1. Alma Moreno gets interviewed by Karen Davila on ANC’s Headstart

A certified train wreck moment, that’s what Karen Davila’s Nov 11-interview with actress-turned-politician Alma Moreno is. Why? Because Moreno, who is running for senate under the United Nationalist Alliance, led by presidential hopeful Jejomar Binay, came unprepared.

Days after the live interview, the 23-minute clip was uploaded on YouTube and became viral. For us, the Davila-Moreno encounter starts getting pretty awkward at the 9:44 mark, when it becomes clear that Moreno does not have a firm grasp of the laws that she claims to be supporting.

When Davila asked her what birth control method couples should use, the flustered Moreno, who serves as Parañaque City councilor, answered with a laugh, “Kailangan laging bukas ang ilaw (The light should always be on)!”

Moreno’s mad scramble for answers that seemed to elude her is painful to watch. The public’s reaction to it varied from pity to anger over the fact that someone who could not even explain what she stood for would dare run for senator. As such, #PrayForAlmaMoreno posts flooded social media platforms.

Moreno still had her sympathizers, though. The Philippine Councilors’ League, which she heads, issued a statement saying that they supported her Senate bid.
 

2. When The Playgirls made the birthday celebration of Liberal Party member look like stag party

The antics of the risqué all-female group Playgirls at the birthday celebration of Liberal Party (LP) member and Laguna Rep. Benjie Agarao last Oct 1 caused an uproar.

The Playgirls’ antics on stage made the birthday party look more like a stag party, simulating various sexual acts with some men from the audience. They said it was all in the spirit of fun, but people still could not contain their disgust over the performance.

Initially, former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair and senatorial hopeful Francis Tolentino denied reports that he brought the Playgirls to perform at the gathering. However, he later voluntarily left the LP senatorial line-up over the so-called “Twerk Scandal.” (For clarification: they really did more than just “twerk.”)
 

3. BDO’s insensitive ads

In November, BDO ruffled a lot of feathers with its controversial print ad campaign that was supposed to encourage people to save and be part of the bank’s rewards program. However, the “encouragement technique” left a lot to be desired. Consider this: One of the ads asked, “Save the environment or save to see the world?”

BDO is the sister company of SM, which had been criticized on social media for cutting down trees in Baguio City to make way for a parking lot. Even without factoring in this controversy, the ad already seemed stupid to a lot of people.

With vitriol flooding in, BDO later issued an apology on Facebook. “We apologize that the ads have been very insensitive. The posts have since been removed and we have taken steps to resolve the matter internally.”

While the bank moved quickly to delete its posted ads, it wasn’t as quick as the people who took screen caps and reposted the ads on their respective Facebook pages, complete with personal musings on the matter.

“I’m putting it back so that we can all have a record of how shitty this company is (and the owners of the company),” Renee Karunungan said.
 

4. That time a dude waylaid a Jollibee delivery guy

A man who used the Facebook moniker, “Jay Bee” confessed on the social network that he waylaid Jollibee’s delivery guy so he could take advantage of the fastfood chain’s policy to award customers PHP200 worth of gift certificates if their order is not delivered within 20 minutes.

Jay Bee made sure the delivery was late by ignoring the calls of his building receptionist until, literally, the last minute.

By the time the delivery guy was buzzed in and at his doorstep, the poor guy was technically late. “Call me a terror,” he wrote. “They guaranteed a delivery within 20 minutes but now they’re late by a minute. Hahahaha.” Jay Bee was apparently awarded the PHP200 voucher, as he revealed that had to pay only PHP66 for his burger, spaghetti, fries, and sundae. When one of his commenters that the amount could be taken out of the delivery guy’s pay, he still proved indifferent.

People who read Jay Bee’s Facebook post were up in arms. Jollibee later had to issue a statement clarifying that they don’t make their personnel shoulder the costs of late deliveries. Jollibee reminded the public to treat their delivery guys “with the same courtesy, honesty, and respect that they deserve.”

Jay Bee seemed to relish the idea that a lot of people hated him. His behavior baffled a lot of people as he had presented himself as an “Ateneo graduate” and a “doctor” on his Facebook page. It was later revealed that he was actually a former baggage personnel of an airline with an estafa case filed against him. And, oh, “Jay Bee” isn’t even his real name. He allegedly uses the aliases Geoff Rodriguez or Brice John Wayne H. Villanueva.
 

5. Kris Aquino and her APEC encounters

During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Kris Aquino and her sisters Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, Viel Aquino-Dee, and Pinky Aquino-Abellada hosted a luncheon for the wives of 10 APEC attendees in November.

The lunch event included a tour of Intramuros, where Kris wore a beautiful Tiffany blue modern Filipiniana designed by Michael Leyva. It was a quasi-backless dress with nothing but an embroidered white beaded lace applique covering her back.

In an Instagram post, Kris complained of sunburn pain and then equated it to the perils of thousands of commuters who endured walking home and getting stranded in traffic for hours.

Part of Kris’ IG photo caption read, “Quits na tayo sa lahat ng nahirapan mag-commute these past few days, patas ang mundo, patche patche lang naman ang balat ko (Let call it quits with those who had a hard time commuting for the past few days. The world is fair, my skin now has patches).”

Naturally, people got angry at Kris’ rather insensitive post. Kris, as usual, was oblivious.

Later, when a commenter told her to try walking from Cavite to Manila in broad daylight, she suggested that the person”try walking in five-inch heels from 9am to 3pm on cobblestones.”

When yet another commenter slammed her for being insensitive, Kris quipped that she would like to give the person some “sense of humor” for Christmas.
 

6. Valkyrie’s ‘no crossdresser’ policy

In June, fashion designer Veejay Floresca and her friend Trixie Maristela were prohibited from entering Valkyrie because the club supposedly had a “no crossdresser” policy. A male bouncer adamantly refused to let Floresca in unless she could show an ID that indicated that she was female. So, Floresca showed him her California ID, which identified her as female. The bouncer and another security personnel, a woman, had a discussion. While they let Veejay in, the fashion designer heard them say, “lalaki pa rin yan”.

Floresca revealed that she and her friend, transgender Trixie Maristela had already been turned away from Valkyrie before for the same reason.

In the wake of the controversy over the denial of entry of fashion designer Veejay Floresca at Valkyrie Nightclub, the management released a statement in an attempt to clear the air.

One of the owners of Valkyrie Nightclub, Neil Arce, sent a statement to showbiz website PEP. In the statement, Arce said: “[The] Club management would like to apologize to these individuals if the denial of entry resulted in their embarrassment or made them feel disrespected in any way. The Club does not refuse entry on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation. In denying entry to these individuals, the Club’s personnel were merely adhering to its safety policies and guidelines.”

The statement went on to reiterate: “The management of Valkyrie Nightclub and The Palace Pool Club wishes to clarify that it does not discriminate against transwomen and transgender individuals. The Club does not refuse entry on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation. The Club has, on many previous occasions, welcomed transgender guests into its premises. Once again, the management of the Club apologizes to those individuals who may have felt embarrassed or disrespected in any way.”

Meanwhile, TV host Vice Ganda threatened to pull out his shares from Valkyrie following news that a transgender was denied entrance to the posh club over a “no crossdresser” policy.

In any case, if the people at Valkyrie don’t know this yet, this is what they should keep in mind: “Transgender is not a sexual orientation — it’s a gender identity.”