MANILA, 24 August 2007 — A writer for Manila Standard Today and People Asia magazine resigned her positions from both publications yesterday amid an uproar sparked by an article she wrote that disparaged Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Malu Fernandez herself announced her resignation in a press statement, apologizing for her offensive column that has elicited thousands of angry remarks from bloggers and e-mail users around the world.
In an article titled “From Boracay to Greece” that People Asia magazine published in June, Fernandez told of her unusual Holy Week vacation in which she flew to Greece on a spur of the moment and ended up on the economy class onboard an Emirates flight, which was packed with OFWs.
The plane she was on made a stopover in Dubai, and it was her written observations there that got her in trouble.
“I forgot that the hub (of Emirates Airlines) was in Dubai and the majority of OFWs were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them,” she wrote in her column.
She claimed this was aggravated when one of her fellow passengers spoke to her and said “Hey there? Where are you from? Are you a domestic helper as well?”
Fernandez wrote that due to the huge number of OFWs in the plane wearing cheap perfumes, the expensive perfume she had on evaporated into thin air. “I had resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while my Jo Malone evaporated into thin air,” Fernandez boasted.
Despite the negative reactions to her initial article, Fernandez wrote in her succeeding column in the Manila Standard Today that she was only being true to herself.
“Many people often find my direct attitude to be rude or obnoxious. I really don’t mean to be anything but true to myself.”
“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!” she said.
Skewered and Roasted
The response to Fernandez was swift and unforgiving, with almost everyone throwing every kind of insult against her.
Angry bloggers called her a pig, in reference to her being grossly overweight, and some suggested that she be skewered and roasted (litsunin).
A special blog was created (http://selvo.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/mahaderang-matapobre-sa-ofws) to compile comments against Fernandez.
Also in the forefront of the campaign against Fernandez were Filipino media practitioners based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who wrote a petition to the management of Manila Standard Today and People Asia, demanding action against their writer.
“While we, the Filipino Press Club in the UAE, believe in press freedom and the wide latitude given to writers in expressing their conscience, we believe that Ms. Fernandez and her editors overstepped the bounds of responsibility with these stories,” said the group headed by senior reporter Jay Hilotin of Gulf News.
“To suggest all Dubai-based OFWs smell awful because they are unable to afford expensive perfumes like the one she’s wearing is high-brow snobbery. It is the same snobbery stamped on the psyche of some members of the Philippine society’s elite that has caused the yawning gap between our rich and poor, and the economic exodus of which millions of us Filipinos have now become a part,” said the group in an open letter to the two Manila-based publications.
“We are already having a hard time here working under the hot climate, then we get a strong below the belt blow by our own kabayan who has totally no idea on being an OFW,” Francis Sangalang, an engineer, wrote from Dubai.
Another OFW wrote: “I seldom come across articles that bring my blood pressure up to a record high. This article by Malu Fernandez has led me to set a new personal record. To say that this is ‘nakakakunsumi’ (irritating) is an understatement of the highest degree.”
Florencio Laron wrote from Saudi Arabia and said, “All I have to say is that may-breeding siya — masama nga lang — (she is ill-bred) and she doesn’t deserve to be a Filipino.”
“This is bigotry at its purest. What’s worst is she did it to her fellow Filipinos. The bad part is her pathetic attempt to justify what she wrote,” said another OFW using an alias.
Humbled
Yesterday, a “humbled” Fernandez admitted in her statement that she was slow in realizing what trouble her article had caused. “I am deeply apologetic for my insensitivity and the offensive manner in which this article was written, I hear you all and I am properly rebuked. It was truly not my intention to malign hurt or express prejudice against OFWs.
“As the recent recipient and target of death threats, hate blogs, and deeply personal insults, I now truly understand the insidiousness of discrimination and prejudice disguised as humor. Our society is bound together by human chains of kindness and decency. I have failed to observe this and I am now reaping the consequences of my actions.
“It is my fervent hope that the lessons that I’ve learned are not lost on all those who through anonymous blogs, engaged in bigotry, discrimination, and hatred (against overweight individuals, for example).
“I take full responsibility for my actions and my friends and family have nothing to do with this. To date I have submitted my resignation letters to both the Manila Standard and People Asia, on that note may this matter be laid to rest,” she said.
Adolfo Ares Gutierrez, a desk editor at Gulf News, noted that Fernandez seemed to be “still trying to justify her act” but the campaign was “in a way, victorious.”
“The damage has been done but it’s enough consolation that she resigned,” added Cesar Valondo in an e-mail.
