Filipinas Slam “Francesca in France”

Friday, April 10, 2009

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is to be read with a grain of salt. Please don’t accuse me of causing trouble. Huwag po. I’m just reporting events as I see them.

I was checking my blog referral stats when I saw an increase of visits to a May 2008 blog post titled “Igorot Slur on a Filipino blog”. I decided to investigate and was amused to find an animated discussion at a Friendster Group forum. The topic is in the form of a question – “Anu feeling niyo kung kapwa mo pilipino insultuhin ng kapwa niya pilipino?” (How would you feel if a Filipino insults a fellow Filipino?) The original topic post put a link to a Filipina maid’s blog called “Francesca in France”. In a post on May 2008, the blogger wrote on how difficult it is to work with the BIR Tax Registration in the Philippines, and out of nowhere, she vented her frustrations on the Igorot people in a totally uncivilized manner. “Is he an Igorot, that’s why he doesn’t understand the importance of paper works and time?” And later in her post, she wrote, “… baka nga Igorot eto? I don’t have any goat or hen to pay him...”

It was almost a year ago when I found out about this. I immediately wrote the blogger (whom I shall call, Francesca in France) and kindly requested that she change her remarks because it was offensive. I did that to prevent any heated debates on her blog. She didn’t heed my suggestion. So, I wrote a blog post as a reaction. (Read my reaction to Francesca in France posted on May 2008). I just recently visited her blog and was astonished at the outpouring of protests to her derogatory remarks, both from Igorots and non-Igorots from around the world.

Back to the Friendster Topic – a lady from Abra posted a link to Francesca in France’s offending blogpost at the Friendster Group Forum for “Filipino Spouses/Fiancee of Foreigner”. The first initial reactions in the topic slammed Francesca in France as being “idiotic”, “arrogant”, “ignorant”, “disrespectful”, and “stupid”. One poster even noted that after Francesca in France wrote the post and was ridiculed by a lot of visitors, she had a bunch of unfortunate events happening to her in real-life – a breast operation, being fired as a maid, and her daughter was denied a French visa. It was also noted that Francesca in France was apparently trying to bribe the BIR staff who rightfully declined.

Things heated up furthermore when Francesca in France enlisted the help of her daughter to sign up for a Friendster account and join the group. After all, she may have felt entitled to do so as she is married to a French national. It was clear that her main intention was to join the discussion forum. And discuss she did - like the way she insulted the Igorot people, she started barking around like a madwoman. Her first sentence was “sikat pala ako dito”. And she further ranted about the topic (her error) being “close to stop” and doing what you like in your own website, and finally at the end of her first post, shamelessly promoting her blog.

That got some respectable members of the group to denounce her “stubborn”, “indiscrete”, “self-absorbed” and “haughty” soul. I never saw so many superlatives as this group of women tried to help Francesca in France see the error of what she has written. But she would have none of it; instead, she accused a member of the group she just joined of being a trouble maker. She said “to open a topic about the igorots linking my site to this site, is looking for trouble. You should know better. People were hurt already about the past. Your motivation is to pin me down. But the igorots are in the middle of it.” As a challenge, she retorted, “you girls try to make a blog, you will understand me... if you got brains to do it, of course.”

That started another round from the other Filipina ladies. A lady pointed out that her roommate at a college dorm was an Igorota who was a Magna Cum Laude Math major. Francesca in France was declared to be suffering from dementia, along with being a “maldita”. Though feisty may Francesca in France be, the other posters simply articulated better, argued intellectually, and were a class better in being humorous, sly, and witty. If it were a boxing match, Francesca in France was knocked out senseless at the opening bell.

An interesting twist happened when a member of the group started defending Francesca in France. It turns out that her defender had a history of being kicked out from Friendster (don’t ask what she did), and she was already on her eighth account just to be able to post. (Now, that’s what I would call pathetic). Furthermore, this lady referred to those opposing Francesca in France as “futha”, a play on the Tagalog word meaning prostitute.

She too, joined Francesca in France sprawling on the canvass as she got hit by a barrage of adjectives worthy of an English major’s textbook. Both were branded as “loathsome”, “despicable”, “fool”, “thoughtless”, “imbecile”, “illiterate”, having “teeny-weeny brains”, “supporting discrimination” and employing “futile, unintelligent antics”. Even Francesca in France’s real name didn’t escape the Filipina group’s ire. Amalia, was rebranded as a-MALI-a, with “mali” being the Tagalog word for “mistake”. That got some of the ladies giggling.

Right now, the topic stands to be the most discussed in recent group topics with 245+ responses. As of this writing, Francesca in France and her friend are furiously backpedalling with posts that are awkwardly reconciliatory. They sound like two beaten mongrels, with their tails behind their legs, licking their wounded egos, and waving little white flags. “Tama na pooooooooo!”, they silently wail.

Related Link: The forum discussion at Friendster
Next Post: Life Lessons on the “Francesca in France” Blunder

12 comments:

Kayumanggi April 11, 2009 at 11:01 AM  

This is just so funny. I read part of the forum and I'm angry at how kapal the mukha of these two ladies are. The "futha" lady goes by the nickname of THINA of Iowa, but is actually CHRISTINA S******* from Schenectady, NY. Maybe she has something to hide that's why she masks her identity. They deserve each other. Birds of the same feather flock together. In their case, mongrels of the same low breed, go together.

Anonymous April 11, 2009 at 3:55 PM  

This Francesca in France lady thinks she can bring her way of talking to her circle of friends to the Internet. She is ridiculed for doing so. Its a lesson to all bloggers that just because you are okay with your friends, doesn't mean you are also well with the online community. Medyo narrow minded ang approach ni Francesca when it comes to blogging and the Internet. Sayang, she has a lot of good stories pa mandin to tell. It's being ruined because of one bad post.

Anonymous April 13, 2009 at 12:01 AM  

Hihihi. Para akong nag-babasa ng isang blow-by-blow account sa boksing ni Manny Pacquaio.

- Camilla

Anonymous April 13, 2009 at 1:19 AM  

I love your way of narrating the whole story. You got a good summary of what happened at Friendster.

Well,we just hope that this will serve as a lesson for those who are too quick to open their mouths (or make fun of others weaknessess) as normally things you spit out will always get back to you...

-wena

Val April 13, 2009 at 5:46 PM  

I love this post. It is very nicely written. There's a lot of Filipinas who represent the Philippines well; meron ding mga mabantot na itlog katulad ni a-MALI-a tsaka ni Thina Fhuta. But I think the world knows that they are a minority. Long Live the IGOROTS!

SaGaDa-iGoRoT April 14, 2009 at 1:55 PM  

Kayumanggi, i wonder what the ***** stands for in the family name of Thina.

Anonymous April 11, 2009 3:55 PM, Exactly my point. See my other blog post on Lessons from the "Francesca in France" blunder.

Camilla, yep, I'm practising for the next Pacquiao match. I'll be doing some live blogging for it... hehehe, baka maniwala ka.

Wena, kudos to the Friendster ladies for standing up for what is right.

Val, "There's a lot of Filipinas who represent the Philippines well" - 1000% agree.

Francesca April 15, 2009 at 7:20 PM  

sus, kayo naman, nonstop na ba eto? Pinapasikat nyo lang ako, remember, ahihihiii.

Uy, nakita ko tong post mo because of visiting fs fOrum.

I allow time to heal wounds, and see the rest on where this tOpic leads to.
if this is for peace or for "fun"?
time only can tell.
Meanwhile, visit my blog, learn basic french, bloggers, it is real fun and informative....

and the code os this comment: Pards

Pards ko na kayo.

SaGaDa-iGoRoT April 16, 2009 at 12:39 PM  

Amy, aka Francesca in France, thanks for the invite to visit your blog. And, welcome to this blog too.

Kristine November 11, 2009 at 2:52 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kristine November 13, 2009 at 3:11 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous August 15, 2010 at 11:58 AM  

For some reasons, Igorots have been always a center of discrimination among non - Igorots Filipinos who are totally ignorant about who we are especially if they never dealt with someone who is an Igorot throughout their lives. Unfortunately, some even refused to be a friend to an Igorot which is sad and it's because of how they have been raised in their small little world but surprisingly, there are a lot of non - Igorots who prefer Igorots to be their friends too.
Fellow Igorots, let's take this discriminatory act by this certain blogger in a very positive way and get reminded of the saying " little learning is very dangerous". Obviously, she does not have any clue who Igorots are. We did not lose anything but she did. Sometimes, other people look us down because of their illiteracy about IGOROTS. One example of this illiteracy is some people from the Southern Philippines still sadly believe that Igorots have tails. I was watching a movie with a group of non - Igorots at work one time and on the movie, there was a gorilla looking character and all of a sudden, someone from the Visayan Island said, " Oh ! Good for the Igorots, they can play a role in a movie ". I got stunned and looked at her and reminded her that I am an Igorot and made her aware that Igorots are people just like her. She felt very ridiculed right in there that she cried and asked for a big apology. She finally confessed that's how she had been taught while growing up in her own bisayan culture. Now I want to challenge every Igorot to educate our fellow countrymen who we are and why we are very proud to say that we are Igorots.
On the other hand, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of other ethnic groups other than Igorots by not uttering any negative remarks about them too. They will get hurt as much as we do.
I have read an upcoming novel written by an American Igorot here in the US with the title, " Igorotak ! Warrior Within " that will be released very soon. I don't have any idea what's all about but the writer of this novel had an article published in the newspaper in Chicago proclaiming how proud and lucky he is finding his Igorot heritage after 30 years. I assumed that his upcoming novel has something to do with being proud to be an Igorot and being a Filipino too. I have been reading positive remarks on the web about this book from Filipinos of different cultural backgrounds and so I do believe that it should be a good book for everyone.

Anonymous June 4, 2011 at 9:20 PM  

saan ak nga full blooded igorot... Ngem igorot blood runs in my veins... I live in france, Nice is a couple of hours away... maybe I can earn my right to have a chaklig batok afterall...
Nevertheless, come to think of it, reading her statements on her blogs clearly shows her lack of command of the english language, et je suis sur que son français est encore pire!!! (I am sure her french is even worse). An estimated IQ of 85? The ancestors won't be pleased to have an empty head for an offering...
Of course, this is all allegorical... but one thing is for sure, don't you ever try to teach a pig to sing, it will only waste your time and annoys the pig.
As I've said I am not an IGOROT but I'd be a prouder man if I was one!!!