So, You're Telling Me #AMALAYER? #amasinner #amauneducated

Paula Jamie Salvosa: "So, now you're making me look like a liar?  So, #amalayer?  So, you're telling me #amalayer?  #amalayer?  #amalayer?  Answer me.  #amalayer?"
(Screen grab from the viral YouTube post.  CCTO)

Paula Jamie Salvosa:  "Ate, may pinag-aralan akong tao!"  (Sister, I am an educated person.)
(Screen grab from the viral YouTube post.  CCTO)

Paula Jamie Salvosa: "Ginanon mo 'ko.  (You did that to me.)  I'm just returning you the favor... You are a freakin' liar, miss."
(Screen grab from the viral YouTube post.  CCTO)

I woke up this morning with the hashtag #amalayer trending worldwide in Twitter.  I logged-in to Facebook and there's #amalayer again.  What's with this #amalayer?  I followed a link in Facebook to a YouTube parody of #amalayer.  It turned out that a young girl named Paula Jamie Salvosa made a scene in public and humiliated a lady guard in one of Metro Manila's Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations.   She was slashing the lady guard with harsh words for apparently stopping her on her way into the station.  The Twitter hashtag #amalayer is from the way Salvosa erroneously pronounced the phrase "I'm a liar?".

On the amateur video that looked like it was taken by a cellular phone camera, Salvosa is seen telling the lady guard that she's an educated person, and continued recounting that when the lady guard (allegedly) grabbed and shouted at her, Salvosa (seemed to have) pushed the lady guard and shouted back.  "Ate, may pinag-aralan akong tao. Ginanon mo ako, I'm just returning the favor."   That's what I get from Salvosa's scandalous recount.  Here, watch the video for yourself.

My reaction?  Here's what I think.  Telling people you are an educated person while making a scene in public is totally antithetical!   It's like telling everybody that you are poor while cladded in an Armani tank top and carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag.  What does that make you?… a freakin' LIAR!

Whatever happened to GMRC?  Back in the day (that's in the late seventies and early eighties), we have a subject in Grade 3 that's called GMRC - Good Manners and Right Conduct.  We were taught of character traits and proper behavior.  We actually did some skits of situations where we can observe those traits and apply proper judgment.  The Department of Education has revised the grade school curriculum several times over the years and I just wonder what has happened to this important subject necessary in molding the psyche and behavioral patterns of students.

If you search tweets using the #amalayer hashtag, you'll read some tweets that say that Salvosa was kicked out from her school, La Consolacion University.  I do not know if this is true or not.  But one thing is for sure.  If she indeed attended La Consolacion University, there will definitely be repercussions due to her actions on the account of the university's reputation of producing well-bred and polished graduates.

I just wished that the senior security officer has taken Salvosa and the lady guard into their offices to discuss the matter and resolved the issue privately, and in a humanely and civil manner.  Apparently, our mass transport security forces still have a lot to learn in handling situations that concern their passengers.

To the passengers, here's a small note.  The security officers are there to ensure our safety.  They are just doing their jobs in inspecting our belongings before we go inside the station.  Let us extend our appreciation by displaying an important virtue - PATIENCE.