A columnist resigned after several sectors called for her relief from two publications due to an article insulting Overseas Filipino Workers.

Malu Fernandez, columnist of Manila Standard Today (MST) and People Asia magazine, was forced to give up her post after "being the recent recipient and target of death threats, hate blogs, and deeply personal insults."

Malu Fernandez wrote an article narrating her anecdotical encounters with OFWs

Fernandez wrote an article entitled "From Boracay to Greece!" published in the June 2007 issue of People Asia magazine and subsequently in her column in MST which drew uproars of response from OFWs abroad as well as from the local blogging community, demanding for a public apology and subsequent resignation from the two publications.

"However I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them," a part from her article narrates.

But she later explained in her column that she was just playing humor when she issued those statements.

"It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn't get the meaning of my acerbic wit," she said.

The Filipino community in Dubai urged the editors of the two publications to take quick action on the matter.

"A print medium that aspires for relevance in today's competitive media world cannot hide under the skirt of press freedom for its licentiousness to insult a group of people. One's freedom to poke her fingers begins where someone else's nose begin," the statement of the Filipino Press Club in Dubai says.

Bloggers strike back

The issue grew sizably controversial that bloggers started to post their own responses in their blogs, initiating a hate campaign against Fernandez. Some blogs even received at least a thousand reactions from readers who were inflamed by reading Fernandez's article.

Nick, webmaster of Tingog.com, was the one who started the online campaign calling for the boycott of Manila Standard Today and People Asia, and consequently demanding the resignation of Fernandez from the two publications.

Josel Gonzales of Nomadic Thoughts, author of one of the most popular blog posts condemning Fernandez's bigotry ("Mahaderang matapobre sa mga OFWs"), received around 2,000 comments from inflamed Filipinos and OFWs as of late. In an interview with Cheche Lazaro in ABS-CBN News Channel's Media in Focus, Gonzales narrated how his blog's visits escalated from just a mere 50 visits per day to as much as a thousand page views a day.

Ederic Eder of Tinig.com and Benjamin Espina of Atheista.net, for their part, started an online writing project collecting the blog posts talking about the Fernandez issue. Accordingly, it aimed to encourage bloggers to write more about the issue and have their opinions published online, to further create awareness about the controversy.

Benjamin Espina of Atheista.net writes, "With the Malu Fernandez issue, the Philippine Blogging Community has gained some semblance of clout and influence as far as the whole milieu of the media is concerned. We're now becoming a relevant flank in this side of journalism, and we have to make sure that we take good care of this."

These blogging initiatives sent raging ripples of awareness in the vast and diverse ocean of the Filipino Blogging Community that even grassroots bloggers who have just started blogging jumped on the bandwagon and wrote about the issue as well. Filipino bloggers have become so vocal about the issue in their blogs that the mainstream media, several days after the start of these initiatives, decided to pick up the issue.

And a few weeks after the collaborative efforts of Filipino bloggers, Fernandez issued the statement tendering her resignation from the two publications.

Bloggers Benjamin Espina and Josel Gonzales get interviewed in Cheche Lazaro's Media in Focus

"I take full responsibility for my actions and my friends and family have nothing to do with this. To date I have submitted my resignation letters to both the Manila Standard and People Asia, on that note may this matter be laid to rest," Fernandez said.

Babe Romualdez, publisher of People Asia magazine, said in a statement published in the Philppine Star, "The matter would have been settled with the magazine's publication of those reactions. But unfortunately, Ms. Fernandez wrote a follow-up regarding the issue as well as her response to those who expressed disagreement with the said column in another publication - making it worse since it was written in an arrogant and condescending manner … But perhaps Ms. Fernandez knew what was coming because she submitted her voluntary resignation and beat us to the punch, so to speak."

Short-lived victory?

However, executives from the MST refused to accept Fernandez's resignation.

An MST source who refused to be identified because he is not authorized to speak on the issue, said, "While Malu Fernandez indeed has submitted her resignation, her resignation has not been accepted by higher management, hence we will continue publishing her column."

Fernandez has returned to her writing post in MST last Monday.

This development sparked a renewed call for a boycott, spearheaded again by Nick of Tingog.com, urging people to refrain from buying or reading Manila Standard Today until Fernandez is removed from her post.

"Because Manila Standard Today has chosen to hide behind their term 'protocol' and issue a pardon to their most beloved columnist for all The Filipinos to see. This is a call to boycott, for the irresponsible behavior of Manila Standard Today, they have chosen to pass up the option of doing the right thing, and essentially show their true colors and the standards they are upholding," the statement says.