Now that Christmas is over and the year is about to end, here is a look back at some of the things that caught our attention in 2017.
A lot has happened in the past year but for this list, we’re sticking to stories people couldn’t help but click share on.
Yep, below, you’ll find a collection of viral news stories that either made us cry, laugh, or cringe. From funny Zumba videos to that Malacañang photo shoot everyone’s still talking about.
See ya, 2017. Here’s to an interesting, but peaceful 2018.
Let’s start with something funny.
In October, people couldn’t get enough of this guy dancing his heart out at a Zumba class in a Cavite mall.
Seriously, look at those hip thrusts.
It was shared so much that it reached more than 2 million views in one day.
“Officially 24 hrs. After I posted this random me crashing a Zumba class. and never have I imagined that It will be reaching 2.1 Million views in one day,” Tristan Cheng, the dancing king, posted on Facebook.
Well, he’ll probably be even more shocked to find out that his videos from that Zumba sesh now have about 10 million views on Facebook.
And it doesn’t end there. A week after his first videos were posted, Cheng didn’t just go back to the class, he instructed it and led a bunch of titas (aunties) in dancing to ABBA’s Dancing Queen.
Keep on dancing, Tristan!
Now onto something that’s still hard to believe.
In September, we found out that a driver on the ride-hailing app Grab was requested to deliver a dead body to a seaport about 109 km. away.
It was shocking, to say the least, and was just one example of the many ridiculous requests taxi drivers get.
Grab drivers receive ridiculous requests such as delivering a corpse. Driver refuses but they receive bad ratings. | @jacquemanabat pic.twitter.com/jSbLRFbpKh
— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) September 28, 2017
The screenshot of the odd request was shared to reporters during a meeting between the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Talk about instagrammable.
Forget unicorn toast and unicorn Frappuccinos, in April, Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur was graced by “unicorn clouds.”
At least that’s what Facebook user Anne Elle Salikala called them when she posted the video that has now been shared more than 270,000 times.
The ultimate #nofilter.
This next one might just be the most creative way the internet has thrown shade at the government.
You know how the photo shoot pictures of Isabelle Duterte, President Rodrigo Duterte’s granddaughter, went viral? Well, from that came a bunch of memes, but nothing was as inspired as this Facebook page created solely to make fun of Malacañang, the presidential palace.
Called the Malacañang Events and Catering services, the Facebook page pokes fun at how the palace was used as a photo shoot venue. People then started to post reviews of the “catering service,” which were all thinly veiled criticisms of the government.
The page got so popular that it was taken down from Facebook, but of course, the admins were quick to remedy that and created another page.
Want to know how a viral post looks like in real life? Here it is.
In August, hundreds of people swarmed branches of burger chain Zark’s after the restaurant announced on social media that they will be offering 8-peso (US$.16) burgers for their 8th anniversary. But what they did not anticipate was how many people would avail of their promo.
While the event was pretty funny, in a crazy “I can’t believe it” sort of way, it was also criticized by some as dangerous and irresponsible.
These certainly aren’t the worst things the government did this year but they might be the weirdest.
Philippine News Agency (PNA) just couldn’t catch a break in 2017. The state-owned news organization had a few embarrassing errors, starting with that time in May when they incorrectly used a photo from the Vietnam War in a story about the war in Marawi.
Then in August, PNA used a logo of Dole Food Corporation instead of the one of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Finally, in September, screenshots of the PNA website made their rounds online after people noticed that editor notes were still appearing on top of the articles.
Read more on these stories here, here, and here.
And lastly, here’s something uplifting to inspire you for the year ahead.
In March, after almost 20 years of working as a security guard at St. Theresa’s College in Cebu City, 38-year-old Erwin Macua graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Elementary Education degree from the same school.
Before graduating, he was studying, working as a security guard, and taking care of his three children.
“Age is not a hindrance, poverty is not a hindrance. Just pursue your dream with the formula: hard work plus determination plus prayer and you will reach your aspirations in life,” Macua said.
Hear that, guys? No more excuses.
Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments below what your favorite viral story was.
