Monday, March 24, 2008

the latest... and sizzling hottest

Past 1am na nang makatulog ako kagabi that’s why I feel a bit grumpy today. With just 5 hours of sleep, ayaw mag-work ng utak at katawan ko in unison. Blame it on the blogsite I picked up from one of the tabloids. Balak ko sanang usyusuhin lang kasi I was so intrigued why such a blog would have an average of 36,600 visits a day! That’s 1,500 hits per hour na halos 2 months hit ng blog ko no!

Well, visiting that site at 10:30pm turned out to be a huge mistake. Coz the posts and comments sucked me in completely and before I knew it, super late na. Eh regular workday pa naman. Ironically, I was reading up on people who doesn’t have to wake up early just to go to a day job. Maybe not many of them has a day job. And I can bet my life none of them has ever had the experience being an OFW. They’d probably cringe just hearing the word.

I’m talking about Brian Gorrell’s blog http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/ . Brian who? Well, he’s the HIV positive Australian who put up this blog basically to drum up attention (bad, that is) towards his Filipino lover, a certain DJ Montano, who, according to Brian, fleeced him of US70,000 (more than 3 million pesos!).

Ang kwento ni Brian, he and DJ were lovers and he was duped by DJ into financing a restaurant business somewhere in Makati. Kaya nahuthutan sya ng $70,000 dollars. However, lumabas na walang restaurant, nawala na rin yong pera. And now the poor Aussie is asking DJ to give him back his money which he need to sustain medication for his rather expensive illness.

But beyond the fights, fits, police arrests, crying and loads of drama, it is more than a story of gay lovers gone gruesome. Kasi si DJ – as pictured by Brian – was a social-climbing jerk, kaya ang pangalan ng mga kaibigan ni DJ na nasa high society were unnecessarily dragged into the melee.

Figuring prominently is Celine Lopez who is DJ’s best friend. Kasama sya sa mga himutok ni Brian for siding with DJ. Kaya may mga kwento rin si Brian plus pictures ni Celine putting her in a rather embarrassing situation. Damay-damay na dahil nasama na ang iba pang millionaires and socialites na mga kaibigan nila (Celine and DJ). Collectively, they are tagged “Gucci Gang” na dahil jologs naman ako at hindi ‘belong’ to the crème de la crème of Manila’s finest, iilang names lang familiar sa akin like Amanda Griffin and Tim Yap. Miachael Crespo is vaguely familiar.

And although Brian’s intention was to humiliate DJ to get his money back, umanak na ng umanak yong issue. Pag may nagpo-post at nabanggit ang isang pangalan na porke kaibigan ni Celine o kaiban ng kaibigan ni Celine, ayun na, umaatikabong dissing na ang ginagawa (I don’t really know kung mga sosyal nga ang nagpo-post kasi ang spelling ng iba ay dishing! Duh!).

So it turned out na kaya hit yong blog, for two main reasons.

First is the usual Pinoy notion of pakikiramay dahil lumabas nga na agrabyado si Brian. No matter how unverified his story is, ang mga kababayan natin are more than just willing to hug him and lend a comforting word or two. Readily disowning, lambasting and heckling DJ na galing daw sa isang prominenteng pamilya in Cavite.

The second, and most controversial reason why netizens flock to the site (mind you, karamihan talaga Pinoy ang visitors), is the fact that it offered a venue where our kababayans, lalo na yong mga tulad kong intrigued sa lifestyle of the rich and famous, get juicy bits of nasty rumors tungkol sa mga taong ito courtesy of people who are supposedly in the know. Ito yong mga chismis na hindi pwedeng i-print ng kahit anong lifestyle magazine or else they will end up with multiple libel cases.

Along with those nasty rumors is the chance for our kababayans, ke jologs din silang tulad ko or talagang mga elite din, the chance to bash these socialites freely, and most importantly, anonymously.

Eto na yong opportunity to get back on these self-aggrandizing creatures who must have stepped on their toes while dancing wildly at The Embassy. O yong mga nag-taas ng kilay at umisnab sa kanila nang magkasalubong sila sa Power Plant. Or those brandishing their Louis Vuitton bags in front of somebody na can’t afford bumili kaya lumuluwa ang mata sa inggit.

And get back they did! Ayan at umuulan ng mga kwento na si ganito eh cocaine junkie, si ganitong asawa ni ganito eh bading who will do anything just for a gram of coke or a pill of ecstasy. Mga kwento at accusations na ke totoo o hindi are sure to cause sleepless nights for the names mentioned. Explosive anecdotes that can shatter someone’s reputation and destroy his/her social status.

While browsing through the comments, I realized one thing. Malalim na ang galit ng mga Pinoy sa mga mayayaman. Specially to these breed of young millionaires who are enjoying la dolce vita amidst the poverty that’s killing their fellow countrymen. The social divide can no longer be ignored. It is a reality waiting to explode right into the faces of those in both sides of the ever-widening gap.

Magpo-post sana ako ng comment just to commiserate with Bryan kung totoo nga na naloko sya. But then I had second thought. Baka hindi commiseration ang gawin ko. Pagagalitan ko pa sya kasi nagpa-uto sya ng ganon-ganon lang. Hindi na sya minor at hindi naman siya illiterate to have trusted someone with that amount of money. Or siguro, talaga lang trusting soul sya. And that trusting has now led him into the pits.

Kung totoo ito, dagdag kahihiyan na naman sa atin. Kahit lesser evil ang embezzlement compared to graft and corruption, magkaka-mag-anak pa rin yon. Iisa pa rin ang ibig sabihin, na tayo ay mga pusakal, dupang at gahaman pag pera ang pag-uusapan. Boy, what a reputation we are making at the international scene, really.

As for the socialite-bashing, well, I really don’t care. Kung may kakilala lang siguro ako sa mga name na sinasabi nila, makiki-join ako. Mudslinging at it’s finest, saan ka pa! Kaya lang I was looking for one name na sabi kamag-anak ni Elvira Manahan, hindi ko naman nakita! Pasalamat ka Orgee! Hahaahahah!!!

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