For dressing-down a waiter: Ex-TV host issues public apology

CEBU, Philippines — Former TV host Jude Bacalso has issued a public apology after drawing flak on social media for allegedly humiliating a waiter of a restaurant in a mall in Cebu City on Sunday for “misgendering” her.

Bacalso, a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBT+) community,  made the service crew stand for two hours while dressing him down for calling her “Sir”.

The incident was narrated by a certain John Calderon in a lengthy post on Facebook that went viral and drew indignation from the netizens.

According to Calderon, Bacalso made the service crew stand in a parade rest manner for two hours just because she was addressed as “sir’. Bacalso said she had already “quietly settle” the matter with the restaurant’s manager, a crew, and the store supervisor who were present during the said unfortunate incident.

“My apologies also to the rest of the staff who are disheartened by the way things have escalated, as well as to the customers present at that time. This is a huge chunk of humble pie that I must ingest because I have erred,” Bacalso said in her statement posted on Facebook.

Bacalso acknowledged that she could have been more circumspect in her pursuit of her advocacy.  She, however, denied demanding the waiter to stand for two hours while she allegedly explained issues relative to gender sensitivity.

It was allegedly the waiter’s choice to stand while waiting “inputs” from the management.

Since the incident has escalated and delved on issues of discrimination against members of LGBTQ+ community, acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Garcia takes pride that the city is one of the local government units in the country that has most “active” anti-discrimination commissions.

Garcia, however, admitted that he was not able to grasp the whole context of the Bacalso issue thus he refused to comment on the incident.

Cebu City Council Joel Garganera, who considered himself an advocate and ally of the LGBTQ+, also took to social media to emphasize that humility should be at the forefront when educating people.

“Not everyone is as informed as us. So we should take it upon ourselves to educate them respectfully,” he said.

“Layo nata sa atong pag-edukar ug pakigbisog sa katawhan kabahin sa katungod sa LGBTQ and SOGIE apan di gyud malikayan nga naa pud nga wa gyuy hanaw kabahin ani,” he added.

Mae Anne Aquipo, president of the Cebu City LGBTQ Federation, expressed disappointment with what Bacalso did. Aquipo said Bacalso cannot demand that everyone should acknowledge her preferred identity.

In an interview with former Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman, Aquipo said that Bacalso owed the server an apology. She added that Bacalso cannot just “punish” the server, adding that the latter is not under her employ.

“Acknowledge nga nasayop sya, kato ra gyud unta, nag sit down unta mo and you could have discussed it silently,” Aquipo said. — (FREEMAN)