#Pabebe101

by Amina Rose Alghamdi and Alyssa Maxine Balayo

Another day passes with yet another girl reciting the patented Pabebe Girl’s speech. “Hi, kami ang pabebe girls at wala kayong paki kung pabebe kami sa mga-mga video namin.” Bombs fall whenever the first line is recited. People react and complain about how exasperating on every level these girls are, and so consequently, without all due moral judgement, these girls are judged, and stoned and bashed to death with all due most unfair prejudice. And due to the aggravation alongside with the sudden exalted fame these girls got to have with being referred to as “pabebe”, the mass have begun to connote the most negative links with the controversial word.

A fifteen-year old walks by with her group of friends, you become interested in their topic and suddenly you catch yourself eavesdropping on their conversation. Once you are fully aware of the subject, you begin to become conscious with the littlest details about the girl – her tone, even her slightest gasp or breathing pattern. Man, she talks like a shy eight year-old, and you start to get irked and peeved. You’d also notice the way she looks at the people surrounding her, you’d catch her eye and she smiles at you. Her smile would then appear as if she’s trying hard to project the blissful innocence of a child it’d definitely reek of fakeness, too. And exactly there, at that very moment, you find yourself in the highest brink of some irksome discontent.

But then, were you in any way, directly, in the firsthand, abashed, hurt, or affected, even? Absolutely, not even the slightest, if we truthfully think about it. Although you are disturbed by extremely-baby-and-girly-themed actions and the mantra “I should look the cutest on all levels”, you are not affected – you are not hurt.

But as they’d trigger annoyance most often, because of the predetermined manner of actions everybody is ought to follow, they are made to look bad or displeasing to the set of the majority.

And another thing, is it must also be understandable that the primacy of the Pabebe are but hormonal adolescents stalling their journey to adulthood. They are still allowed to make mistakes. They don’t do crimes. They don’t commit murders. They don’t do anything that is against the Philippine Constitution of 1987, do they?

All of them (at least 90%) could just be normal   and undeserving of misplaced hate (trust us!). That could just be who they are – and you do not hate on people choosing to be themselves and who they want to be – be it following the fad or actually establishing their brand new personality.

This set of people – boys, girls, or others – are after all but people who with this chosen exact way (of being pabebe, unfortunately), happens to be in pursuit of legit happiness, nurturing, endearment, and gratification.

“Kaya wala ka ngang paki!”