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Sunday, November 14, 2004
Cabaero: E-mail hoax of the year
By Nini B. Cabaero
I was willing to be shamed for not believing her story. I was willing to apologize for my skepticism.
I was among the many who got the e-mail message titled "Misplaced priorities can mislead a nation" that went around during the All Saints' Day weekend. But, yesterday, that e-mail turned out to be the e-mail hoax of the year.
The e-mail was on a girl named Faye (last name not given then) and her travails to winning for the country the distinction of topping an international science quiz in Australia. The e-mail said she and her mother suffered a series of bad luck.
It said the mother and daughter did not get the support of government, were gypped by a Filipino woman and had to sell their clothes to get to the quiz venue. They had nothing with which to decorate the Philippine booth, yet they won. Faye topped the contest and it was with the help of the Japanese embassy, not Philippine embassy, in Australia that they were able to return home.
As some said, what was missing in the e-mail story was that when mother and daughter returned home, they found their house razed to the ground.
Too much bad luck, you might as well end it with another.
There were many who doubted the story. I was one of them. So, I was pleasantly surprised when national newspapers last week featured Faye and her story. Faye Nicole San Juan, 12. Her winning and everything else in the e-mail were true, the newspapers said. Until yesterday's report debunked earlier confirmations.
A letter by the Bread of Life, to which Faye and mother belonged, said the e-mail story was not true, after all. A check with the Department of Science and Technology, Immigration, the passport office and the Philippine embassy in Australia also showed there was no truth to the claims of Faye and her mother.
True or not, one lesson from this is the need to take e-mail messages with a grain of salt, an antidote to stupidity.
***
The Multi-purpose Cooperative for Journalists and Media Workers or C4J yesterday said the killing of MindaNews photo editor Gene Boyd R. Lumawag was an attack on independent journalism.
In a statement, it said Lumawag's killing proved how some people could not stomach the practice of independent journalism exemplified by the Mindanao media cooperative Lumawag worked for.
Lumawag, 26, was shot dead Friday night in Jolo, Sulu, while on a photo assignment. He was a son of Sun.Star Davao photographer Rene Lumawag.
MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center chaired by Davao journalist Carolyn O. Arguillas. As a media cooperative, it is owned and managed by journalists.
(ninicab@sunstar.com.ph)
(November 14, 2004 issue)
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