Juan Country

Reacting to the photo of him buying liquor at Rustan’s the day after Ondoy, Rep. Mikey Arroyo lashed out against his critics and said that Facebook and other similar mediums should be regulated. In his response, Arroyo said that it was impossible for him to buy the liquor at the height of the storm because the roads were impassable. He goes on to explain that he was in Malacanang helping out in the relief operations for his constituents in Pampanga.

Let me just share some of my thoughts on this issue:

- The original caption of the picture said that he was spotted the day after Ondoy, not during the storm. Obviously no one would be out of their homes at the height of the typhoon.

- Facebook and other forms of social media regulated? Come on Mikey. Where are we? Iran? This is the Philippines for crying out loud! Think about doing this only when Martial Law is declared.

- His insinuation that bloggers and Facebook users are not helping in the relief operations is just plain stupid. The reason why volunteerism among the youth is so high is precisely because of the popularity of the internet and social networks.

- He says that stories like this are “masahol pa sa kwentong barbero.” Excuse me sir but there is not story that stinks more than your claim that your SALN is legit. Have you forgotten already about how Winnie Monsod ripped you apart on national television?

Here’s the article posted at the Daily Tribune:

Mikey lashes out at Facebook bloggers
09/30/2009

Presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo yesterday lashed out at bloggers of a popular Web site who posted his picture describing him as a callous public official busy shopping for alcoholic drinks even at the height of Typhoon “Ondoy’s” wrath last Saturday.

In a text message, the young Arroyo, though not denying it was him on the picture posted at Facebook, said it was rather impossible for him to stop by at Rustan’s Supermarket on Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City last Saturday to pick up some wines as the bloggers suggest as the street was rendered impassable by the floods. “My picture posted at Facebook with a caption saying I was busy shopping for wine at the height of Typhoon Ondoy is another malicious attack at my personality. It is so depressing,” Arroyo said. “How could that be possible that I was at Rustan’s on Katipunan Avenue at the height of Typhoon Ondoy when Katipunan Avenue was impassable at that time?”

The presidential son claimed at the height of the typhoon, he was at Malacañang Saturday with all members of his families helping mobilize rescue and relief operations for areas affected by the storm.

“On record, I was in Malacañang at that time with all my family trying to mobilize rescue and relief operations for people of Metro Manila and for my constituents in my district in Pampanga,” Arroyo said.

“It’s so unfortunate that while we were so busy then trying to help ease the sufferings of our kababayan, some people had the guts and the temerity to peddle malicious innuendos at the expense of others,” he added.

The Pampanag solon suggested instead of resorting to grandstanding gimmickry at his expense, the bloggers should also busy themselves helping their countrymen who are still reeling from the effects of the worst natural calamity the country had experienced in decades.

“Kahit ang anak ko namimigay ng relief goods. Sana sila din may nagawa para makatulong sa ating mga kababayan na naging biktima ng kalamidad. Diyos na ang bahala sa kanila,” Arroyo said. “Basta ako, I still have so many things to do to help our poor countrymen who were severely affected by Typhoon Ondoy. This is not the time to deal with people who are peddling half-truths and half-lies para lang sumikat.”

While acknowledging that blogging, the latest craze to hit the Internet, is an exercise of freedom of expression, Arroyo said he believes it should still be regulated as it has become more susceptible to abuses by unscrupulous people.

“Nonetheless, I hope that Facebook and other like mediums be regulated so they can never be subjected to abuse by some scrupulous people. Facebook is easily susceptible to abuses as people can easily hide their identities,” he stressed. “Masahol pa sila sa kwentong barbero.” Charlie V. Manalo

The reason why the picture got so popular and it went around the interwebs is precisely because the people are so concerned with the relief operations that they got insulted when they saw what was in the photo. If I may quote an article published on ABS-CBN Interactive:

It was difficult not to get involved. Two days before, on Saturday, those of us online received word of stranded friends in Ateneo after Katipunan Avenue succumbed to a deluge, rendering the road impassable.

Ondoy then was starting to flood the metro, at a rate that would soon be marked as one of the fastest in Philippine history.

Friends stranded in Ateneo, and even we who were safe at home, lost their cellphone signals, and resorted to posting status messages on our Plurk, Twitter, and Facebook accounts.

In my case, my Facebook was flooded with messages and status updates of friends requesting that we contact their families to see if they were safe, and vice versa.

While I feared for my friends who were stranded, and those who had family members missing, I was equally thankful for those kind souls who offered help on the Web.

Before I knew it, Facebook became a live, updated stream not of quiz results or game updates, but rather of Ateneans — and non-Ateneans, too — helping each other contact family members, sending calls for rescue, or soliciting donations for the relief operations that were immediately established in our student leadership center.

This is the same building where our stranded schoolmates slept for the night.

If you compiled all the updates on Facebook, you would not even need to read the news websites. Everything was there: everyone was posting snippets of information; everyone was telling each other where a person could be found; everyone was recommending what would be the best way to help, or otherwise searching for a way.

A friend who’s now a reporter for TV posted in his Facebook that it was a great time to be a journalist at this time of crisis, when there are a lot of people that can’t immediately be reached by the government and would thus need media intervention.

If by any chance his office or Mikey himself gets to read this post, let me extend an invitation to have coffee with him. In fact, I can even organize a blogger event for him for free. I’d love to meet the guy in person and hear what he has to say face-to-face about all of the issues thrown his way. I’ll also take advantage of that opportunity to brief him about social media and the internet.

UPDATE: Here’s an excerpt of an article that was recently posted on Inquirer.Net:

“My picture was posted on Facebook with a caption saying I was shopping for wine at the height of [Storm] ‘Ondoy.’ [This] is another malicious attack on my person. It is so depressing,” Arroyo wrote in an e-mail response to the Facebook post which has appeared in several blogs.

The original post had the following caption: “Was buying food for keeps… then we saw Mikey Arroyo in Rustan’s liquor section asking the salesman for a brand of hard alcoholic drink. Effin’ crazy! Just a few kilometers away from Katipunan, people are needing help for search and rescue, and there he was buying bottles of alcohol. See for yourself and tell me what you think.”

The picture showed a man’s profile with his back to the viewer looking at rows of alcohol inside what appears to be a liquor store.