How would you feel if you read this kind of tweets (excerpted, in italics) from a certain Courtney Blooding, believed to be the manager-plus of Charice, a foreigner commenting on Filipinos welcoming American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez with open arms and open hearts:
OK, I have a legit question. I am not trying to judge or anything, I just want to know.
Here is the question…why do the Philippines claim Jessica Sanchez? Jessica was born an (sic) raised in the US. I don’t THINK she speaks Tagalog.
Which, to me makes her true American. How many people in the US come from mixed cultural backgrounds? We r a melting pot…
…Isn’t a Filipino passport kind of a big indication of citizenship and a lack of one a big indication of no citizenship?...
Clarifying that she believes that Sanchez’s fame was not at Charice’s expense, Blooding added that “it’s kind of wrong to say Jessica is part of Filipino pride when she is American before anything else...” and that she feels “insulted by the idea that Filipinos only started to recognize Charice after her success in the US...Sorry, I’m just feeling a bit indignant about the situation.” (Question: So where was Blooding when Charice was a nobody? Didn’t she come into Charice’s life only after Charice became popular?)
Like many of those who reacted to Blooding’s tweets, I, too, to borrow her words, feel “insulted” by and “indignant” about a foreigner who is not just “tweeting” but already twitting the taste and attitude of her so far generous and kind host (yes, the Philippines). She’s the same woman who once dismissed the Philippine media as “irresponsible” for not knowing what her nationality is. How would we know when nobody even knows her?
Isn’t she going too far and abusing Philippine hospitality by scolding Filipinos and dictating to them what to do and what to think? The nerve! How would you feel if your houseguest took you to task for not serving meals on a silver platter and covering your windows with curtains and not with Venetian Blinds?
Tell us, madam, who would we rather be proud of, a girl who even if born and raised in America and holding an American passport is proud of her Filipino heritage and has remained Filipino in looks even if she admitted not knowing how to speak Tagalog? Or a girl who was born and raised in the Philippines but who, after she made a name on a foreign land, brazenly forgot her origins, changed not only her looks (hair and all) but also her accent (phony!)? A girl who embraces her “Filipino-ness” even if she was raised American or a girl who has virtually renounced her “Filipino-ness” and obviously assumed a glaringly fake American identity?
Next time she lets loose a mouthful, Blooding should heed a basic Pinoy reminder — bumusina ka muna! — so that she won’t offend the “natives.”
Can Charice educate her manager-plus about the kagandahang-asal of Filipinos?
(E-mail reactions at entphilstar@yahoo.com. You may also send your questions to askrickylo@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)