By NEIL RAMOS
September 3, 2010, 1:43pm
“I won’t go to Cebu until the Cebuanos, who misinterpreted what I said, apologize to me.”
This was the declaration of former Miss Universe Gloria Diaz after The Vice Mayors League of The Philippines- Cebu Chapter issued a resolution declaring her “persona non grata.”
“Persona non grata refers to criminals, right? Have I done something wrong? I think I was just misinterpreted by Cebuanos,” Diaz insisted.
The beauty queen maintained that she never made a statement putting down Cebuanos as people who cannot speak English.
“I didn’t say anything bad against Cebuanos. All I said was for the contestants to answer the question in the most comfortable language they could speak. Kung Ilocano, they speak in Ilocano. Kung Pampango, they speak in Pampango. Kung Bicolano, they speak in Bicolano. Kung Cebuano, they speak in Cebuano,” she added.
It was Cebu congresswoman Rachel "Cutie" del Mar who first raised a fuss over the statement that Diaz allegedly made recently in relation to Miss Universe Fourth Runner Up Venus Raj’s supposed blunder in the question and answer portion of the recently concluded contest.
ABS-CBN quoted Diaz as saying, "Kasi, when you think about a Cebuana [they] can hardly speak English and, of course, Tagalog, maybe she should answer in Bisaya."
Del Mar said it was improper for Diaz to belittle the Cebuanos---but Diaz denied doing so.
“I didn’t say Cebuano is lowly or bobo. Why would I say that? I mean, I might be mataray but I wouldn’t say such a thing. I love the Philippines. I love my people. My boyfriend is a Visayan so why would I say that?”
Meanwhile, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, himself a native of Cebu, has joined in on the ruckus, surprisingly as a defender of Diaz.
In a separate interview with ABS-CBN, Osmeña said Diaz was just misinterpreted. He also confirmed that Diaz's long-time boyfriend hails from Cebu.
"She was misinterpreted and misunderstood. What she meant is - do not answer in English if you are not too fluent. Use the language you are most comfortable with. After all, the sponsor provides interpreters. I agree with her," the senator said.
"We Filipinos understood what Venus was saying. But we should also appreciate that Americans and other peoples use different idioms and would not understand ours. Miss Diaz did not intend to insult the Cebuano people. Her longtime boyfriend for the last 12 years is from Cebu. "
In another interview, Diaz tried to put a stop to the brouhaha, saying, “Let me clarify it once and for all. People should have the right to say or to answer [questions] in whatever language they want to say it in. If they're Cebuanos, they can say it in Cebuano. I did not say that they [Cebuanos] did not speak English.”
“If you're Ilocano, say it in Ilocano. But if you're Ilocano who speaks good English, say it in English. If you're Cebuano who can speak Spanish, if you're comfortable with Spanish, say it in Spanish. That's what I said and that's what I meant,” she added.
Diaz said she is surprised about how people reacted to her statement.
"I was like, shocked. Everybody was so angry. I thought they're going [to] stone me to death. I want to just make people realize it is just, you know, say it with whatever you're comfortable with," she said.
Seemingly exasperated, Diaz pointed to other topics that she thinks people should focus on.
“There are still more important things to tackle in this nation, like the dengue issue, the Hong Kong sentiment about the hostage taking crisis, the economy. My God! I am very irrelevant.”
Published in Manila Bulletin September 3, 2010.
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