Christopher Lao Official Statement on Flood Mishap News Report and Facebook and Twitter Attacks

Official Statement* from Christopher Lao
4 August 2011

The past few days have been very disheartening for me and my family. As you know I have been a subject of a viral video that showed my helplessness during a trying moment. As it stands right now, I have several hate pages in Facebook and Twitter with hurtful and derogatory messages attacking my person. The reputation that I built the past years has been besmirched. A bad day has now turned into wounded feelings and sleepless nights for me and my family.

I have been silent the past few days as I want this to go away soon but not before saying sorry and thank you to people who matter.

I would like to apologize for my behavior that was seen on nationwide television and now on the internet. It was unfortunate that I was caught on camera immediately after an overwhelmingly stressful mishap.

I would like to again sincerely thank those who braved the flood to help a distraught stranger like me. Their selfless act reminded me of how dependable Filipinos are in times of crisis.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family, friends and all of those who showed empathy, consideration and support throughout these trying times. You have given me strength and courage to rise above and be a better person.

Sincerely yours,

Christopher Lao

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TP Thoughts:

I've written my piece about Christopher Lao and this whole news report fiasco so I'm gonna keep this short.

1. I think this whole incident - including the hate it generated in social networking sites - says a lot about the kind of society we live in. We see a lot of finger-pointing, sensationalism, making fun of the shortcomings and misfortunes of others, self-righteousness and lack of empathy. Truly, this has become a sad reflection of where we are as a nation.

Then again, as mentioned by Christopher himself, there were also acts of kindness, of mercy and compassion. I personally saw that there were people who were willing to listen to Christopher's side of the story (even if they hated his seeming arrogance); Those who weren't judgmental and were level-headed and open-minded enough to understand where he was coming from. There were people who understood that what happened to Christopher can also happen to the best of us; These people give me hope.

2. To Christopher: If lack of light-heartedness brought you to this situation, let it be the one virtue to help you surmount it. Just laugh at this brouhaha and don't let it get the better of you. You know yourself better than anyone who's talking about you now in these social networking sites. As long as you believe in yourself and you have your loved ones praying and rooting for you, you're leaps and bounds better than that self-righteous anonymous person mocking you. This too shall pass.

*Official Statement released via Marlon Cornelio