THE complainant referred to this writer involving a group of graduating MassCom students (through fellow writer Maricris Nicasio) is something every millennial in school can relate to.
Mula sa University of Caloocan City ang mga teenager na ito whose final project was to mount a symposium kung saan ang paksa ay kung paanong nababago ng social media ang buhay ng kabataan. In the light of current news, this group had no other celebrity in mind except the controversial Xander Ford, himself a victim of cyber bullying.
Totally ignorant of the industry practice ay kinagat nila ang ikinowt na presyo ng management office (Star Image) ni Xander through a certain Vince Jeremias. Sitenta mil para sa isa’t kalahating oras na pagsasalita bilang resource person ang unang turing sa kanila.
Makaraan ang ilang tawaran, the amount was reduced to P20,000 pero limang minuto na lang ang katapat ng serbisyo ni Xander. Dahil mga estudyante, they needed ample time to raise the funds, half of which ay kinailangan nilang ideposito (as per Vince’s instructions) to a designated bank. The group did just that.
It was until the group had spoken to people in the know na nagsabing malaking halaga pa rin ‘yon samantalang puwede namang honorarium lang ang ibigay kay Xander. To top it all, Star Image was not dealing with a corporate client which could afford to pay Xander even much more.
Mga mag-aaral ito mula sa isang government-owned school na possible pa ngang kapos sa kanilang pang-araw-araw na baon but still manage to go to school. Apparently, Star Image was impervious to this sad reality.
Sa paksang ito umikot ang Tuesday edition ng “Cristy Ferminute.” Having been the direct recipient of the screen-grabbed communication between the group and Vince ay kami ang naglatag ng facts of the case na sinundan ng pagbibigay namin ng opinyon nina Tita Cristy Fermin at Wendell Alvarez.
Fast track. Habang nagraradyo kami noong Martes ay nagsadya ang grupo ng mga mag-aaral na ‘yon sa Star Image office para bawiin ang down payment since kinansela na nila ang event at hindi na kayang bayaran pa ang balanseng P10,000. But the office stood its ground it wouldn’t return the money. Worse, ipinagtabuyan at binulyawan pa raw sila ng sekretarya ru’n.
In the sanctimonious name of fairness ay inalam namin ang contact number ng isa sa mga staff ng Star Image to find out if they acceded to the refund o tuluyan na bang nalusaw ang kanilang sampung libong piso.
We were able to get the mobile phone number and land line of a certain David Cabauatan who we contacted immediately.
Initially, our phone convo went well until we had to tell him na alam na namin ang kanyang mga sinasabi, short of saying we were simply wasting our time listening to a story we already knew. Ang simple-simple lang naman kasi ng gusto naming marinig: ire-refund ba nila ‘yung P10,000 sa mga estudyante?
To cut the story short, nagtapos ang aming usapan (who should watch his grammar, huh!) nang ‘di maayos. Before I knew it, I was raising my voice as I couldn’t stand such an idiotic mind na, mabuti pa ang mga baklang mujerista sa Q & A segment sa It’s Showtime!
When he threatened to hang up on me ay inunahan ko na ang David na ‘yon. Shortly, sunud-sunod ang mga text messages. Kesyo binabaan na raw nila ang TF ni Xander to P15,000 matuloy lang daw ang event kahit may natanguan daw silang ibang commitment. Kesyo hindi na raw nila ipo-forfeit ang sampung libo as their kind consideration kuno!
Finally, ang huling text message nu’ng David ay isosoli na lang daw nila ‘yung pera pero pinahirapan pa nila ‘yung mga estudyante! Ke bagu-bago n’yo pa lang, ganyan na kayo kung umasta? At mamili naman kayo ng peperahan n’yong kliyente, ‘no! Pagkakitaan ba ang mga pobreng estudyante?!