) even ariel and maverick ay magkukumahog ma-interview sya or run a story on her, pam-pataas ng rating. but i doubt that these media outfits will be balanced enough para tirahin kapwa nila media person.
AS A CONSEQUENCE MALU WONT BE ABLE TO:
1. RIDE THE PLANE
kawawa naman sya, isang taon syang di makakasakay sa ano mang eroplano domestic or international man, baga magulpi sya kasi her pictures are all over the Internet at lahat ng ating mahal na OFWs ay sumasakay everyday to almost all of domestic and foreign flights…
2. GO TO THE MALLS
pano sya pupunta ng MALL? Shangrila Mall, Powerplant, The Block, Podium at iba pang sosyal na Malls? marami ring OFWs ang ipinapasayal mga families nila sa malls na to. mapapadeliver na lang sya ng perfume at LV bags? Or sa tutuban sya at divisoria mamimili with all the disguise…
3. GO TO THE SOSYAL NA RESTAURANTS, RESTOBAR, EASTWOOD, EMBASSY BAR, at lahat ng sosyal na BARs
Madali syang makikila ng mga OFW, kamag-anak ng OFW, at mga totoong sosyal at mayayaman na tao na may hinanakit sa mga OFWs
4. HOTELS, RESORTS, BAHAY BAKASYUNAN, ETC.
kasi nakapaskil mukha nya sa mga magazine, headline ng dyaryo, at mga OFW na naka check-in sa mga hotels, kawawa sya.
5. DRIVE-THRU NG MCDO, JOLIBEE, ETC.
karamihan ng crew sa drive-thru ay former OFWs at may kamag-anak na OFW, madali rin syang makikilala
6. BELO MEDICAL GROUP, CALAYANS, etc
magagalit sa kanya mga crew at staff ng mga magagaling na skilled worker na to, baka laitin din sila netong MALU na to. karamihan dito may mga kamag anak na OFW baka di nya alam.
7. SALON DE MANILA, BASEMENT, FRANK PROVST, BRUNO’S
most of the crew here may kamag-anak din na OFW
8. FITNESS FIRST, GOLD’S GYM, ETC
oh my… kakawawain sya dito ng mga pumupunta sa gym, nabasa na kasi nila lahat ng blogs…
San kaya sya pwede pumunta, eh halos lahat ng pinoy sa pinas ay may kamag-anak at kakilalang OFWs.
KAWAWA MALU FERNANDEZ lumiit mundo nya, para syang NABARTOLINA.
LETS JUST HOPE AYUSIN NYA NA BUHAY NYA!
MALU FERNANDEZ –>> AYAW PANG I-HEADLINE NG GMA AT INQUIRER
BA’T KAYA ANG TAGAL ILAGAY SA HEADLINE OR BREAKING NEWS YONG PAG RESIGN NI MALU FERNANDEZ SA
INQUIRER.NET AND GMANEWS.TV?
ABS-CBNNEWS.COM LANG MAY CARRY NG STORY NA TO…
BALANCED NEWS FEARLESS VIEWS BA? OR TAKOT SILANG TIRAHIN KAPWA NILA MEDIA?
ALIN IMPORTANTE? THIS IRRESPONSABLE MEDIA PERSONALITY OR OFWS?
PAKISABI LANG SA INQUIRER, GMA, QTV, ABC5, MANILA STANDARD NA I-HEADLINE NILA STORY SA MALU FERNANDEZ DEBACLE!!!
Ms. Malu should look at herself in the mirror before she starts talking or writing disparagingly about other people, especially Filipinos like her. She reminds me of Miss Piggy, with all her accessories and whatnots. I guess Miss Piggy is her idol and that’s why she strives so hard to look like her. No amount of jewelry, cologne, designer bags and clothes will hide the fact that she is a pig impersonating as a human being!!! LOL!
She has resigned, I think that is enough. Let’s give this a rest. Yes she said something agains the OFWs but that hasn’t caused us to lose anything, life will move on and OFWs will continue to help the Philippine Economy, whereas Malu has singlehandly ruined (I hope) her reputation and lost her job over this. She had displayed her cluelessness, bigorty, indefference, arogance, she had showed no class, and now Filipinos all over the world will know who she is/was. And if we will continue to bash her behind our computer, then that doesn’t make us any different from her.
Anyway, is this really her?http://www.geocities.com/fernandez_malu/ why, she couldn’t afford a quarter page on Manila Standard Today? People Asia? Inquirer? even Abante Tonite?
Well, her own snotty and boorish attitude means she can no longer afford to go to divisoria, ukay-ukay, or even the d’mall in her precious boracay.
At the same time, she cannot afford to be seen eating in our favorite fast food chains like Jollibee since she will be chastised for not practicing what she preaches (in this case, maintaining a high society profile). She would now have to start eating in hotels and other high-priced restaurants.
Ironically though, I’m certain that a significant number of members in the high society club would also chastise her if seen in the high class places (assuming she can maintain affording it) for putting them in a bad light and now being stereotyped by the masses.
Bottom line: she cannot afford to show her face anywhere in public and no amount (or even a 17-kg’s worth) of make up can make her hide it.
Now, to add some humorous contributions on her picture comments/ captions:
Picture 1: Can’t believe she never even attempted to hide that pata-like arm behind any of the guys beside her.
Picture 2: What the hell was her left hand doing? Pressing her “aprador” like flabs?
Picture 3: Her flat nose (which most of us Filipinos have) probably can’t hold the weight if those Paris Hilton imitation shades.
It would probably be different if she looked like a Gretchen Barretto, but with looks that even a serial rapist detained in prison for 20 years wouldn’t go for, she was sharpening the axe that is now being called to use by the public to chop off her head!
My simple proposal: If you happen to sit beside that bitch, just stand up and walk away. We suggest to give her this parting shot: “Sorry we cannot sit with you. We are hoi polloi.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cW6MV8J1sQ
It was in the news yesterday.
This is the link where she wrote her explanation.
http://www.geocities.com/fernandez_malu/
I just want to share below e-mail as responded to Malu Fernandez article.
Thnaks
Dear. Malu Fernandez
FIRST OF ALL, How nouveau riche can one get? Did you marry rich? Did you suddenly come in to money? Your blatant displays of your ‘luxuries’ and ‘wealth’ and your comfort with using the word ‘elitist’ to describe yourself alongside the fact that you had to reference to ‘politicians in your family’ show that even if you did come from money, you certainly have no class.
You also seem to need to name-drop in every article that you write.
It really gets to me that you should complain about the coach seats on your Emirates flight. Honey, they aint small… YOU’RE FAT. Spare yourself some doughnuts and maybe your travels will be more comfortable… coach, or not.
MOST IMPORTANTLY. That you would put down OFW’s (Overseas Filipino Workers) is really DISGUSTING. It makes you sound more vile than what you described as the scent of their ‘AXE and Charlie cologne’ while your ‘Jo Malone melted into thin air’. Honey, without that perfume, you want to know what you smell like? Like a fat Filipino woman. The smell is probably more putrid than the smell of those OFW’s. Cause they sweat honest, hard-working sweat. The kind of sweat that keeps the Filipino economy going. They’re fucking brave. They’ve seen more than you, felt more than you, and fought more than you. You’re just a coddled fat Filipino woman, under all of that cologne, and that branded clothing that makes you feel more important than them.
It sounds to me like you get to fly Business Class when you travel for work, but when you had to pay for your own travels, coach was more affordable. You tried to hide this by grandiose references to you perfume and your designer wear, didn’t you? Tsk tsk…
You made some mention of having 17kg’s of make-up in your hand-carry. All the make-up and adornments in the world can’t hide how ugly you are inside. You aint that good-looking either, hon. Go to the gym, eat some fruits. You wrote that you wanted to slit your wrists because you were stuck in coach with all the OFW’s. I am MOVED every time I am on a flight with OFW’s. I am reminded of their resilience. Of how hard they work, and how they keep the Philippines going. The economy relies on their bravery. You should have slit your wrists, hon. And you are going to hell if you don’t change the way you think. Think of sitting in coach, imagining your personal hell as a personal foreshadowing.
I have lived in the Philippines, and I have also traveled the world. I’ve probably been to as many if not more places than you, seen more things than you, so maybe despite all of this money you seem to need to brandish and the places you have been to, you’re just an ignorant. This coming from a 20 year old girl.
You’re act isn’t classy. You’re not pretentious. You’re just some stupid woman, living in a third world country, thinking that because you jetted off to Greece and you wear Jo Malone perfume, you are suddenly something.
Take this from someone with the same ‘socio-economic background’ as you, bitch. What a pitiful excuse.
I also happen to read things ‘thicker than magazines’, I go to University in London where I will finish with an Honors Bachelors Degree in May. I have a 1 year Marketing Economics degree from a business school in Oslo, and I graduated with an International Baccalaureate Diploma at age 17, if you were wondering. So no fucking excuses.
You could do so much more than you think, yet you choose to act like a proper twat. The kind of twat that people with some brains laugh at, the world over. Think of this as some more exposure.
I am ashamed of people like you.
OFW’S all over the world, working their tits off, deserve a public apology.
Ingrid Holm
LOOK AT YOURSELF MISS PIGGY…NAKAKAHIYA KA…LECHE KA DAPAT NASA IMBORNAL KA…NAKAKADIRI..KNOW WHAT NAHIHIYA AKO MAKITABI SA IYO..OINK OINK…YUCKKKKK
Issuing a public apology AND resigning from both the Manila Standard and People Asia in the same day? Whoa… either she truly realized her folly and is genuinely repentant (something i want to believe in) or her publishers pushed her to do all these even if she refused to (something i’m more inclined to believe).
But that’s just me.
Well, Mr Q, I just got wind of this controversy: my daughter told me the story, and we had a good laugh over it.
There’s a saying that goes “Ang asar, talo”. People are overreacting, spending a lot of hate energy on one woman whose circumstances belie the sincerity of her writing (which therefore means she most likely didn’t quite mean what she said). What does it profit us if we all descend on her like a lynch mob and get her to quit her job?
Are we any different from the persona she tries to project when we insult her for her looks, her weight, or personality?
And if we rush to defend our countrymen, not on the basis of whether their observed behavior were acceptable or not, but on the basis of their being our modern-day heroes, are we not, in fact, saying that their behavior is intolerable if not for their exalted status?
An unhysterical reader will sense the irony of the trying-hard socialite persona riding coach with the “masa” she supposedly disdains. By itself, it’s good for a laugh, but for the grain of truth it contains.
Fact is, anyone who has traveled with a planeful of OFW’s will tell you how we could use a bit more courtesy and sensitivity to other people who might want to get a shut-eye or some quiet time. I myself get depressed when our kababayan’s loudly, and with a lot of pride, compare among themselves who has the kinder or better “amo” (a word I don’t even allow my househelp to use, when I can get one), or whose foreign husband or kalive-in provides more for the family in the province. Worse, one can get some strange looks for not wearing any jewelry. I know I did.
No, Sir, it’s not an ordeal one would wish on herself.
As for the Axe, Charlie, and Jo Malone portion of her article, are Axe and Charlie too bad smelling for people to rise in indignation at the implication? I’ve heard worse things from our kababayans about how foreigners smell. What, it’s ok for us to make fun of other peoples’ scents, but not ok to be on the receiving end? Besides, that Malu admitted her Jo Malone evaporated into thin air is also an admission that it probably was not much good.
To my angry kababayans, let the woman be. She’s laughing at herself. That she’s laughing at us, too, is just an unfortunate side effect.
Ang asar, talo.
There are a lot of people like her (more than we think, really), with the same sort of opinions. She just happened to have a column. Dangerous combination. Truly a “Toink!” moment. This is coming from a former OFW’s daughter.
FY, everyone:
http://blog.kapenilattex.com/2007/08/24/malu-fernandez-apologizes-on-the-philippine-star-resigns-from-mst/
I think her letter of apology was a very good one, and that her decision to resign should be respected.
Ang tao ay may puso ang saging meron din.
Yang si MF ay parang saging, SAGING! SAGGING!
Walang pakiramdam!
‘Pabilog ng pabilog pahaba ng pahaba’
Firing her unrepentant is nothing. Public apology is enough to heal the wounds and brings her back to dubai once more with a peace of mind.
MF just imagine people of the philippines, dubai and other countries with OFW are up against you.
You need to be humble for you not to tumble!
Just my many cents!
To Lyn D
Using your argument, there won’t be any problem, I suppose, if she was just recounting a story to somebody or writing a diary. The problem was she was writing for a publication and she even made a response through a broadsheet.
The first point is media and nation-building. As part of the media, Ms. Fernandez has a responsibility. Using the same circumstances that she used, a responsible journalist (and other types of people who write for a worthy publication), would have done it constructively. That would have been much nicer even if she injected some really nasty remarks along the way. After all,that Pinoys can be rowdy aboard a plane is a given. I am not even questioning the validity of the circumstances, but the intent of the article in the sphere of responsible journalism.
It is true that Pinoys can be very sensitive about smell. Heck, I study in a foreign country too. And the smell of other nationalities can really get unbearable, at times. But, does it prevent me from talking to my classmates? Do I judge them based on the smell coming from their armpits? No, because, at the end of the day, we are all human beings, regardless of who we are, what smell, which country, which class.
Which brings me to the second reason of my indignation against Ms. Fernandez’s article. It might be that Charlie and Axe are stinky, but, it should not be the barometer from which she should judge OFW’s worth as human beings. She even went as far as to look down on them because they are OFWs, because of their occupation. That our OFWs have their shortcomings is beside the point. Of course, we all know that. The thing is she was coming from a point of view that she is better because she happens to be upper class.
Which brings me to the third reason why I am incensed by the article of Fernandez. Because in a modern world where globalization is making a headway, where our neighbors are improving in bounds and leaps and leaving our country behind, such a backward, feudal thinking still exists, such reasoning can pass the muster of a broadsheet’s editor. We have not made progress in our thinking. Throughout the history of the Philippines, the upper class has done nothing for the good of the country and has looked down on the masa. We have not learned our lessons! Those who don’t learn from their past are bound to repeat it. Yet again, through Malu.
Mala malu did it!
Now she is a very good contender to the title: “Person of the Year-2007″.
I remember my parents saying: “Everytime you speak, your mind is on parade!” I think Mala malu wasn’t raised very well. If she was, she wouldn’t have made those remarks and in print.
Instead of anger, let her have pity, for she deserves it. Pity she doesn’t know how to be human in this world!
Madaling maging tao (if one can call her that; Mahirap magpakatao.
From now on I will not call my sister a pig anymore. Her new title is an Ambassador of a repented heart.
I hope she meant it truthfully in her heart because if she didn’t learned the lesson, she is doomed to repeat it.
Dear Jowil,
Not to pick an argument against anyone, but here’s what I have to say.
1. To me, Malu is not practicing journalism in the strictest terms — I hardly think her trip is news. She’s doing creative writing. Whether she’s good at it or not, I wouldn’t hazard an opinion.
2. Regarding nation-building as part of the responsibility of media, maybe we should put to task at least one major daily that cleverly (and insidiously) slant their stories with the (apparent) intent to sow intrigues. Sad, but these are hot selling newspapers. I agree, though, that this is another story altogether.
3. Axe and Charlie are not stinky. They just happen to be popular (and old). Harhar! Just like the perfume I use, except it’s just old.
4. Malu Fernandez, whom I don’t know from Eve, is not necessarily upperclass. She gets to travel as part of her job. For all you know, you’ve been deceived by her (creative) writing, in which case, I think she might be good at it, after all.
5. Jowil, you must understand, the upper class own industry, the middle class manage it, and the masa make it run. You can give all the money to the masa, and there wouldn’t ever be enough to run the economy. The upper class concentrate the wealth to achieve economies of scale in industry. People talk or sing about inverting the “tatsulok”. But remember, if you do that, assuming you can do it, the inverted triangle collapses into a flatline (and I stake my claim to this original hyperbolic metaphor
).
Cheers,
Lyn
Excerpt from Rina Jimenez-David’s column AT LARGE in Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI-08/24/2007).
http://opinion.inquirer.net/columnist/?colid=996
Friends in an e-group are up in arms (or rather, fingers flying over keyboards) over the articles and columns of a self-proclaimed lifestyle diva who managed to insult in one fell swoop: overseas Filipino workers, a foreign airline, certain brands of colognes, the sands of Boracay, as well as her critics.
Are those who have taken umbrage at her uppity observations merely suffering from a shortage of humor, not to say irony? Or is she indeed guilty of fostering class strife with her sweeping dismissal of Filipinos who happen to work abroad?
I think she was merely trying to be clever, catering to her so-called “audience†by playing on their shared biases against working class Filipinos. Her article was what we would call a “cheap shot,†cheap because it is easy to hurl insults at people who cannot defend themselves, or who you would not, after all, brush elbows with at cocktails. Unless, that is, they were the waiters. Be warned: You know how waiters can be when they want to get back at “second-rate, trying-hard, copycat†diva wannabes.
cvj,
engaged?
whatever happened to command responsibility in the business of putting out a paper/magazine?
along with malu’s, editors’ heads must roll at standard and people asia.
this was the best photo caption, ever, totally above-the-belt but bingo, spot on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/annalyn/1220260599/
declare malu fernandez persona non grata
Malu Fernandez’ recent public apology is too little and much too late.
It was only when public outrage had swelled to tsunami-levels that Malu was compelled to write her apology. I recall that her first response to angry letters over her People Asia “From Boracay to Greece†story was another equally arrogant and insensitive column piece “Am I being a diva? Or do you lack common sense†in the Manila Standard.
Instead of displaying “acerbic witâ€Â, her stories were simply and blatantly insulting. Her comments about the OFWs in the economy class of her Emirates flight were hurtful and an affront to millions of OFWs, their families and dare we say – the entire Filipino people.
Malu Fernandez is unpatriotic. She should be declared Persona Non Grata.
Her Filipino citizenship should be wrenched from her being and passport should be revoked. Her treacherous body should be sentenced to roam the earth forever stateless. Maybe then she can truly internalize the great misery and pain countless overseas Filipinos must deal with daily – just because economic reasons compell them to stay abroad to earn a decent living for their families.
Along with being incensed at Malu and others who share her views, I also pity them because their pretentious illusions about their self-worth destines them to live a shallow, narrow and self-absorbed life. I am certain that already, their brains are being eaten by the immense amounts of bile their pompous attitude spews into their little heads.
To People Asia and the Manila Standard, public apologies to OFWs need to be offered by your publications. Although I am all for press freedom, there should also be a line drawn against degrading and discriminatory statements. Malu’s apology should be also be printed and her resignation accepted immediately.
For all the Filipinos out there who voiced their anger at Malu, bravo! I hope that we all continue to stand up and raise hell whenever and wherever the rights and welfare of OFWs are violated.
Para sa aking tatlong dakilang kapatid na OFW sa Dubai at iba pang ofw worldwide,
paulo
Her public apology was printed in today’s edition of the Philippine Star.
Now I know why Malu’s chunky legs got bruised in the economy section of that plane (which I presume is an Emirates airline plane). I am 5 ft.7 inches tall male with a 38 inches waistline and weighing 192 pounds, but I have never encountered any difficulty in Emirates economy section for reason of my size.
Can you do me a favor of publishing Malu’s vital statistics?
Baka naman ang legs niya ay kasinglaki ng kay Jojo Lastimosa?
One more thing, are you really sure that these pictures are Malu’s and not Donya Buding’s ( with due apologies to Donya Buding)?
I came, I saw, I resigned!
Yeah Manolo. Hands down the best caption ever. Care to award the prize?
As for the insults, hope it would die down now. No need stooping to her level. Or we wouldn’t be any different, displaying the same, even if a different sort of bigotry.
I noticed MST and People Asia hasn’t issued an apology yet. Or do they think they are automatically absolved from any wrongdoing once Malu resigned and issued her apology? Or do people forget that Malu may have done the original mistake, but these paper or her editors made it bigger by failing to admonish her and still printing those articles? if the editors had simply done their job, none of this hoolabalu would even be happening today.
sparks, ok will use that from now on, thanks.
thanks manuel for your latest blog. its my first time to react to any of your articles.
anyway…i think all newspapers and magazines with lifestyle sections should come up with statements regarding the malu fernandez issue.
lifestyle writers like maurice..julie…ethel…
tim…thelma and celine must experience life as ordinary citizens.
subukan nilang magtinda ng balut..mani…barbeque at kung anu-ano pang pagkain sa mga sidewalk.
subukan nilang maglinis ng kanilang mga kuwarto at banyo nang walang tulong sa mga domestic helpers, imported cleaning gadget or product. subukan nilang mamili at tumawad sa presyo ng mga isda..karne..gulay at iba pang bagay sa mga palengke.
subukan nilang umakyat sa mga bundok gamit ang sandalyas o tsinelas…magtanim ng palay ng naka-paa…maglaba gamit ang kanilang mga kamay…
subukan nilang tumulong sa mga taong-grasa..o may matinding kapansanan.
di pwede sa kanila yung pagdo-donate ng blood, relief goods, medicines and the like for photo-op purposes. di rin pwede yung pagsusulat sa filipino or taglish para ma-validate ang kanilang pagiging masa. such situations remind me of my rich and social-climbing orgmates in college who are fond of directly or indirectly belitting their ordinary-looking orgmates.
nakakalungkot na hanggang ngayon ay patuloy ang class struggle dito sa pilipinas. di ka tatanggapin ng iba kung wala kang mamahaling kotse..laptop..mobile phone…credit cards…p-d-a…damit…sunglasses…sapatos..medyas…pati underwear. di ka ring papansinin kung ikaw ay mataba..maitim..payat…pangit na mukha..bunge…mabaho ang hininga o singit-singitan.
summer in italy and i was sitting in my class beside someone new who looks so asian. i asked her where in asia did she come from ( in my mind though i know she’s a filipina ) and she looked at me strangely and murmured “from the philippines”. studying in milan is very expensive so i knew right away she’s rich while i on the other hand studied there from my own pocket (from working realy hard in the philippines). but i never ever thought that rich people could be a hard-to- the-core-elitist. she and malu fernandez breathe the same air. cases in point:
1. she abhors going to mcdonalds coz throngs of filipinos eat there
2. a pinay approached and asked her if she’s a filipina. she vehemently denied!!! she said NO!! what’s funny is that the pinay asked her in tagalog “Pinay ka ba?” and she shot back with a resounding “no” in english. lol!
3. on the first day she got to milan, someone ( a pinay DH; in italy, they call themselves “nagkukudkud”)picked her up from the airport and safely tucked her in a hotel. day 2, she got a text message from the same pinay and in an act of kindness invited her to go to a party. she said in her own words “why would i mingle with them here when back in the phils. i don’t mingle with them?”
i see so much of mf in her. such hypocrisy.
i once told her, when again she was on her toes attacking pinay dh, that you know people in our goverment really stinks coz if they are only running the country realy well then there would be no need for filipinos to go abroad and work. back home, they are educated and dignified people only our goverment took away that pride when they failed to give them jobs in our homeland that they have to recourse to be away from their family.
kung nahihiya ka sa mga ofw’s eh di wala kang karapatan tumira sa pilipinas (kaya siguro pumunta ng milan si girl) but just the same wherever you are you should be proud to be a filipino.
i’m proud of the ofw’s and i’m proud of the filipinos in milan.
Why Malu cannot afford first class seat in emirates? Emirates Airline service is the best compare to other even to US airlines.
Economy are for those who are nagtitipid. If you are rich why don’t you show especially in those times where you travel more than 10 hours.
About her leg bruises? Look in her picture, she is obese. She must pay 2 seats instead of one. Malu, travel to US and maybe the airline staff will ask you to pay 2 seats bec. of your size. Some already experienced this.
OFW’s money are hard earned by themselves. But you, maybe you just inherited from your parents??
See yourself in the mirror Malu. Mirror are not liar, they are true friends.
that lady has no right to call herself a bitch because no man in his right mind would pay her a peso for sex! PIG!
LATEBREAKER!
Ligtas na sa Foot & Mouth Disease and Hog Cholera ang buong Pilipinas! Ngunit isang baboy na lang ang nagtataglay ng mga nasabing sakit, plus many more (like gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and AIDS). At iyan ay walang iba kundi ang baboy na nagkatawang-tao na si Malu Fernandez. So alam n’yo na kung anong gagawin ninyo pag namataan ninyo ang tabatsoy na ito. Isama dapat sa mahabang listahan ng extra-judicial killings.
Seguro gustong mapansin ng loka lokang babaeng ito kaya sumulat ng ganitong artikulo. Well natagumpay siya pero sa maling paraan.OFW ba naman ang kinalaban ay isa sa pinakamalaking pwersa sa buong Pilipinas kaming mga OFW. Ngayon magsisi ka man sampo ng iyong mga magulang at kamag-anak hindi na maibabalik ang sakit na idinulot mo sa aming mga oFW. kapag maraming tao ang galit sa iyo mamalasin ka na sa buhay sampo ng iyong mga mahal sa buhay.You deserved what you are undergoing right now. Next time be careful sa iyong mga salita. Freedom of speech is not absolute my dear it is a privilege. Isa ka sa mga taong kinamumuhinaan naming mga oFW maybe because di ka tinuruan ng iyong pamilya ng kabutihang asal. Anyway may pagkakataon kang makabawi sa amin – kung magigiging domestic helper ka rin para maranasan mo ang hirap na dinaranas ang mga kababayan natin. To hell with you!!!!
still waiting for the editors and the papers’ turn to issue their own apologies. or do they think they were absolved from Malu’s independent apology? doing a Pilate?
come to think of it? who were Malu’s friends whom she mentioned found the two articles she wrote as “funny and tounge-in-cheek?” perhaps her editors may know…
after all, they allowed the articles to see the light of day. and two full months passed by without them doing any action of their own accord! makes you think they found no wrong with what Malu wrote…
so MST and People Asia, together with me now. Let’s all sing! All Apologies (Nirvana)
after this incident, Malu’s case will be taught at all journalism courses under the subject:
responsible journalism: what journalists can and cannot say under the guise of press freedom
Dear Malu Fernandez,
You are Rizal’s pathetic Dona Victorina de de Espandana come to life.. — see the freaking lady in Rizal’s novel has to have the “doble de†to REALLY show the folks she is a Spanish lady kahit na e obvious naman na lahing kayumanggi talaga siya at di maitatanggi ng sinumang makakita– ewww, just like Malu here — has to stress the brand items she wears or uses to show how sosyal she is and how so above the Axe cologne-wearing OFWS on board an Emirates economy class — OUTRAGEOUS!!! Galaxies apart and totally crude and crass to even write about it– your mosquito problem and cramp economy class plane experience compared to OFWs who have probably faced rape, shitty working conditions, utter loneliness, discrimination, war what-have-you – from what you’ve shown, you’re not even worthy to kiss their feet. You wouldn’t even know heaven from hell, if it was staring you in the face. MALU, you are obviously ashamed to be what you are and of where you come from. However, I respect your right to say your piece, but I have the right to say mine too: Malu, this is a free world, go find another country, that is, if any will have you, and make it legal, good riddance.
MASAMA ANG UGALI MO DEAR– pag masama ang ugali ng isang tao, masama rin ang itsura nya automatically and at least for me, panget ka sa paningin ko pag panget ugali mo (so you’re smarting from all the below the belt, personal attacks on your looks and your weight, it’s karma plain and simple because you only look on the outside primarily — i.e. judge not, lest ye be judged sabi sa Bibliya) — form follows substance my dear, and if you have any brains, go figure the philosophical import of that. And fyi, I love fashion and I read the U.S. Vogue like the Bible (good writers, good articles ‘ne — not just the trends), but harharhar, your fashion sensibilities like your writing are shallow, pathetic and trashy — honey, you can buy all the Jo Malone or Louis Vuitton you like– but you can’t buy CLASS AND SUBSTANCE, which my dear, are priceless. Kahit afford mo lang ba e Johnson’s Baby Colonge (try mo girl yung lemon-scented) at kung naliligo ka araw-araw at okidoke ugali mo (no piggy manners please as my kindergarten teacher used to say), you rock honey – and with these criteria in mind, I bet my 34 years of existence on earth that majority of Filipinos rock – and so far as you’ve shown the world, di ka kasali sa majority na ‘to Malu.
And you said that those who read material thicker than a magazine find your writing hilarious — nye, I wonder who they are or what kind of sense of humor they have — baka hanggang Harry Potter lang sila or Da Vinci Code — try the Gulag Archipelago, War and Peace and The Brothers’ Karamazov honey, or maybe these books will give your R&R-addled brain serious vertigo. Also, fyi nung kabataan ko nagbabasa din ako ng komiks – Aliwan (kilala mo ba si Zuma at si Galema?), Pinoy Klasiks, Wakasan – which enriched my sensibilities thank you very much even if they were much thinner than glossies. And for that matter, try reading again NOLI ME TANGERE and EL FIBUSTERISMO — if you never did, now’s the perfect time to do so and go ponder for yourself how for one Pinoy it was worth getting shot at Luneta for being brave to stand for who and what he was – isang hamak na Indio na totoong nagmahal sa bayan. NOT FUNNY MALU, NOT FUNNY AT ALL.
On your “Am I a Diva or Do You Lack Common Sense” retort – I wonder really how you were raised as a child or as a human being (apologies to your parents if they are not anything like you). Being honest is a virtue, being obnoxious is not — for being obnoxious often means you’re lazy to think things through and writers who have decency to be called such and deserved to be read, think things through which is the hard part ‘ne and you are simply lazy with your views, for they are shallow, pathetic and self-centered – in other words, MAKITID ANG IYONG PANANAW, which – and if this precisely characterizes the elite of this country, then God Save the Philippines. See no problem with saying that OFWs wear Axe or Charlie colonge, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you were dishing factual observation ika nga, see, facts are always welcome — ang problema e, you were stressing that you were better off because you were wearing freaking Jo Malone and what’s more, you have the audacity to write about it (big mistake Malu, we are all entitled to our own self-delusions, but next time, keep it to yourself) – and honey, the only true measure of human superiority is character — but don’t bet on it, kasi si Lord lang ang may hawak ng ultimate ruler dyan!!! TO MAKE IT CLEAR, YOU DID NOT ONLY OFFEND “PEOPLE OF LOWER SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASS†OR EVEN JUST THE OFWS – DAMMIT, YOU’VE THE OFFENDED THE WHOLE FILIPINO NATION and SOCIETY. SHAME ON YOU! IKINAHIHIYA KO NA KALAHI KITA! On common sense: it’s common sense to see that the earth is flat, but see, keep on thinking that it is and you’re really going to fall off when you’ve ventured on the edge — like what’s happening to you now. Stress on the common, and now, that’s all you’re getting. So honey, you’re DOWNRIGHT WRONG, we are not lacking in common sense, we’re overflowing with it about you, as you could see now – but you’re not a diva – for a diva gets away with being a diva – and we love divas – we don’t love you. WE HATE YOU HONEY, truly madly deeply.
As for your writing talent if you have any, — shame on an editor who hires you or a paper which publishes your articles: your travel writing sucks, hardly no literary merit at all as there is no sense of place — Boracay and Greece all got lost in endless harangue about your discomforts, your ton of make-up, your preferred sheets in a hotel, who cares about your idiotic troubles???.. Just because could be wittty kuno (“trapped like a sardine in a sardine can” hahahaha nice try) doesn’t make you a writer and if I were your prof in writing class, I’ll give you a cinco, honey. There are so many talented writers all over the Philippines, and we don’t need a pretentious wannabe-writer like Malu Fernandez taking the slot when someone who’s got the real deal should have been in her place. SEE MALU, WE KNOW MEDIOCRITY WHEN WE SEE IT.
And I am mindful of my manners Malu – I like to thank you for making our week less BORING than when you haven’t entered our consciousness. Isa kang alamat!
Somehow Fernandez’s style of discourse reminds me of the Dona Victorina de Espadana character in Rizal’s novels. The Dona’s race and origins were never revealed in Noli or Fili, but now we can make an intelligent guess that she was Filipina and that she was most probably not a caricature.
…she was not a caricature. She was a “journalist” kuno. Delma, enjoyed your comments!
isang panukala lamang: “ikulong yan sa eroplanong pabalik-balik sa dubai, ikandado habang nakaupo sa upuang pinakamalapit sa CR… at pakainin lamang ng biskwit na inisprayan ng Axe”
hindi lahat ng MAYAMAN may PINAG ARALAN…
hindi lahat ng may pinag aralan ay may ASAL…
kung ano man ang ASAL ng tao, ito ay nakukuha sa MAGULANG na nagpalaki sa kanya.
Para kay Malu at kumukunsinti sa kanya, MAYAMAN AT MAY PINAG ARALAN man kayo, pangit pa rin ang ASAL nyo!
my suspicion is…. malu simply had a seatmate oozing with that “axe” sex appeal…. na-magnet sya…pero di sya pinasin….
my second theory….. may nagtanong sa kanya kung DH din sya….. (napagkamalan syang DH)…how humiliating!!!!!! Subukan nya…baka may career sya sa pagiging OFW…kelangan ng middle east correspondents for ABS-CBN and GMA….that would be a fresh start of her budding media career.
Firing her was not the best option for me either…. but if it were to give her a lesson on humility…by all means….it might be good for her to experience it…. anyway…she has all her socialite friends [to "namedrop" a few...tessa prieto valdez and cricket tantoco] to give her jo malone presents for christmas.
=P
talagang mahihirapan si malung baboy sa economy class kasi pang normal built lang ung upuan dun. sya kasi baboy! kung mayaman talaga sya eh di sana at least sa business class sya pumwesto!cant afford siguro. ako sa disyerto nagtatrabaho pero pag umuuwi ako nakahiga ako sa business class! kung alam lang nya ang hirap na dinanas ng mga DH pra lang makatulong sa pamilya nila! tapos lalaitin lang ng isang nagpapanggap na mayaman na hindi maka-afford umupo sa business class ng eroplano!
Ang inasal ni Malu Fernandez ay nagrireflect lamang nang kung ano ang tingin ng kanyang mga kaibigan sa mga kawawang OFW na nagririsk ng buhay para kumita ng disenteng pera. Marami sa kanilang mga elitista ang tulad ni Malu, nagkataon lng na sya ang nakapagsulat at nahuli sa bibig ang isda este balyena. kung nabasa nyo ang ikalawa nyang artikulo na kung saan, ipinagmalaki nya na ang mga kaibigan nya ay natawa at natuwa sa kanyang sinulat, ibig sabihin, hindi lng si malu ang may mababang pagtingin sa ating mga hinirang na makabagong bayani. di nila naisip na kung di dahil sa mga remittances na padala ng mga OFWs ay di kikita ang mga restaurant at boutique nila sa Ayala at The Fort at di nila maaafford kung anuman ang lifestyle na nakasanayan nila. Aminin nyo mga ipokrito na kung di dahil sa mga OFWs ay wala rin kayong kita dahil babagsak ang ekonomiya ng Pilipinas kung wala ang mga dolyares na ipinapadala ng mga “amoy axe at charlie” na kababayan nyo. dapat alamin natin kung cno2 ang mga kaibigan at kamag anak ni Malu tulad ni Miguel Zubiri, Tessa Valdez, Tim Yam, Cricket Tantoco, etc… iboycott ang Embassy, Shopwise at Rustans kasi duon kumukuha ng pambili ng pagkain si Malu. magpiket sa harapan ng mga nasabing tindahan para matanggal sa kanyang trabaho ang walang kakuwenta2 nilalang na may pangalang Malu Fernandez
O.K. We will not boycott Malu and Manila Standard
.
He ehehehee nope I will not change my mind. Ok why not also boycott MLQ3 and MLQU ?
Confirmed!! Merchandiser ng Shopwise at Rustans si Malu Fernandez… mga kababayang OFWs , alam nyo na ang gagawin.
i’ve read a previous article of this “creature” and she’s fond of describing the place where she lives as ” God forsaken place in this Third world country”.
What was she trying to imply? please read between the line..
dapat sa kanya kuruting ng buong masang Pilipino lalo na ng 8.5 M OFW sa buong mundo. gusto ko ako mauna sa malutong na balat.
An OFW vs OFWs = Over Feeling Writer vs Over Frustrated Workers
RESPONSE OF OFWs AFTER READING THE ARTICLE:
 dubaigirl
1. BOARing!  Inday
2. Let’s compare PIGGY banks, wanna dare?  Lydia
3. Naka ‘Bench’ cologne po ako lagi…kasi mura na, mas mabango pa. Ang baho kasi dito eh.  Guma
4. She wants to slash her wrists? Ako, I wanna stab her with my pen!  Neneng
5. Huy, say no to violence, don’t stab her! Just tie her wrist and give her an apple. Gusto ko yung crispy ha!  Mila
5. Malu is in…the boat is sinking! the boat is sinking!  Capt. Andoy
6. Wow! cleavage…pede na yan!  Celybate
7. Talented! With acerbic smell…este acerbic wit pala! More Jo Malone nga!  Mang Charlie
8. Economy class stewardess to Malu: For the nth time, passenger seat no. B10, kindly fasten your seatbelt, fit or cannot fit.
9. Effective! Dami napikon…isa na ko dun
10. Gosh, bruises on her leg…cebo de macho lang katapat nyan!  Alice Galis
11. This is your Capt. Ligo speaking, kindly bear with us. Our flight has a 555 sardines-situation right now, a certain Malu is occupying 3 seats. We can’t wake her up, she just popped the magic dragon.
12. Malu’s private hell > Ihaw-ihaw  Mr. Andok Baliwag
WINNERS OF THE ‘PICK A COUNTRY CONTEST’
1. Ms. Malu.ka Luka won trip to Africa – (don’t let the bed bugs bite you!)
2. Mrs. Malu.wang Tornilyo – Iraq – (you’re safe, naka bullet vest ka na diba with belt bag pa!)
3. Ms. Malu.syang – Hawaii (beachtime! you won’t get drowned, you have salbabida)
4. Ms. Malu.tong – New York (don’t forget the big apple!)
This is really fun!
am so sad for her… we should pitty her.. she has no more friends… that’s what happens to an overweight and insensitive person/… lacking attention….
perhaps she got violated when she was young… too much for a lumba lumba girl….am so sad for her…
nice take D-L-K ( Dubai) keep it coming folks….!!
hindi sya dapat kaawaan… nakuha lng nya ang nararapat sa kanya. naniniwala ako na matagal na nyang gawain ang manlait ng kapwa. no amount of apologies could erase the fact that “it” committed a grave act that can not be forgiven by just mere letter of apology and resignation. For all we know, she would still be writing in the same magazines and newspapers using a pseudo name. Don’t fool us ,we were not born yesterday. The mere fact that the editor of Manila Sub standard tolerated her writing not once but twice showed that she’s got clout inside. If i were her, i will disappear and never to be heard of anymore. If “it” vanish, then the world will become a better and kinder place.
WTF!! i agree with Aling Mila, i am sure kaibigan or kamag anak ng “it” na yan ang Manila – walang – standard editor kasi di nya inedit ang masamang isinulat nung babaeng mataba at pango. kaya yung resignation letter, sinubmit lng just to pacify the clamor of many offended OFWs for that fat and ugly woman to be fired. Watch out for her new name on the same newspaper and magazine. Their publications should not be called People Asia kung Piggy Sia
@Ariel, di na kami mamimili sa Shopwise at Rustans. ano kayang brand ang hawak ng baboy na yun??? iboycott natin ang Manila No Standard toilet paper at Piggy Sya magazine.
OFWs of the world , inform all your friends and relatives to boycott Shopwise and Rustans as well as Manila Standard and People Asia magazines so they will reap what they sow by tolerating that “Miss Piggy’s attitude. We will keep you updated regarding her friends identities. the ones she mentioned in her article who found her insulting comments funny and tongue in cheek joke at the expense of the poor OFWs.
Remember Malu – We are watching you…….. be afraid… be very afraid.
First of all, I would like to thank MALU FERNANDEZ for her article, lahat naman ng sinabi nya ay KATOTOHANAN. The TRUTH HURTS diba? At ano ang TOTOO? The TRUTH is ang KABULUKAN sa MUNDO. The struggle between “the HAVE†and “HAVE NOTSâ€Â, the poor “OFW’s†and the rich “SOB’sâ€Â, the “COMMON PEOPLE†and the “ELITISTASâ€Â. The truth is most (not all) rich people are really insensitive and insulting to the poor or the middle class, believe me I know. I came from a middle class family, nag-aral ako sa isang maliit na school noong elementary and after graduating I transferred to an exclusive school sa makati, dito ko na naranasan ang DISCRIMINATION and INSULTS from this so-called ELITISTAS. I felt kung hindi mo sila kasing YAMAN, you don’t have the right to be there. Some of the RICH really seems to have NO HEARTS, walang awa talaga kung magbitiw ng salita. Parang they can get away with anything dahil MAYAMAN sila. Still I have no bitterness nor hatred, I just felt sorry that rich people are mostly like that, GOOD on the OUTSIDE and real BAD on the INSIDE. I just want to say that I know it is not easy to FORGET, but definitely we have to FORGIVE. Let’s pray that ALL of US CHANGE for the better and follow GOD’s commandments, not just a few, but ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS. Its time to let GO and let GOD decide…. Truly the LORD said “Blessed are they who are POOR for they shall inherit the land.†And “It is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a RICH man to enter the KINGDOM of HEAVEN. AMEN
Kayong lahat tigilan nyo na si malu!!!!! Kapag hindi nyo siya tinigilan, papatayin ko na si malu para lang tumigil na kayo…. ok ba malu? Basta kakampi mo ako, in short KupPalMo Ko!!!!!!
M – abaho
A – moy pelempeng d nahugasan ng isang taon
L – umba Lumba
U – tot mo!
F – utah ka
E – ng baho ng pelempe mo talaga
R – uka ruka
N – akakasuka
A – ng kapal ng mukha mo tapos kapal pa ng make-up mo,
kapal mo naman talaga
N – akakadiri
D – esperadang baboy D – amo
E – ng baho mo talaga
Z – azakalin na kita
MALU FERNANDEZ – recently added to WIBSTIR DICK-TIONARY (meaning)
1. a PIG with little brains, trying to be witty and smart, but in reality is really a BITCH.
2. all FATS and no ifs or BUTTS.
3. a rich BITCH acting just like any other rich BITCH.
4. an ELITIST PIG doing the same as other ELITIST PIGS.
5. a talking VAGINA, acts like a VAGINA, no brains and definitely just a VAGINA, (yung matambok at medyo amoy bulok)
Picture No. 1 – Malu with the Discovery Boyz (All SMILES and Ito yun kung bakit)
Discovery Boyz1 – Pre amoy UTOT, si taba yung umutot huwag kayong maingay, SMILE lang….
Discovery Boyz2 – Tol hindi siya umutot, amoy PANGHI nga e, parang KUPAL na natuyo ng 3 linggo…SMILE LANG
Discovery Boyz3 – Mga Tsong, baka makahalata …… SMILE lang lagi, kunwari d natin naamoy yung ASIM GABAHO na KILIKILI na parang tinubuan ng KAMOTAE….
Discovery Boyz4 – Mga Kosa, amoy PEKPEK na NABUBULOK…Kasi kanina nagpapahugas sa inyo puro lang kayo SMILE….
Discovery Boyz5 – Tigilan nyo na nga si malu, pag hindi nyo tinigil yan, papaDILAAN ko sa inyo yan. Hindi na kayo makitang nakaSMILE kundi nakaKASUKA…… Ang TOTOO nyan nabalitaan ko na HINDI naghuhugas ng PUWET nya yan….
QUESTION FROM THE DISCOVERY BOYZ1,2,3 and 4 kay DB5?
Talaga Pano mo naman nasabi yun na totoo?
ANSWER: NAKAKITA na ba kayo ng BABOY na naghuhugas ng PWET?
P.S. Ngayon alam nyo na kung bakit sila lahat naka SMILE…..heheheheheh
Lyn D.,
Malu Fernandez stated in her previous response that:
“Just recently, 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.”-from MST
“Although it may sound elitist to you the fact is this country is built on the foundation of haves, have-nots and wannabes.”- from MST
“Now I seriously ask you, am I being a diva or are people around me just lacking in common sense?”- from MST
Well my common sense didn’t find her wit but detected her “subtle message” instead and it was acerbic indeed.
In her initial article she stated:
“I guess God was watching out for us because the ferry we were supposed to take sank in the middle of the Aegean sea. I could already see myself screaming “SAVE MY ACCESSORIES!!!!” And swimming with my head above water so I don’t mess up my makeup…”-from People Asia Magazine
She already intimated that this along with her make-up weighed about 17 kg. That is about the weight of a “have-not” child.
The Oceanos was a Greek (probably a coincidence) vessel which sank of the South African east coast on August 1991.
In one account by Rose-Marie Rowe (one of the survivors), she intimated in the Oceanos blog that a lot of the crew left with their valuables(likely the crews’ belongings); leaving many of the passengers to what can be called an uncertain fate in the hands of entertainers Moss and Tracey Hill. Fortunately, the Hills proved able even without the training.
Going back to Fernandez, her hefty kit won’t be able to swim let alone float on its own. It’s either going to take up space in a life boat or a life vest if its to join Fernandez in the water.
Haves, have-nots and wannabes are not confined to this country so that Greek ferry Fernandez planned to board would have had its share.
One of the “Haves” needs her accessories saved.
Most of the crew of the “Oceanos” did practically the same so shouldn’t a “have” be able to demand the same even at the expense of a “have-not”?
Whatever happened to civility? Why do we behave in the same way she did? Why can’t we follow the first maxim mentioned above?
From my friend Veronique after I emailed her the story plus the pictures of Malu Fernandez:
My God!!! I’m speechless… She’s obese! How old is she? Married? Kids? That is a classique pretentious, shallow, cold bitch. Her bitchiness is obviously her getting back at all her flaws. Demean others so the focus stays out of her adipose tissues!! Poor her, she’s everyone’s laughing stock now. Good for her!!!
pardon me mr. quezon, i happen to be part of the newspaper industry and I DISAGREE with your position on the matter of someone being fired on the grounds of what she/he wrote.
being in the media entails a lot of responsibilities and that includes being aware of the sensibilities of the public.
i have written this piece in another blog and i would like to reprint it here, just so to make other columnist-wannabes realize that just because they carry a prominent name or comes from a well-to-to clan, already entitles them a place in the media industry even if they do not have an inkling, whatsoever, of dos and don’ts, more especially, what we consider as the “bible”, the Code of Ethics.
those who may not be aware of any of the single provision in this Code falls in the category of “hao-shiao” (in layman’s term: fake journalists), columnists included.
remember the Vic Agustin incident, Mr. M? being part of what is considered among the major broadsheet in the country gives someone an excuse to publicly display a rude behavior or lack of GMRC. if my memory serves me right, didn’t he practically receive walking papers from his own publicists who refused to condone his act of splashing a glass of water to a known activist, just because he felt like doing it?
ahhh…yeah right, he and malu belong to the same paper (until she resigned recently). i guess the adage, birds of the same feather flock together? hehehehe.
for all we know, she may be a friend of yours, the reason why you come on the defensive side. tsk! tsk! tsk! bad move, i should say, Mr. M.
those of us who happen to have earned a degree in journalism know full well how easy to be a columnist, you just have to air your opinion on a certain matter/ subject, period! but column-writing is another thing. not all columnists in this country deserves the space in each of current broadsheets in circulation, ms. malu included, because, for those who took up the course, likewise took pains in understanding the limitations and capabilities of a column writer. a reporter could easily take up the job of a columnist but i dont think a columnist can do justice to the work of a reporter.
well going back to the malu fernandez affair, let me share with you my thoughts that i wrote in another blog, here it is:
“amid this furor on the malu fernandez affair, i can’t help but express my sentiment on this matter.
setting aside her social status, being a journalist myself and one-time staff member of the very same paper she (used to be) associated with, what struck me most was the way her wrote her article. it was supposed to be what we, media practioners (that’s apt term rather than a ‘journalist’ which in her case, pardon me ms. malu, but i think you have yet to earn this title judging from the way you write which dealt mostly with social affairs) “travelogue.â€Â
i’m quite familiar with it because i used to write the same things she “should have writtenâ€Â, in the first place. it means writing about the place you’ve been to, as assigned by your travel editor. i happen to have covered the tourism beat for quite sometime while i was still with the “then†The Manila Standard (with no Today in its “nameplate†– the term referring to the logo of a newspaper) and did the same kind of piece or “article†as what we refer to, and sadly, it wasn’t supposed to be that way.
if she’s supposed to be a “travel writerâ€Â, she should have talked about the places worth seeing, the culture, etc….something that would be of good use to tourists, whether positive or negative. in short, a review on the place she’s been to recently.
instead, what i read was an angst-filled article. i told myself, while i was reading her piece, that this article was more appropriate to be published/read in a blog site. it was somehow personal, something that readers unknown of her would not be able to relate to the author because of her personal circumstance.
judging from the head (or “title†as most would refer to) of her article “from boracay to greeceâ€Â, i was expecting to read a comparison of places she’s been to in bora and greece. not only did she malign one of the country’s top tourist destination (in case ms. malu didn’t know, after the bali tsunami incident, RP’s tourism industry benefitted the most as the country played host to those who opted to divert their vacation plans to the Philippines and Bora happened to be the top-most destination to then Bali-bound tourists), she insulted her own friends for having her experience a stay that fell short of her expectations! for someone who projects herself a jetsetter, someone who doesn’t supposed to care about spending money on vacations here and abroad, why was she concerned about making the most out of her “share†in the Bora sojourn? just asking.
lastly, i can’t blame her for the situation she’s in right now because in the first place, if i were her editor, that piece would not see print, especially if it’s meant for a magazine of international circulation (people asia, right?) simply because it does not fall in any of the categories of feature writing.
her editors should have called the attention of someone who fails to realize the responsibilities and limitations of writers whose work are meant for public’s consumption. (please see http://www.nujp.org/the_journalist_code_of_ethics.htm).
obviously, ms. malu is lacking in this department. i, for one, had to suffer in her litany of vilification that only few, like her, find amusing.
indeed, her publishers should likewise be reprimanded because her kind of writing is something not worth printing, if the issue of objectivity would be taken into consideration, in the first place, as what should have been observed by her superiors.
i don’t know her from adam, even if im been with the industry for almost 15 years now, but just because you happen to be from an ultra-rich family earn you a right to claim a place in the industry, be it in print or broadcast media. most of the times, it really, really, helps a lot if someone has a background in journalism. being excellent in semantics is not enough license to be called a writer errr journalist?”
To Malu Fernandez: We reap what we have sown.
To People Asia Magazine editor-in-chief: Next time do a better job, please. Weren’t you the one also involved in the Faye-ry tale Philippine Star fracas a few years ago involving a young inexperienced writer? EICs should know that prevention is better than damage control.
thank u malu for making us all very happy. kc noon d kapa nagsusulat ng masama e wala kaming karapatan awayin yung mga ELITISTANG matapobre……. ngayon PWEDE na kasi SINIMULAN NYO NA ANG AWAY! Mga HAMBOG! Sana KUNIN na KAYO LAHAT, hindi ni LORD kundi ni TANING. Ang SASAMA kasi ng mga UGALI nyo sa TOTOO LANG……….. Kaya lets go GANG, paduguin na nating ilong ni malu – TOL! hindi PWEDE! Bakit? Wala kasi ako makitang ILONG puro TABA……..
Ay naku, ang LUNGKOT na naman………O sige pitikin na lang natin sa ITLOG! TOL hindi PWEDE! Bakit? Natatakpan ng PATA, hirap HAWIIN at sobrang BIGAT……….O sige KAGATIN na lang natin sa UTONG! Wag TOL uso ang FOOT and MOUTH desease ngayon baka makasipsip kayo ng PANIS na GATAS………… LINTIK na BUHAY ito….. TOL ano ba year ngayon? Year of PIG yata…….MALU swerte ka TALAGA, pero hintayin mo pag tapos na taon mo……….KAKATAYIN ka na namin…………….pero d ka namin kakainin at BULOK na BULOK na SIGURADO ang KARNE mo!!!!!!!! Ang SAYA SAYA!!!!!
MALU’s FRIENDs on FRIENDSTER:
1. Shatan Poh – Best Friend
2. Daemon YuKah – Mentor
3. Luchi Fher – Look Alike
4. Sir Pent Lang – Close Friend
5. Chaka Dal – Look Alike Din
6. Kru Ger Din – Confidant
7. Hidi Hamin – Lover #1
8. Adolf Hitler – Lover #2
9. Sad Amm Who’s Ane – Ex Boyfriend #1
10 Musong Lini – Ex Boyfriend #2
FAVORITES:
1. Phe Lempe Cologne – Smells like HELL
2. T’ Lhetong Deodorant – Sticks like SHIT
3. WhetPu Shampoo – Genuine PIG FART
MOTTO:
1. Eat all You Can!
2. Eat all You Can Pa Rin!
3. Eat all You Can Forever!
4. Eat all You Can Hanggang Mamatay!
5. Eat all You Can Kahit Patay Na!
FAVORITE SPONSORS:
1. Mila’s Lechon
2. Pingping’s Lechon
3. Lydia’s Lechnon
4. Asim Kagaho Cologne
5. T ‘ Lhetong Deodorant
6. WhetPu Shampoo
7. Maluninola Cooking Oil
8. Knorr Pork Cubes
9. Pata Pata Resto
10. Baboyan Express Padala
pat, a little prudence perhaps with your writing next time? reading your comment, for the most part, involved some filling in the blanks and a bit of mental editing for me. though i must say i agree with the points you raised. cheers!
Let me inform you Ms. Malu Fernandez in case you have forgotten that “nothing” (open and close quote) is permanent in this world. Everything you possess right now is nothing and YOU ARE NOTHING but JOKE.
A very trying hard individual, including friends who sympathize with you, i’m sorry!!! PATHETIC!!!
If Malu wants forgiveness, then she has to work for it, earn it. Mere words asking for forgiveness just doesn’t suffice for the degree of damage she has done.
Now if she would:
- sell a part of land (or any hard earned precious property) just to buy a Dubai visit visa with plane ticket (Price ranges from P 60 to 100,000 +)
- her pocket money would be P 5,000
- pass through the terrors of the Immigration gate whilst holding a Dubai visit visa and try her best to convince them that she will only be a tourist and nothing else.
- if she survives the Immigration gate hurdle, good. She can now board a nine-hour non-stop Emirates flight to Dubai (full of OFW’s, of course). Hopefully, she’ll be seated (in a seat to small for her, plus a busted lcd entertainment panel in front of her) next to a very friendly and talkative OFW, who will eventually ask her: “Kumusta ka na? Taga saan ka? Housemaid ka rin ba?”
- upon arrival in Dubai, she then finds out that 42 degrees celsius is a normal temperature during summer. She disembarks the plane not by tube but by bus. She goes down a ladder to ride the bus that will take her to the main terminal. Imagine this lady who looks like a fattened pig, getting roasted by the hot Dubai sun… I’m quite sure she doesn’t have any expensive perfume at hand. Not with all these travel restrictions against liquids. By the time she reaches the terminal, she would definitely smell like shawarma.
- she reaches the exit, and finds out nobody’s there to fetch her (kasi nga, wala siyang friend na OFW na magmamalasakit sa kanya). So she hails a cab, and gives directions using her best English, only to find out that the Indian/Pakistani driver doesn’t speak English. Patay! So, sign language to death si Malu.
- she reaches the “house” that was promised her, and finds out that her room is no bigger that the size of bed, if she’s lucky enough to have a bed at all.
-she attempts to get some sleep, but her AC unit conks out in the middle of the night. She tries to take a bath to cool off, but finds out that the water from the tap is hot enough for coffee even during the early morning hours.
- if she survives through the night, then comes the task of typing her resume, getting it printed, and with fingers crossed, goes around the streets of Dubai hoping for a gullible company crazy enough to hire her. Later, she finds out that the taxi fare from the airport has already depleted a quarter of her pocket money. She needs to save money so she walks for endless kilometers in the middle of the scorching summer sun.
- gutom na siya at pagod, pero halos wala nang pera, kaya ang pinakamurang pagkain na mabibili niya ay Indian food – famous for it’s odorous side effects, particularly in the armpits. Oh boy! Imagine, the combination of hot water, Indian food plus her flabby body. Ayokong isipin… baka maamoy ko ang sarili kong imahinasyon!
- she goes on like this for 2 months, and finds out that she needs to get her visa renewed while waiting for eternity in Kish island. Sa Kish, kung wala kang pera, maraming bagay na hindi mo nagagawa dati ang magugulat ka na lang at ginagawa mo na pala.
- dahil nga wala siyang friends na tumutulong sa kanya ay nagdecide na lang siyang umuwi pabalik sa Pinas. So she re-books her flight back home, and goes back hopefully well aware and well experienced kung ano talaga ang buhay ng isang OFW. This is not even experience enough. Hindi niya pa naranasang mabugbog ng employer o hindi pakainin at patulugin ng ilang araw.
Siguro, if she goes through these, baka may lugar pa sa pagpapatawad mula sa puso ng mga OFW na kanyang ininsulto at tinapak-tapakan. Siguro nga…
Pasensiya na sa maraming grammatical errors. Mainit kasi ang ulo ko eh!
May trivia ako:
Did you know that Malu is a short name for Malbari, a huge group of people from Southern India. If you’re an OFW from Dubai, i’m sure that most of you know how it is to work with most (not all) of these Malu people. Masyadong mahirap maintindihan at sobrang sub-standard ng trabaho.
So Malu, indian pana ka ba? Huwag kang kakanakana kasi!
nabasa ko comment ni angel85, tama siya, malulupit talaga ang mga ELITISTA, kaya siguro walang nagDIDISPROVE sa comment ni angel85 kasi yun talaga ang TOTOO sa. Sana magcomment yung RICH sa sinabi ni angel85 kung HINDI ito TOTOO.
Malu don’t worry were all here to support you, were the rich and famous, were untouchables remember, we have the money. We have the power over them. Don’t wotty will pay them or do anything just to stop. Mayaman tayo diba, inggit lang sila……
love,
Luchi Fer, Daemon Yu, Chaka Dull, Shae Tan, Sha Dham
malu fernandez and people like her, should have realized that it would only be a matter of time till the “acerbic wit” would get the better of them. writers should never take the power of their craft lightly.
FrindsofMalu,
If the rich and famous would read another Malu’s article about the rich in this Third World Country, baka ipadeport siya.
Sorry if I provide the link, mahaba kasi.
http://cathcath.com/?p=3330#comments
Based on the comments here and elsewhere in the blogosphere:
¡Que barbaridad! ¡Que horror!(pa-effect lang po yan, para medyo may dating ‘tong comment kong ‘to regarding tingog.com’s anti-Malu campaign
Medyo may pagka over-kill yata ang nangyayari, don’t you think? She already resigned didn’t she?
If we look at ourselves in the mirror, I’m sure we’ll get to see, whether it is to a lesser or greater degree, a Malu Fernandez lurking somewhere in the deep recesses of our psyche.
Cat,
Read your link.
Found some issues that might be interesting.
Her MST article last April 16, 2007 was titled “Are you a stinky linky? Or do you smell like a divine divalicious babe?”
Wherein she wrote “… I was, however, encouraged by my travel agent to try out Emirates since it won the best economy class, so with great trepidation I flew on Emirates via Dubai, completely forgetting that Dubai is the hub for all the Filipino migrant workers. Call me whatever you like but when you are trapped in economy class that is filled to the brim with migrant workers the smell gets a little funky after nine hours of flying.”
The People Asia article came out June which could mean it was delivered out about mid May. That’s still about a month between release of the 2 articles. A newspaper is usually supposed to be cheaper than a magazine making the former easier to buy. Why the earlier article didn’t elicit a response is anyone’s guess?
And the statement “Call me whatever you like ….” is intriguing. Seems like an open invitation.
Including also the part “And sometimes I can remember people by their sense, call it weird but its true. Some studies actually state that men and women are more primarily attracted by scent than by physical attributes. I may forget a lover’s face but I never forget his scent.”
It reminds me of a Cherie Pie Picache scene where they were decidng to leave the lights on or off.
And her April 9 MST article was titled “The Diva goes to Greece” yet she asks in her infamous response ““Now I seriously ask you, am I being a diva or are people around me just lacking in common sense?â€Â. Now that I found hilarious.
I won’t likely miss her articles though.
So, this is the snooty woman who wrote that article. With that fake hair colour, clown-like red spotted cheeks, bursting tight shirt and big chunks of a necklace, what right has she to berate those ‘cheap perfume’ wearing maids? I don’t know why she calls herself a diva. She reminds me of New York’s trans fat problem.
It isn’t a joke to generalise people. If only she knows what it entails to even cross the ocean and work. Obviously she doesn’t.
Ariel and Aling Mila;
Nakapamili na ako minsan sa Shopwise at Rustans, pero wala akong nakitang Pigrolac dun o ano pa mang piggy items na pwdeng merchandise ni Malu. Kailangan maimbestigahan ito, baka may mga produktong pang tao na ginagamit narin ng mga baboy ngayon.
I want her “FIRED” not “RESIGNED”.
To salvage her reputation that’s why she resigned, “KAPAL TALAGA NG MUKHA NIYA, NAG-IISA LANG SIYA TALAGA, CLONED PIG” Siya na ang may sabi na “people need bitches like her to shake up their world”, BITCH pala siya eh, hindi ako kontento siya ay BIATCHHHHH! (sorry to hit the CAPSLOCK but my blood is high now!)
she should be fired for incompetence–for poor and shallow writing. however, it’s official. she has resigned. see the closest to an apology from the manila standard…
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=ritaLindaJimeno_aug27_2007
JL,
I tried to find out her style of writing. I do not see any consistency.
In one article, she would be enumerating the so-called friends in the high society wearing such and such brands, using such and such perfume.
In another article, she would berate people who are brand conscious.
In one article where she said that “wlang karapatan magsuot ng perfume kung Axe lang naman at yong mga binili sa Tourist Duty Free SHop, one of the perfumes that she identified to be a favorite of her nephew can be bought from the TDFS.
The controversial article from the magazine was a combination of three articles in the newspaper.
You asked me why, it took months before the campaign was launched?
There were already discussions about the “panlalait of a fat lady” in forums before the campaign made by Nick.
I can’t just find the url of the forum. I came across that
when I read nick’s call. I was looking for more info about Malu. Nah, I did not receive any e-mail from anybody.
Then, I took a close look at Manila Standard. It is an elitist newspaper. If you will look at the survey they conducted, most of the people reading it are professionals in the Philippines who got one or two houses, gainfully employed have gone abroad once or twice.
That answers the questions why only now. Malu Fernandez’ is not being read. I remember, I stumbled on one of her article before the controversy, I thought she was phony in writing that lifestyle column. She was endorsing a cosmetic that her “kind” would not like to be seen powdering their noses with that brand in public.
So why the outrage in the magazine’s article?
Because of the “funny comments” about being in a plane with the domestic helper.In MS, she wrote Filipino migrant workers for OFWs and their being stinky is caused by being in the plane for nine hours.
But in the magazine, the message that she conveyed the readers is that all OFWs in the Middle East are domestic helpers. Yes, she misjudged that people would not mind because the DH probably would not cry for discrimination. They don’t read Manila Standard and they may have not heard about the magazine.
As I have said, it took a non-OFW and non-migrant Nick to rally the bloggers. One or two joined because they just had an altercation with one MS columnist.
Yeah there were already discussions in several forums before this but those were just discussions that after some days of heated arguments, the issue would just die. It’s different when aside from making noise, there are steps to get results. Thus the campaign was born.
Now there is the question why MS was quiet about her firing.
There is my theory that they would like to protect people from being dismissed due to hate mails.
After the search, I found out that her connection to the alta sosyedad is her kinship to Vicki F. Zubiri, the wife of the Gov who’s in the haute couture business. Her father was a dermatologist.
MS is being sustained by subscriptions and ads. I got a feeling that she was recommended by someone who must have a clout. It must be some big fish among the subscribers or ads sponsor that they could not afford to offend.
Frankly, I do not consider her a journalist. She’s just a mouthpiece for companies that give her lots of freebies in exchange of write ups in her columns. Cheap advertisement compared to thousand-per-column inch regular print ad.
Didn’t she mention that she travels because of her work.
Isn’t Vicki F. Zubiri the mom of Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri?
I do agree with Ormocanon that there’s a Malu Fernandez in all of us, in one form or another. There are just some who’re hypocrite enough to deny they have such prejudices.
I’m rather in fear of what will be coming next after this issue has died down. Will the people start throwing hate mails (or hate blog posts) at the writers when they don’t like what he’s written and scream for his blood? What will happen to the current freedom of speech that all of us are enjoying? Although there is no such thing as an absolute freedom, will this freedom be curtailed just because of political correctness?
To Delma P.,
Well said comments (I really enjoyed it (some are funny) and i was like tongue-tied)).
Malu Fernandez’ issue scatters/spreads all over Iraq.
I hope not to hear anything from her.
How can i comment when everyone is lashing out against her and throwing more condescending and more distasteful than what she wrote? Should i say, “she gets what she deserves”?
from DIvalicious Parties on the Go:
“Before the Zara show started, yummy hors d’oeuvres were served with refreshing Bellinis and champagne cocktails that I thoroughly enjoyed with handsome and dashing Raul Manzano and Philip Cu-Unjieng of Metro Society together with big boss Monchet Olives and “luscious†Tara Santos of Town and Country I also spotted my favorite “fierce and fabulous†editor Joanne Rae Ramirez who was chatting it up with Senator Franklin Drillon.”
Ah, so that’s who her editor is. One of Malu’s “friends” who found her articles humorous and saw it fit for printing. Wonder if there’s any calls for her to at least issue an apology too…
Cat,
I initially thought the magazine which is priced higher had more readers than a cheaper newspaper. But then the pictures could have been “eye candy” to read on.
But I’m a little dismayed that you are stating that
“But in the magazine, the message that she conveyed the readers is that all OFWs in the Middle East are domestic helpers.”
It’s as if the Filipino migrant workers themselves are putting up the issue of “class division” among them.
And that this issue might not have reached this far IF ONLY the domestic helpers were affected and not the other migrant workers.
As based again on MST- “… Dubai is the hub for ALL THE FILIPINO MIGRANT WORKERS. Call me whatever you like but when you are trapped in economy class that is filled to the brim with migrant workers the smell gets a little funky after nine hours of flying.”
The implication in that would have been that if the economy class was filled by people OTHER THAN Filipino migrant workers; the smell wouldn’t even be a little funky EVEN after nine hours of flying.
Otherwise she could have just written that the smell would have been a little funky in an economy class that is filled to the brim with people after nine hours.
jl, i think this issue really blew out of proportion not so much bec of people’s rage agst Malu’s bigotry, but bec Malu herself was so easy to dislike. the fact that most of comments proliferating the net are about Malu’s physical condition and personality and not about class discrimination per se proves that Filipinos aren’t really easy to offend with discriminatory statements. what Filipinos do hate the most are people who are “feeling” and we can safely say that Malu falls in that category.
betcha if Malu was as beautiful as Gretchen and as filthy rich as Bill Gates, everyone would’ve let her comments slide and tell themselves she’s entitled to her elitist opinion since she’s filthy rich and ultra beautiful anyway.
once again, proving, that those who threw insults at Malu based on her physical appearance aren’t any better than her. the only difference was that Malu was in the profession of journalism, and that those who insulted her aren’t.
anyway, i’ve already exhausted my take on this in my blog.
Devilsadvoc8,
Something I read somewhere.
A youthful and so pretty Nida Blanca (may her soul rest in peace) was at the pinnacle of her young career when she got involved in an incident.
The public supposedly berated her and she lost favor.
A Communist guerrila was said to have felt pity on her and decided that she broker his surrender at which she became favored again.
You know what Malu, you keep complaining about almost EVERYTHING! You don’t even have the luxury and the looks! TIP: Get a life insurance; this might be “our†lucky day!
I can make this luck happen!
ENJOY!
I feel sorry for Malu. Mean and spiteful things were said: from Balyena in Boracay to Ms Malu’s oinkscapades. She shouldn’t take it personally. Roastings ? Death threats? Ay sus she’s overreacting. It’s just the hoi polloi’s version of acerbic wit. If she thinks it’s offensive then she should stop reading it. Quid pro quo, Clarice.
Well I guess she’s very successful in getting all our attention! If this is her way to popularity… it’s a dead end. She’s a perfect villain like in Harry Potter’s (Dolores Umbridge). I wouldn’t waste my time talking about her preposterous personality but I will make fun of her pictures and try to manipulate these.
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL1011/3600410/13707881/274868657.jpg
Malu Fernandez! You will die alone! Wahaha!
NYAHAHAHAH…
MALU, LOOK AT YOUR PHOTOS..YOU ARE THE MODERN FORM OF MAMMALS….
YOU ARE CORRECT, YOU’RE NOT BELONG TO US..WHY?…BECAUSE WE ARE HOMO SAPIENS………NYAHAHAHAHA…
[I also spotted my favorite “fierce and fabulous†editor Joanne Rae Ramirez who was chatting it up with Senator Franklin Drillon.â€Â
Ah, so that’s who her editor is. One of Malu’s “friends†who found her articles humorous and saw it fit for printing. Wonder if there’s any calls for her to at least issue an apology too…]
so many people have been dragged into this issue…all because of a simple, careless statement allowed to be published and later publicized to a mammoth scale.
I just hope everybody learned a lesson or two from this journalism “faux pas”!
Peace with you all!
“Let the one among you who is without sin, be the first to throw a stone at her.”
(And “Let anyone who is without sin, throw another evil word at her.â€Â)
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.â€Â
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.â€Â
You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment……..
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.â€Â
“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. “
“And I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.â€Â
“Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him; the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on ht last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father…..â€Â
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.â€Â
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.â€Â
AMEN.
We have not heard the last of her apparently. Her resignation was not accepted by Manila Standard Today editors and her column “Divalicous” will be back on Monday. This according to http://www.annalyn.net/
Maybe Manila Standard Today is capitalizing on the interest of the OFWs and their supporters in this issue. Negative publicity is still publicity afterall.
With emotions running high on the Malu F issue, here is a post from a noted legal mind DEFENDING Malu Fernandez, and even calling on her NOT to resign.
Interesting to read a post with another perspective on issue:
http://mabinihall.com/index.php/2007/08/29/malu-fernandez-hate-ugly-filipinos/
So that’s Malu Fernandez? Ohmigosh!
Must say I agree with Cath: “No amount of accessories and expensive perfume (yong pabango niya, air freshener dito) can give that lady, class.” (Btw, never heard of Ms Fernandez’ Jo whatever scent.)
I will be a bit more scathing – never mind her visciousness and cruelty vis a vis the OFWs she met and boarded with on economy class – after reading her offending article, I thought what was intolerable was her vulgarity – very Madame Bovaryesque.
But like mlq3, cvj and a few others here, I don’t support calls that Ms Fernandez be fired.
The statements of Malu Fernandez should be taken seriously by everyone who had read it. Indeed, those are vitriolic words thrown at OFWs. Not all OFWs are “unskilled” but this is a sad reality that some compatriots are considered such. In fact, those very bad words are just a piece of what some OFWs are experiencing far away from home.
I think the essence of it all is for us to build our country, where leaving is not an option just to earn a living. This is a challenge to our government to aspire for the best life Filipinos could ever have. Not purely words from our leaders but a strong will and determination to transcend.
Take the Singapore example. The Singapore government doesn’t like their citizens to be “domestic helpers”. Not because they deem that being domestic helper is bad or a low class work but because having such kind of work won’t give the best life for Singaporeans. And this is what the Philippine government should similarly aspire for – that every Filipino should have the best life in terms of economic status, literacy, access to world class facilities and technologies, security, peace and all other conveniences. So that just like Singapore, we could have the best government in the world characterized by a concerned, loving, and well-providing government.
I think, the main problem with us Filipinos is that we approach situations like this (Malu Fernandez publication) in such a “joking” way (as our usual expression of resentment like the “dancing queen” with Senator Oreta). I think the better approach is to be straightforward, serious and show the consequences of one’s action. With this approach, we Filipinos could have a different mindset in which we aim for doing all good by thinking twice before doing anything. Otherwise, we would expect to see Malu Fernandez in the august halls of senate in the year 2010!
Acerbic wit? I found this to be a better example of acerbic wit: http://www.cafepress.com/pirata.165819601
pic 1 CAPTION – GUSTO KO NG LALAKE PAHINGI NG LALAKE PATIKIM NG LALAKE HUWAHHHH!!!! NGUY NGUY NGUY AKO’Y ISANG BABUY”
PIC 2 CAPTION – “HAHAWAKAN KO ANG TYAN KO KASI PARA DI MAKITA NA OVERSIZED AKO AT TEKA LANG DAPAT SAY CHEESE KAHIT NA NATATAE NA AKO AT NAIIHI AT NAGUGUTOM BUTI NA LANG BABOY AKO I CAN DO THREE THINGS AT THE SAME TIME WC IS TUMAE AT UMUHI HABANG KUMAKAIN”
PIC 3 CAPTION – HAY NAKU KAILAN KAYA AKO MAGIGING TAO PARA DI NA KO KAILANGAN PANG MAGING BABOY NA MAY SARAT NA ILONG AT PEKENG LAWLAW NG DYOGA, HAY NAKU ANG HIRAP MAGING BABOY MAS MALAWAK PA TULOY AKO SA TANAWIN DITO SA PICTURE KO.”
“Peace be with you.â€Â
“Does any one of you TRULY love the LORD, our GOD?â€Â
“Does all these WICKEDNESS you say makes the LORD happy?â€Â
“Does HE agree with the EVIL things you say?â€Â
“As you CONDEMN, do you want GOD’s CONDEMNATION? Or “Do you follow GOD’s commandments? Have you FORGIVEN? As much as you also wants GOD’s forgiveness? Does anyone of you have FEAR in GOD?
“HATRED stirs up disputes, but LOVE covers all offenses.â€Â
“The path of the wicked enter not,
walk not on the way of evil men;
Shun it, cross it not, turn aside from it, and pass on.
For they cannot rest unless they have done evil;
To have made no one stumble steals away their sleep.
For they eat the bread of WICKEDNESS
And drink the wine of VIOLENCE.
The way of the wicked is like DARKNESS;
They know not on what they stumble.
But the path of the just is like shining LIGHT,
That grows in brilliance till perfect day.
“Are you following the narrow path to GOD’s Kingdom? Or are you following the wide road to MAN’s wickedness straight to eternal damnation?
“For this is the MESSAGE you have heard from the BEGINNING, We should LOVE one another.â€Â
“Let GO and Let GOD ……………. It is not for you to condemn nor judge, but is only of GOD……….., but as you FORGIVE, then you shall be FORGIVEN…….
“And if anyone still continues to DO and SAY any EVIL and does not hear the GOOD words of our LORD, he makes himself liable to GOD…….AMEN.
Well people, after all that has been said and done about Ms. Malu Fernandez and about her supposed submission of her resignation paper both from People Asia Magazine and The Manila Standard Today, surprise, surprise. Today, her column in The Manila Standard – Divalicious came out to talk about, well, “make-up.” Seems like her resignation was not accepted.
I will admit this is only the fourth article that she has written that I’ve read since the netizens shook her to her senses. The first being the People Asia Article – From Boracay to Greece, second, her Am I a Diva! Or do you lack common sense?, third, her apology and “resignation”, and today’s article in Divalicious entitled, Unseen evil on your dressing table.
Interestingly, her column which came out today, September 3, 2007, Monday did not include names of High Society personalities and Brand Names. And it was toned down. Way way down. Her article tackled on how to keep the ladies’ make-up space and equipment clean to prevent rashes, eye infections and other allergic reactions and the expiration of make-up. And also a big surprise, is she even talked about how TO SAVE on lipstick and to not be be a “label whore” since the more EXPENSIVE brands and the CHEAPER ones contains the same ingredients and costs about $0.50 to $1.00 to make. The difference in pricing in the end product lies mainly in its packaging and marketing.
For me, I’d say, judging from this latest column of hers in the Manila Standard Today, I think she has learned her lesson and learned it well.
For other netizens out there, what do you think?
Yeah, i’ve just read her new write-ups today in Manila Standard entitled “Unseen evil on your dressing table” but not the entire article – already i lost my appetite. I thought she resigned. It would only mean that her resignation was not accepted by the management and now she’s back. Well as i’ve said i lost my appetite while reading the article and they (www.tingog.com group) have my support, to BOYCOTT those 2 publications. I am also an OFW, a hardworking one. I won’t allow anybody to step on my feet and degrade our dignity. They have no idea what i’ve been through while working in this foreign land.
I sympathize with you U-boy.
I for one have friends and family who work abroad for a living. And it is disheartening at times that it tugs on my heartstrings when I talk to them on the phone or even over the internet and they hear the television or the radio in the background and they would ask to put the receiver closer to the source of the sound so just they can “hear” a little bit of home. More so if they are having problems or sick and they have no one there to care for them except other OFW’s who are free from their work schedules.
In my case, I’m not totally excluding the Manila Standard Today (MST) from my reading list. I believe there are more intelligible, sensible and credible writers in MST.
As of today, I promise myself that “Unseen evil on your dressing table” will be the fourth and last article I will read of Malu Fernandez, even if she comes out with another article displaying her “acerbic wit” and her brand of humor.
I leave it saying there will be no complete absolution nor total restitution in the absence of an equal and just amount of retribution. So there.
Yes, I was also suprised to know that this Malu Fernandez still reigns in her world!…this is a very sad development indeed!…this means that all of the effort exerted in order to hear our sentiment fell deep down the sewer!…well, what can I say more…I will just brace myself for another round of mocking from this Malu Fernandez on her next flight to kingdom come!…
Yes indeed!! Malu Fernandez triumphantly returns with full backing of her editors and publications. The last laugh is with her and she acts as if nothing happened even after countles emails and comments from all over the world. Let us continue bombarding them with our sentiments until they relent. They are the ones who started this war, let us finish it.
dear, dear malu…
i dont even know you (the whole 25,000 square meters of you), but honey, a real writer doesn’t refer to fragrances as “sense.” Good God almighty.
The anger and revulsion Malu Fernandez spat out to the OFW community is only indicative of her personal issues of anger and revulsion. Any psychologist worth his salt will tell you that each individual goes through life projecting that which he or she truly feels at his or her core. So there is no need to humiliate her any further with name-calling. She has laid bare for the entire world to see that she is a very unhappy and angry woman full of self-loathing. The Christian approach would be to pray for her personal “enlightenment” – that she moves towards a realization that she is not the “ugliness” she thinks about herself at her core. When she has made peace with who she is and has learned to love herself, her childhood defenses will crumble. She will then cease lashing out because of her personal demons.
I have heard many in the blogosphere lash out in retribution at Ms. Fernandez. Many were on-point, but the vast majority was vulgarly off-point. I suppose that is the human condition – we react when our sensibilities are so shaken that we are left simply in a state of incredulity and disbelief, until a seething anger seeps in, waiting for the most convenient outlet. I understand the anger out there, and I understand everyone’s need and right to be heard. But applying Hammurabi’s principle of “an eye for an eye” just leaves everyone blind. Perhaps what would have been more constructive is to try to understand Ms. Fernandez’ deep-seated anger, and use that as a stepping stone to understanding our own personal demons. Perhaps then, we can be a kinder and gentler blogosphere.
To the millions of OFW-heroes, there was no degradation of your dignity. You continue to sacrifice for the sake of your families and country. Very few will dispute the nobility of your actions. Victimization is a state of mind, so choose not to be one. Do not give the unfortunate Ms. Fernandez that satisfaction.
well said slaphappypappy, thanks…
Let us not try to divert the real issue: Was Malu Fernandez’s article justified? Do the OFWs in Dubai deserved to be insulted? Did Malu Fernandez has the right to use her privilege as a columnist to insult innocent people?
Well, a quezon is always known for their ‘we are above the ordinary pinoys’ attitude, ever since my dear departed lolo told us of the anecdotes featuring the late ‘president’ of the country. No surprise that the young quezon will take sides with anyone in his ‘class’ against the common masses.
i’d like to know how many invitations to x’mas dinners malu fernandez will receive this year?
I hope we can learn to forgive Malu Fernandez. I wrote an entry about her article and I hope you can find time to read it. It’s entitled “One Voice (An OFW’s reaction to Malu Fernandez’s “From Greece to Boracayâ€Â)” and I posted it here: http://lestercavestany.com/?p=10
We should have known better. The author of this blog clearly showed his true color. He is also a bigot.
she looks hideous! if i looked anything like her, i would also cut my wrist. it’s so easy to see where her angst is coming from. poorella…