When I accepted the job of presenting an award for the much controversial freedom climb and be introduced as a freedom climb supporter, I was expecting to get booed at by fellow mountaineers who had been very vocal on FB that they objurgate the said event. These people that I look up in the field of mountaineering, these people that were not merely throwing tantrums and have a valid reason to be against the said event are going to be there as main awardees themselves in the recently concluded NOMADS Peak 30,000 Feet ASL: Who is first to summit?
I was halfhearted to go up to the last minute but the fact that I gave my word to Sir NOMADS (Ka Romy) himself, I knew that I had to show up. A few hours before the said event, I also learned that the people who have threatened on my life in an FB message are going to be there. There were 10 or more of them. The familiar faces whom I identified to be with the group were Jonah/Jayel Cruz, Tommy/Mot Mot Cruz, Wilson Labrador, Janeth Labrador, Hyago Kert, Mark Ilejay, Jay-bee Laurel and his gf, Jan Ann Aledro/Summer Solstice, and Rommel/Kislap/Indigo Zatarra. They are the ones who created the AntiFreedom Climb FB account. I used to climb together with most of them, four of which I brought to the mountains on their first time. Anyways, they had made some very offensive statements, spread some foul rumors against me, lambasted me on their status posts, created a fake account that highlighted malicious statements against me, and even posted a video calling me "baliw"--some were responded with rantings on my wall and note posts, while some were ignored.
When Kish (my fellow presentor) and I were called to be on stage, they started booing me. It was a good thing that they were just a few compared to the more educated people who cheered in true gestures of camaraderie and welcome. I heard Jonah say, "Eh, bakit andyan 'yan? Hoy!!! Ang kapal ng mukha mong mag-present ng award! Yadda yadda yadda..." I chose to ignore the rest. When I'm onstage, I try as hard to make the stage fright go away by thinking of happy thoughts.
When the presentation of the award was over, I was relieved as Kish and I earned more claps than boo's. I had witnessed how well-bred the Filipino mountaineers are. Even the FIMO acting president, Prof. Edwin, who received the award was greeted with cheers and applause. As the event went on, I saw people who openly lambasted each other and each other's cause on FB kiss and make up. It was such a moving scene for me.
On the other hand, the people I have a rift with had been drinking too much on the right side of the stage, and knowing them, I had already anticipated a chaos in the making.
I limited myself to one bottle of beer. I wanted to be sober and alert the whole time. I told my guardian angel, Alex Strong to be vigilant, but only to prevent any untoward incident to happen. I was assured that I shall be protected from harm. If ever I got mobbed by these ten people, I wouldn't actually mind. My only problem there is that I don't want to cause a scene and destroy an event as great as that just to throw tantrums...
I wasn't wrong. Jan Ann came from nowhere and suddenly put a strong grip on my arm and was forcing me to go outside and talk to them. I could smell drunkenness in her breath and her eyes didn't show sobriety, so I said, "This isn't the time to talk." A few minutes later, she again approached me, this time, she was with Rommel. She said, "Please!!!" And again put on that heavy grip on my arm. I told her, "You aren't even sober enough to talk to." And she talked to Rommel, "Akala ko ba matalino 'to, bhe?" And then she turned to me, "Nagpi-please naman ako, ah?" And she cupped my head from the nape and put her face so close to mine, we were cheek to cheek. I told her, "Hey, you don't know me, so please don't act like we're close. I don't like your face on my face." She was already shouting in the previous times, but this time she was going hysterical. "What you say?" (sic) she said, "You don't like me? I don't like you, too." (sic)
"See? You can't even hear me well. There's no point of talking to you right now. Not when you're this drunk." I tried to keep my composure. Being harassed like that in the middle of a crowd was already humiliating. We were already catching the attention of some people there. I let go of my hand. And she had the one to be angry. I kept in mind that it wasn't the proper venue, really. I have so much respect for Sir Romy and Sir Jessie...
The army came in the way, asking them what the problem was. Jan Ann went shouting, "Takot ka lang sa mga kasalanan mo!!!" and Rommel pulled her away, shutting her mouth with his hand. I went to stand near Ken, another good friend and fellow mountaineer, and I was shocked when Rommel told him and Alex, "May asawa't anak 'yan, alam nyo ba?" I was so shocked and I couldn't believe that at one point in my life I learned to love and look up to this man who turned out to be, well, you can use your own words in this case...
Never have I tried to hide it, I even think that I had been too open to my public, both outdoorsmen and otherwise, that I had been married, physically abused, separated, and have a son. Never have I tried to deny nor hide those facts from anybody. It is just pathetic for him to be using that lame of an attempt. And he himself even knew about it from the start. Does he think I am trying to smitten anyone from the group that night? Very pathetic. [You have gone worse from being bad, Rommel...]
I was informed that there had been commotion outside while I stayed listening to the band and jamming with fellow mountaineers, but I had strict instructions to the marines to keep it low and never to create any scene.
The following day, I wanted to experience what I had missed the day before. I lined up for the rappeling activity. Their troop was waiting at the wall climbing area, which was adjacent to our venue of activity. When it was time for us to climb up to do rappeling, Jonah murmured, "Dito pa talaga sa harap ko dadaan. Nananadya talaga. Papa-cute pa. Kikendeng kendeng. Tse! Yadda yadda yadda." Again, I had to keep my composure. It was a big event for the mountaineering society and I didn't want to become notorious at making ugly scenes. She didn't stop ranting and people from below would ask who she was referring to, would take a look at me and then later ignored her.
While waiting for my turn at the rappel, my friend Theen, was waiting downstairs to take photos of me going down. She heard Janeth whom she described as the one in pink, say nasty things against me. The group was intending to go up and fall in line for the rappeling activity as well. "Wag nyong pigilan (si Jonah) para makaganti naman," she was heard saying.
After rappeling, we met one of the event hosts, Sir Jessie, on the street on our way to the zipline. He said, "Bilib din ako sa tolerance mo, Ma'am." I was touched. Napansin din pala nila ang simpleng pagrespeto ko.
I haven't been in the venue 24 hours long, but the experience was a total blast, even with the minor glitches on my personal life. It was the toughest and most fun outdoor adventure I had ever experienced in my one year and five months of outdoorsy life. I survived it! God is good!
