LET’S call a spade a spade. Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia is a strong woman. She has a strong personality that’s why she survived in the male-dominated world of politics. Call her “mataray” or “maldita,” but that is her character. You remove that trait from her, she is not Gwen.
An official of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) central office has called the attention and reminded Gwen for publicly shaming a virtually unknown netizen from Ocana, Carcar City during one of her daily press conferences last week for allegedly commenting against the governor on the social media.
CHR spokesperson lawyer Jacqueline De Guia said: “We seek to remind public officials—elective or appointive—that they are bound by high standards of ethics in public service. They must perform their duties with utmost responsibility, integrity, and respect and shall be accountable to the people they are serving.”
A certain Maricar Caballes was the subject of Gwen’s ire after the former aired her sentiments in the Capitol’s Facebook account for not receiving any relief goods from the Capitol when the entire province was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Maricar claimed her family was hungry when they neither received relief goods nor cash assistance from the Capitol. She allegedlyblamed and called the governor “corrupt” and “bogo” (dumb).
Maricar raised a legitimate valid issue. What triggered Gwen’s ire was the side comments of Maricar accusing the governor of corruption and being dumb. Mao toy nakapaulbo sa kaspa sa gobernador (caught the governor’s ire). Had Maricar not made those side comments, I think Gwen would have been very kind and professional enough to answer Maricar concerns. Though Gwen has a strong personality, she still is a sensitive human and can feel the pain of being accused of any wrongdoing. Bisan man gani ang pinaka-mabangis nga hayop sa lasang, masakitan pa man gani. Matod pa sa drama sa radio: “Hayop ka man, mohilak ka usab.”
With a woman’s wrath within her, Gwen went overboard by shaming Maricar, giving details about her personal life and physical appearance. SunStar quoted Gwen: “For many of us, for a long time, we just suffer in silence. Sila maoy naay edge namo kay tawgon mig kurakot, tawgon mig ngil-ad nga pangalan, tawgon mig wakwak, tawgon mig abat, wala gyud mi mahimo. Walay maka-censor nila. They’re the ones who have an edge over us. And unless we retaliate this way, how else will this at least be abated because it continues to be unabated.”
Did Gwen go down to the level of an unknown netizen? Well, maybe. But Gwen just wanted to teach some lessons to social media users using the platform to air their sentiments against officials in the name of “freedom of speech” without thinking the repercussions. Some are abusing the platform such as those spreading fake news for personal agenda. Gwen is just giving Maricar a dose of her own medicine. Way sukod sa bawos. (Google translation: “Revenge has no measure”). Morag “let’s see the scattered” (makitang katag).
We should use this platform responsibly. When using social media, it is a common assumption that users are responsible for their content, including posts, comments, likes, shares, tweets, re-tweet, follows and favorites.
That is why we have cyber libel and other cyber laws, which control the abusive use of the social media. Just a friendly reminder to social media users, think before you click, share and write your content.