A German vlogger who posted a video on Facebook and YouTube that showed him picking up a girl in Alabang, Muntinlupa, paying her P1,000 as “help” and kissing her was arrested by the police for alleged rape.
Marcel Messall, more popularly known as “Mr. Pogi German” on his social media accounts, was nabbed by the Muntinlupa police on Jan. 9.
Based on the report by Muntinlupa police chief Col. Angel Garcillano, the girl that Messall picked in Alabang turned out to be 17 years old, a minor, and not 18 as he claimed in the video.
Messall, 29, a resident of Barangay San Isidro, Rodriguez, Rizal, was nabbed by combined elements of the Muntinlupa police’s Alabang Substation and Intelligence Section.
Based on the investigation by the police, the victim had a chat with Massell on the Messenger app. They met in front of a mall in Alabang and he invited her to go to a motel.
The police said, however, Messall “insisted to have a sexual Intercourse with the victim but the latter refused to it. The suspect forced to undress the victim” and had sex with her.
The victim told her mother what Massell did to her and they went to the Women and Children Protection Unity of the Muntinlupa police to report the incident.
Messall will be charged with violation Republic Act 8353 (The Anti-Rape Law of 1997) in relation to Republic Act 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act).
Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon on Jan. 9 condemned Massell’s video showing him picking up the woman in Alabang, bringing her to a motel and kissing her–all caught on video, which he uploaded on Facebook and YouTube.
Biazon asked the Muntinlupa City Council to declare “MR Pogi German” persona non grata in the city after the mayor was tagged by a netizen in the latter’s video, which was uploaded on Jan. 7 on Facebook.
Messall’s video, titled “I've Met a 18 Years old Filipina Pick Up Girl from alabang Muntinlupa,” has garnered 10 million views, more than 13,000 comments and more than 256,000 reactions as of this writing.
“Sa una, akala ko papakita pa niyang nagmamagandang loob siya na tinutulungan yung 18-year-old single mother na mabigyan ng kaunting panggastos. Akala ko ang ending ay kunwari dinala niya ito sa kwarto tapos bibigyan nya ng pera tapos hahayaan na niya. Pauuwiin na niya, binigyan ng aral. Obviously hindi iyon ang nangyari. Meron pang scene na pinost sa kanyang vlog na nagtalukbong sila dun sa kumot (Initially, I thought he was doing a good deed of helping the 18-year-old single mother by giving her money to spend. I thought the ending was him bringing the woman to the room and then he would give money and let her go. He would send her home after lecturing her. Obviously, this did not happen. There is a scene that he posted on his vlog that they hid under the sheets),” said Biazon.
The mayor said, “Ang parang lumalabas sa akin, parang napopromote na dito sa Muntinlupa, with P1,000 may makukuha ka (For me, it seems that it is being promoted that in Muntinlupa, with P1,000 you can get ). That is something we should not tolerate.”
“Mr. Pogi German” even encouraged other women to participate.
“Who wants to be the next girl for my content?! Tara na pm me!!!” he wrote.
“Obviously, pinagkakakitaan niya rin ito. Ang masama dito, he is actually promoting prostitution (Obviously, he is making money out of this. The bad thing is he is actually promoting prostitution),” said Biazon.
In a Facebook post, “Mr. Pogi German” claimed that “the intention of this vlog is to help Filipina girls like her who can't afford daily essentials like food or gatas for her baby...I want to use this platform to share her story. I'm sure many girls are in the same situation like her,not enough money for food, gatas, diaper etc ...I hope she will use the 10000 pesos wisely!!!!”
In the video, the “Mr. Pogi Gernman” asked the 18-year-old woman, “Hey miss, magandang gabi. Magkano? (Hey miss, good evening. How much ?”
“P1,000 sir all-in, tatlong oras po (for three hours),” the girl replied.
They went to the motel, ate and talked while he asked her about her circumstances.
“I want to help you,” the vlogger claimed.
After eating, they went to the motel room. The woman changed her outfit.
“Wow you look amazing. Wait, can you stay there? So amazing, so beautiful and cute,” he said while taking a video of her.
He told her, “Okay, you can lay down now on the bed.”
On the bed, they held hands and then he took off his shirt. She tugged down his shorts and then he said, “It’s a prank!”
“I mean, I’m actually not here to have sex with you,” he told her.
The video also showed they kissed and hid under the sheets. While kissing her, the vlogger told her, “You deserve the money. You are such a nice girl.”
“Salamat sir. You are so bait (Thank you, sir. You are so kind),” she replied.
“You are welcome naman,” he said.
He told her it was already 6:50 a.m. and “we must check out.”
The vlogger accompanied her to the jeepney stop and told her, “Ingat (take care).”
Massell’s video has been condemned by netizens as exploitation of Filipino women.
“It's not funny. This is called ‘poverty porn.’ Pretending to help the poor for the sake of views. Please stop exploiting poor people in my country for your content and views please. You can either try to make a decent earning by not using ‘poverty porn’ style instead of this stunt,” one netizen commented on his video.
The Manila Bulletin earlier reached out to the vlogger for him to explain his side but he did not reply.