Whether these photos are old or new is beside the point, it’s still epal-ism
You’ve seen the photos being passed around on Facebook and Twitter: relief goods in white plastic bags emblazoned with the seal of the Office of the Vice President.
Verified or not, it’s hard to ignore a story like this, especially, when all week long, they’re on our social media feeds. Anti-epal fan pages have been created and are being maintained by fans, who act as watchdogs for the disgusting behavior of self-promoting politicians.
Photos such as above surfaced on our social media feeds all through the week, escalating over the weekend to go beyond the usual social media channels, spilling over to — get this — CNN iReport. iReport is the network’s citizen journalism arm, where regular citizens can sign-up and file their stories. In Yolanda’s aftermath, the network has used iReport as an avenue for the world to see what’s exactly happening, thanks to iReporters onsite; as well as an outlet for Filipinos based abroad to find their loved ones who might have been affected by the storm.
This iReport have also been circulating on social media, which is how we chanced upon this story, screen-captured below. It has the title “This is what Pinoy politicians do during a tradegy.” As of Monday afternoon, it has already garnered 366,859 views, despite having not been vetted by CNN.
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_original”,”fid”:”30551″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”400″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”600″}}]]
Of course it’s hard to believe these stories especially when they’re uploaded by a person with a username “JustBeinReal.”
At least the camp of Jejomar Binay does not deny their existence. On Nov 16, reacting to a photo of a military truck bearing a tarpaulin banner with Binay’s face and the words “Relief Operation” sent to him, the Vice President simply replied, “Really old photo”. At least he didn’t claim it was Photoshopped.
@teddyboylocsin @Simply_Clinton @TonyShappy @JoeySalgado @momblogger Really old photo.
— Jejomar C. Binay (@VPJojoBinay) November 16, 2013
Binay’s spokesman, Joey Salgado, also issued a clarification. “Relief bags with stickers were donated by Engr. Nelson Golez of Iloilo,” he tweeted on Friday. “Plain white bags are from OVP.”
Maybe people have become braver, relishing the attention the network has given us all through last week. Perhaps they are braver because well-trusted professionals from a well-trusted network like CNN not only share their thoughts but have also voiced them out for all the world to hear. In any case, people must be very angry or tired or sick of politicians who are extremely talented at self-promotion.
