"I was disappointed to learn that the man I’d looked up to for years was not the bearer of good news, he’d misled his followers to believe he was."
After claims appeared online about Nas Academy's Whang-od course, young chef Louise De Guzman Mabulo shares her experience with Naseir Yassin or Nas Daily two years ago when the social media personality covered her The Cacao Project initiative.
Through it, farmers of San Fernando, Camarines Sur are given seedlings such as cacao, okra, pumpkin, and bok choy to help them build sustainable livelihood. In 2019, Nas Daily and his team went to her town to create social media content about her cause.
"My family took him and other content creators in as welcome guests—with typical hospitality we are known for. However, in so little time, I was disappointed to learn that the man I’d looked up to for years was not the bearer of good news, he’d misled his followers to believe he was," she said.
"I watched him imitate and mock the local accent and language, vocalising Tagalog-sounding syllabic phrases saying it sounded stupid," she continued. "He repeatedly said that the people of my hometown 'poor.' 'Farmers are so poor!' 'Why are Filipinos so poor?'
The National Geographic Society's 2020 Young Explorer also expressed how Nas "didn’t care about making change or shedding light on real issues."
"He even joked at the start of the day that all he needed was to put 'Philippines' in the title, and he’d rack in millions of views and the comments would come flooding with brainless ‘Pinoy pride’ comments," she said.
The AA-FEd alumna and former contestant of ABS-CBN's "Junior Master Chef" calls fellow Filipinos to stand against exploitation and to "support our kababayans and rid ourselves of neocolonialism or colonial mentality."
"Nas chases Filipinos for content because he knows his validation of our country gives him fame. We dictate the tide. We dictate the trend and virality," she said.
"Let’s put our own forward instead, Filipinos have the ability to make our country great if we set aside our differences, refuse exploitation like this, and work in the interest of the Philippines and the Filipino," she ended.
Read her full story here.