‘Arci Muñoz, sayang…maganda na, pumangit pa!’

LOOKING for a resto for the traditional (or superstitious) “pagpag” coming from a recent wake ay napadpad kami sa may bandang San Juan housed at a building complex.

To get to the doorstep of the resto sa gawing kanan is a flight of steps, quite an ordeal para sa aming hirap lumakad. But we’ve heard about the place na nu’n lang namin makakainan for the first time.

Indeed, it was a stopover with another “first.”
First time rin kasing tumambad sa amin ang isang kilalang babaeng personalidad whose pictures we only see on scattered billboards.

Nasa larangan siya ng pagpapaganda, but her name plays second fiddle to the more popular ones na kilala nating lahat.
Far-sighted, malayo pa lang ay nakilala namin siya agad. Or shall we say, hindi rin namin siya nakilala what with the major, major changes in her face.

By major, major, we mean, disastrous – of catastrophic proportions.

In fairness, she was sweet, cordial and gracious. Pero ilang dipa na ang layo namin patungo sa aming napiling upuan, our eyes couldn’t bear to look away from where she was comfortably seated.

Siguro, had we been friends a long time ago, her sight of us in a limping gait would certainly make her ask with a tone of genuine concern, “O, what happened to your lakad?” At ang isasagot namin na may halo namang pag-aalala ay, “O, what happened to your face?”

Ang kaibahan nga lang, meron kaming isasagot sa tanong niya while she would perhaps evade the question she thought was demeaning.

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Pasensiya na sa sobrang haba ng pasakalyeng ito gayong ang tinutumbok namin is the question we’d also like to eagerly ask Arci Muñoz: What happened to your face?

Arci is now at the receiving end of cyberbullying makaraang lumabas ang kanyang post-cosmetic enhancement photos.
Kahit itanggi pa niya—which she did—ay hindi maikakaila na there has also been a major, major change in her looks.
Again, by that we mean, disastrous din.

With her lips worse than having been stung like a drone of bees, ibang-iba na ang itsura ni Arci compared to how naturally beautiful she looked before.

Nakapagtataka lang na para sa isang maganda nang babae tulad ni Arci, undergoing such a procedure would be unnecessary.
Sa halip kasi na ma-achieve niya ang mas mataas na antas ng kagandahan, it’s her “kagagahan” that made her look how she looks now.

From a different angle, hindi ang namayapang si Jacko ang tingin namin sa kanya. Lalong hindi sila nagkakahawig ni Madame Auring who failed to consult with the stars—isama na ang buong solar system at galaxy—what she’d like after the scientific method na pinagdaanan niya.

To us, Arci strikes as a spitting image of Alma Concepcion, sa shape ng mukha at sa mga labi. Almang-alma ang itsura niya ngayon para sa amin, na inaalmahan din ng mga netizens who see neither reason nor rhyme behind her pagpaparetoke dahil maganda naman ang hitad.

Maikukumpara natin ang kasong ito—along with other similar cases—sa kasabihang, “Pera na, naging bato pa.” Maganda na, pumangit pa.

Are Arci’s facial magicians to blame? Partly yes. Pero si Arci pa rin should bear the brunt of it all.

Her hair may smell terrific, but her face looks terrible.