The Curious Case of Jacque Bermejo

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The web is buzzing with the latest controversy regarding an alleged tactless comment made by a Filipina allegedly named Jacque Bermejo. The inappropriate comment was posted allegedly in her own facebook account. The comment was in Filipino. The comment was allegedly accusing the Filipino people as sinners thus the penalty earned from the onslaught of Typhoon Ketsana (locally named Ondoy). More than 200 Filipinos have died. 80% of Metro Manila was underwater. More than 400,000 people are homeless. Millions and millions of pesos worth of properties destroyed. According to this Jacque Bermejo (based on the middle east), the Filipinos deserved such as punishment for being "sinners".

There are now two sides to the story. There is the side of the "believers", who are convinced that it was Jacque Bermejo herself who made those comments and reactions in her facebook account. Then there is the side of the "unconvinced", who thinks that Jacque Bermejo was just a victim of trolling.

Even before this could be clarified, many Filipinos worldwide were already up in arms against Jacque Bermejo. Hate blogs and Hate websites appeared like mushrooms in the world wide web, reposting what Jacque allegedly posted in her facebook account.

So far, no one can no longer access the alleged facebook account that was used nor is her personal multiply account (starfishbuang.multiply.com). According to some bloggers, Jacque Bermejo was just a victim of trolling; that those multiply and facebook accounts were not really maintained by the real Jacque Bermejo but by people who wanted to malign her reputation (for whatever reason we don't know). Whether this is true or not, we cannot be sure. What I just want to ask is, if indeed those social network sites were not real and were in fact put up months before this controversy erupted, why was the real Jacque Bermejo unable to pick it up? Or her friends for that matter. If her friends knew long before that there were fake multiply accounts being circulate in the net to malign the real Jacque Bermejo, how come they did not inform Jacque nor did they file a complaint at Multiply admin to delete the fake and slanderous account?

Another theory according to some bloggers is that it could have been that the trolling issue was just a way of damage control.

Whatever the truth is, damage has been done. If the facebook account was indeed a troll, then the haters of Jacque Bermejo have accomplished their mission. If the facebook account was indeed an authentic account of the real Jacque Bermejo, then she has completely ruined her social life. Of course, as proven throughout history, the Filipino people is a forgiving people. Perhaps, what the real Jacque Bermejo could do is put out a public statement in the net to either dispute the comments and tell the world that she was just a victim herself or say sorry and admit to her tactlessness. In my opinion, her breaking her silence is but necessary.

So, will the real Jacque Bermejo please stand up?

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