Sit right back and you’ll hear a tale… 🙂
A while back I wrote an article about My Life As A Vlogger and also The Peanut Gallery. So I suppose today’s article will make the trifecta complete as we take a look at what will go down as perhaps the biggest egg-on-face incident in Philippines Troll history.
Prior to my first move to the Philippines (PH), I sat down in California with a friend of mine who had already spent 8 years living in the PH as an expat. He came to my house in California and I asked him all the usual questions a newbie expat has about making such a big move. One thing I asked him was, “What should I most keep in mind while living there?” His answer totally surprised me. He said,
“Filipino people are very easy to get along with if you are polite and respectful. If you have any real problems or issues with anybody in the PH, it will come from other expats.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. And even for my first six months in the PH, I still hesitated to believe him. Shouldn’t “all” expats have some sense of camaraderie being as how we are all living so very far from home? Well, it didn’t take more than having my own Youtube channel before I found out very quickly that there is a highly toxic and disgruntled small percentage of expats who have nothing on their daily agenda other than to whine, complain and criticize about normal, decent expats who are just living out their lives in the PH.
While this plays out online in the PH Vlogger/Blogger circles, it also occurs on a local level on each island that has an expat presence. It seems for every island there is one or several expats who is the fly-in-the-ointment who stinks up every place he appears. Not only a complainer but a gossiping liar about anyone who disagrees with his toxic verbiage he lays at will on others. He can dish it out all day, but he can’t take even a hint of criticism.
So, getting back to our story on how several online trolls were proven to be 100% wrong and having their ill-intent exposed for all to see.
I introduce the key focus of this tale, one Michael Fazio who is a vlogger with a channel by the name of, HoodwinkedByAnAngel. Fazio is an outspoken character and for the most part beloved by the expat community as a New Yorker who tells it like it is, shares his conspiracy thoughts and enjoys his life in the PH with his Filipina girlfriend. He’s an interesting character but not hurting anybody.
Meanwhile, the usual small troop of trolls was going about their usual tasks of trying to stir up contention, false accusations and gossip-mongering on any PH vlogger who had a successful channel. Lacking any real content of their own they resort to these tactics in hopes of getting views to their own channel. Essentially riding the coattails of those they criticize unjustly. (ie; parasite)
So then it happened. One person came out with a video about Fazio in mid-July claiming that Michael Fazio had died of a heart attack some 5 weeks earlier. Further, claiming that he had a, “..trusted, verifiable source” regarding the untimely death of Michael Fazio. “R.I.P.” made for a juicy title to his video and it got passed around the expat community and commensurate mourning for Fazio began. So many were shocked and saddened by this news. Not excluding Fazio’s cousin and brother who only heard this news from this Youtube video.
Immediately, several other failed vloggers began doing their own copy-cat video about the death of Michael Fazio. Like vultures, they swooped in and wanted their share of the views to be had on such a juicy piece of information about a much-liked vlogger such as Fazio.
And then the trolls stepped in. Verifying nothing, they only added to the story. Stating that it
MUST have been Fazio’s girlfriend who killed him in order to make financial gain from his death. A high and pointed accusation to make without any proof. But that is what trolls do. They stir up rumors and then embellish them without a shred of evidence. It’s how they operate and they care not who is hurt in the process.
So, at this point, we have Michael Fazio’s family back home weeping in mourning over his death. They are contacting the U.S. embassy in hopes of locating his body or any facts behind his death.
We also have his girlfriend fending off rumors that she had killed her beloved Michael. And meanwhile, the expat viewers are mourning his passing. But there was only one problem with this whole feeding frenzy these trolls were boldly propagating and exploiting…
Michael Fazio was not dead.
On August 1st, Michael Fazio seemingly resurrected from the ‘dead’ to give these bottom-feeding trolls a piece of his mind in a video he uploaded himself onto Youtube.
In true New Yorker style, Michael Fazio proved by his presence beyond any shadow of a doubt that everything… EVERYTHING these trolls had uttered was not only lies but it was also unjust slander against his loving Filipina girlfriend.
Did these trolls respond by putting out a video of equal length, profusely apologizing to Michael Fazio for their reckless and destructive public behavior? No. Despite having massive amounts of egg on their face, despite being fully exposed for the parasites they are.. they quietly deleted the evidence of their videos and went into denial.
The return of Michael Fazio was the perfect response to putting so many trolls on notice that has likely ever occurred. Usually, these trolls will make accusations that linger out there, unproven but constantly asserted as true. Trolls will accuse other expats of having sex with an underage girl and, based on that false accusation then label them as “pedophiles” and “sexpats“. Or they will accuse the wife of a decent expat as being a “known whore” or “prostitute”. And, until now, those manufactured lies have been their bread and butter.
But not this time. This time, their lies were unrefutably exposed. There is no room for them to re-tailor the lie. The damage they have done publicly to Fazio’s girlfriend is inexcusable. If ever there was a slam-dunk case in the Philippines for slander and a civil or criminal case, this is it. They recklessly damaged her reputation publicly.
Whether or not Fazio and his girlfriend decide to prosecute them is a side point. The record now shows what sort of bottom-feeders and liars these type of trolls are.
So what can we gain from the entire experience? For one thing, when you hear someone making bold, negative claims about another person… ask for proof. Not hearsay from another troll. Not a blog article they themselves manufactured. But actual public legal records. Facts.
Without verifiable facts, don’t entertain gossip, slander or hearsay. Mark that person for being the toxic person they are and have nothing more to do with them. These people feed on the gullibility of others so, starve these parasites out of your life and block them in whatever ways are available.
As for Michael Fazio… where was he those 5 weeks that he wasn’t posting videos? Living and enjoying his life, other than the fact that his laptop had malfunctioned and that is what kept him offline. There is the Reality. The truth. His laptop broke. No heart-attack. Nobody was poisoned. No conspiracy for financial gain.
Just a broken laptop.
Reekay
www.philippinesbachelor.com
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Author: Reekay V.
Since 2012 I’ve been traveling through various islands of the Philippines as a full-time Expat and spent 1999 living in Vietnam.
Share with me my ongoing adventures of life in the Philippines. Hopefully you find my observations helpful in your own adventures.
— Reekay
I tried suggesting not to get involved in all of this and how it seems like this current batch of PI YouTubers loves the red meat.
I’ve met with some ex-pats in the Philippines on my trips and can confirm they are mixed lot of characters. I did not meet any PhD’s but some were very astute about Fil-West relationships. It seems almost all had some horror story of how they got burned by a Filipina. Which begs the question, why are they there? It seems as if many have a variant of PTSD. And, just as you see men “return to the front”, it seems these ex-pats are doing the same thing. Perhaps, they hope for victory against the odds, a redemption and release. Many do not succeed for obvious reasons. And, some are “damaged” beyond repair. The bottom line is; if something sounds too good to be true it probably is. Women always have had value, especially if they had neoteny. Men have always been disposable utilities (that in the days of “K” mating got a nulliparous young bride). Today, ordinary men (90% of the population) get multiparous hos that have hit the wall. Only the top 10% of men are chosen. It’s called the Pareto Principle. Most men can not accept this reality, it’s too painful. This leads to animosity and frustration. Under the guise of etiquette and denial, the Filipina seeks only financial resources either as a bride or a bar-girl. Asian women are extremely hypergamous and the most neotenous of any race. But, scholarly free-thinking men are few and far between, especially in a theocracy.
The Philippines does not hold the free-thinker for long. Not finding what he longs for he leaves. So, what remains behind are the minds of the indoctrinated “Builder” personalities, as described by Dr. Helen Fisher behind Chemisty and Match dating sites in America. The “Builder” accepts his culture, tradition and religion as self-evident and desires to punish the designated social cheater, by whatever arbitrary definition that is. So, he craves to punish the ex-pats that do not share the personification of his own super-ego.
Hehe,why don’t you just write a book?hehe
interesting Social Science references, However I do think your painting a broad brush by saying “most/many suffer from PTSD..” . There is a natural bias I think to your study and selection, that is slightly skewed to the ‘Damaged expat’ . I see some “off the wall characters” for sure, but most are harmless, further, most are normal in thought pattern I would believe. hmmm there is one denominator that has to be considered deeply in as such, as your core content and domain of thought. what type of personality trait would go half way around the world to seek adventure, escape, study, seek out new geography, and so forth.We vcant confuse ‘personalty traits , with psychosis or the like. The “travel bias” gives into a selective non-cult/pack following individual that lends itself to freewill and ‘frontier type’ thinking. This has all been addressed in periodicals dating way back with reference to Sociologists such as Freud, Durheim,Max Weber,Erving Goffman and Burgess, and beyond . Its the “world traveler” and adventurist that gives rise to some of the odd, non-pack traits. Damaged expats ? , there are some you are correct…no more I would believe than walking the streets of say , Metro LA , or Miami ! . I respect your thoughts 100% though .
After buying a nice house in the suburbs of Ormoc City in March of 2016, I decided to take a long vacation (four months) there from December until March.
First we had to change the electric into our name. It required a certificate from barangay captain, a certificate from Ormoc City mayor, a certificate from power company and participating in a three-hour class by power company. It’s done in US with a phone call. After telling the power company that I don’t need a class and am familiar with electricity and talking to two supervisors, they waived the class requirement. Three weeks later change of name was done for the next billing cycle.
Next was a land line, internet and TV cable.
These went ok with little or no problem.
My wife and two babies (two and five year old) were happy.
Next we bought a multicab (mini truck) to get around in town and visit my in-laws 30 miles away. I was ok driving around in the chaotic traffic of Ormoc City with no traffic lights or rules, for that matter, and on the small two-lane roads between towns.
Our next project was to open an Internet cafe. Again, we had to get certificates from barangay and city and PH IRS after waiting in various lines for three days. I found out later most local people do business under the table without dealing with PH IRS if you have a home-based business like raising pigs or growing fruits and vegetables. But you can’t do it with an Internet cafe. Bureaucracy is horrible in PH. Nobody helps you. All they want is their piece of paper that is completed properly. Nobody has authority to make even a small discretion to help you by flexibility in the rules, not breaking them.
Something I noticed, is the abundance of dishonesty and theft in the Philippines. Almost all hardware stores have no access for public to the merchandise. You walk up to a clerk behind a counter, tell him/her what you want, she gives you a slip with price, you pay the cashier and wait for your merchandise to be given to you by inventory workers. You can’t take any bags or backpacks into department stores. You have to. Check them in before entry and check them out upon exit. All your purchased merchandise in store bags are subject to search by security guards and checked against your paid receipt. A local big hardware store (Savers’ Depot) does a search and pat down of its workers when they go on breaks outside the store or get off work.
Opening a bank account requires a picture taken outside the bank (no, they don’t take a copy of photo ID). Taking money out of your bank account requires at least 45 minutes of waiting in line. And for them giving up money to you is hard. When we needed to draw $2,000 (100,000 pesos), to pay for small plot of land, the bank guy was asking: “why are you drawing money out?”, I laughed and told him: “because we want to. We need it”.
The health care is good and cheap. There’s no waiting for hours to see a doctor or get care at a hospital. Most doctor visits are about $5-$7. Hospital doctor visits are about $7-$9.
Medicine is almost all the time generic and equivalent to the original medicine and always tastes and smells crappy. When I needed Symbicort inhaler, a pharmacy gave me a generic one and it turned out to be a powder rather than a mist.
Fruits and vegetables are plentiful and cheap. Chicken and seafood are everywhere and cheaply priced. If they don’t see you with a Filipino wife, you end up paying a higher price.
The beef is rare and too beefy. That’s because they don’t cast rate the steer when they’re young and testosterone and other hormones fouls the taste and smell of beef. Pork is the same way unless you buy pigs before puberty for roasting or cooking.
Nothing can be done by phone as you would do in US.
The people are wonderful and easy to get along with, but not trustable with leaving valuables around unless they’re family. Even then, there’s no certainty.
After staying there for four months, my wife and I decided we couldn’t live there and decided to return to US and go to PH only for 3-4 months at a time.
We still have our house there. My wife’s mother is house sitting for us until we return.
AND MAY I SAY, YOU SIR………have spoken the absolute golden truth! EVERY WORD YOU SAID WAS TRUTH. And how ironic 4 years later I would read this here; on the blog of the man MOST responsible for me going there. I appreciate Henry more than I can say. Me only once in Robinson’s in passing. But after being in Philippines, 2014-17 living in Sibulan, Siquijor (my favorite) and Dumaguete, I can say YES, it is that way. AND YET…I still love the place. I had hard time, if it were not for my sweetie I don’t know, sometimes I thought I was going MAD. (Bring in the pain with the noise issue, too) I who am known as “MR EFFICIENT” you know I had a rough time. (Althought I must admit things were smooth my year in Siquijor, it’s when I moved to Duma that I got a whiff of all you describe) I have concluded that unless it is COMPLICATED no one is interested. SMH. (You need 5000 certificates to move 2 ft ahead in a line and they all want money for them)
I think you just have to really learn HOW to live in the Philippines. AND you MUST TAKE TRIPS BACK TO YOUR HOME COUNTRY which is ALWAYS so nice when you arrive and reclaim your sanity. Things are just done RIGHT WITHOUT MUCH COMPLICATION.
Philippines is great it is. I LOVE IT!I love the people. (When we’re all in the same room) But you can not live there unless you accept that most of your everyday life is going to be filled with some form of frustration, complication and backwardness. YOU just have to learn to be dyslexic in the mind and THINK BACKWARDS. If you can do that and take many trips to the beach and smile a lot and love on your Filipina girl, wife, spouse, hell escort, whatever makes you happy, you will be fine.
Another interesting article with food for thought for all of us.
Sadly i believe that the real trolls would never accept or learn from their mistakes, but hey.. What can we do..
Personally i lived there various countries for at last 15 years approx, and learned a few things during that time.
1. Don’t trust someone just because they seem friendly.
2. Verify a story before donate to someones sick water buffalo or ill ant (both foreigner a local).
3. If someone get drunk 2-3 times per week don’t have them in your life.
4. If someone does not keep their word don’t have them in your life.
5. Don’t show off with money. Keep your Financial status private. Even keep extra savings from your girlfriend.
6. Don’t talk about fight club.. (an oldie but uanset goodie).
It seems to me if one is going to move to another country away from family and friends, it would be a good idea to have some way of regularly letting those folks know that one is still alive and kicking.
Not necessarily something sophisticated that relies on a computer, internet, web service, etc. – could be as simple as simply sending a cell text message, even from a borrowed phone, using a word, nickname, or phrase that says to family and friends “it’s him, for sure”.
Seems like common sense to me and would seem to go double for quasi-public figures like YTers who might be the targets of trolls.
There is a slight difference between an expat and a person living in his own country. For one thing, expat if argued, is not PC. It suggests the person is no longer patriotical to his country, and has chosen to be a patriot to his new land. A traitor in some people’s subconcious. Now, you put all these “expats” together, each with some secret pet peeve about their home country, just something they are glad to get away from, the label of “expat” , and what do you have? Either a group of anti (american, or austrailian, or whatever) drinking and flaunting the fact of, hey, I’m here, I got away from the bad things in life in my country, are you for or against me? Oh yeah? Well you remind me of such and such kind of people I thought I left behind. Or you have a bunch of guys who realize each others alien feeling in The Philippines, and watch each others back and support them, a more silent bunch. A lot said, but you guys better start acting like army buddies in Nam, because sometimes these countries can seem like that during hard times.
The idea that ‘expat’ somehow means ‘unpatriotic’ is only due to a person not knowing the definition of an expat.
The definition of an expat is, ” a person who is voluntarily absent from home or country.” ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/expat ) The proper word for a person banished ‘from’ their country is an ‘exile’. (example; the marcos family was forced into exile, not by choice.)
As for the reason that some expats become toxic gossipers, I believe, has more to do with a combination of disgruntled, unhappy men who have lots of time on their hands and nothing constructive on their agenda. If these guys had a ‘real life’ they wouldn’t be focused daily on what other people are doing in such a negative manner. They are no different than the backbiting gossip-women at some hair salon.
Great response Reekay,
I was thinking of responding but just didn’t have the energy, as always you did it perfectly..!!
Yes, my first visit to Thailand was like a dream. I have not been back to Asia for 30+ years since I left as a teenager. The food, the sounds, the smells, and even the streets reminded me of my childhood, and the friendships and the adventures on motorbikes composed the most amazing travelog that unfolded solely for me. By the 3rd trip, however, I saw old, poor Western men who couldn’t hack it any other way and whose sole occupation seems to be manufacturing drama out of nothing, be that spreading innuendo about other men’s lack of sexual capabilities, coming on to others’ women while claiming that they were being hit on, or simply saying ridiculous things that a 10-year-old wouldn’t let out of her mouth. Saw the same thing in the Dominican Republic. Disappointing what people devolve to when faced with nothing but a surfeit of free time.
Where does the free thinker go?
Glad to see.you again take care god bless.
Heeeyyyyyyy Reekay,hahahaha this is hilarious,hahaha l love this shit,please keep them rolling out,hahaha
Sad but true. Hey Henry, if you hear of my passing… Please let me know! Thanks.
Ha!! 😀
very interesting story . Thanks Henry .Ya the Trolls you guys put up with for our benefit must be really awful!! scum-bags! who would do such a thing to a man fro ratings !?!? They must be very maladjusted .I heard about this guy/Fazio and watched a few of his videos – yep , quite a character- bang on there!! . I get the sense you see what you get 100% with him. solid guy it seems ! Soooo glad the rumour mills were not true . I saw that one video with his very petite GF and her big new chain saw – that was a classic ! still laughing ! glad to hear they are both fine ! 🙂 James @ Vancouver
Thanks for the truth Reekay, as always.
At first I felt a bit “stand-offish” by other ex-pats in my rural area of the Philippines (Negros Oriental). I only go there every other year and spend 2 months when I do and there was so few non Filipinos there. I kind of relished being the only “whitey” around. I eventually got to know them. They were all German. I’m American but with German heritage.
I’m glad to say they are just a great as the Filipinos back home and I miss them all dearly.
I feel very fortunate not to have experienced what you guys have.
Excellent article Reekay. I’ve found that expats typically fall into the category of “assholes or angels” with not too much middle ground. Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in the flesh or online are expats but there’s no shortage of horrendous examples in the expat community. I belong to a large facebook group of men who have filipina’s wives. The tedious topic of age gaps is debated ad infititum and also there is no shortage of men who treat their wives totally as objects and rather than celebrate their physical beauty and sweet dispositions they display them like meat. I’ll no doubt get attacked for stating that here. That’s ok though I’m used to hateful bitter attacks from trolls. Most of the Filipinas I’ve met are friendly, kind souls and it really bothers me to see sweet, impoverished women exploited in any way.
Hi Henry, First both Daisy and give you much respect for your well written commentary. You are a wordsmith for sure.
As for the [ peanut gallery ] I have never seen or heard such slanderous and liable in one place, and in fact have declined all offers to meet two of the three for the very reasons you state.
On a similar note, as you said they have Crawled back into their holes as well they should although there is one fact that troubles me more than others.
Although they have all stated they made a mistake but they were looking out for my best intentions and or my family’s best interests they have all neglected the obvious.
1] All of them allowed any and all comments to be placed on their page with no verification of facts.
2] MAKING matters worse the main Cretin in this scenario Is stating that he allowed those comments to stay on his paid because he was not overseeing his page and the comments apparently for 72 hours?
3] That is a boldfaced lie, because immediately after finding out what was going on I went to his page and saw that every Comment and I mean every comment Of a negative nature was either egged on so that there would be more or in some other fashion acknowledge making this cretin the biggest liar on YouTube thinking that I would not have seen these comments for myself and more importantly not remember what was done and said.
In fact I read every comment to and sometimes 3 times and watch the video in its entirety twice while I read the comments and not once did he remove Even one single comment in the 12 hours from the time I read the original comments till the time I posted my video, And now this little cretin is professing that he doesn’t oversee his channel On a regular basis although every comment was answered within minutes typically from what I remember, And most comments had been up for at least 24 to 48 hours prior to me looking at the video.
IS IT ANY WONDER why I called him and SCUMBAG 16 minutes and 42 seconds?
This is the kind of stuff that you just can’t make up somebody has screenshots of it all but it’s consumed quite a bit of my time and I didn’t have the ability to download the video to prove any of what I said is true but I think you know me well enough to know that I have just stated the truth.
Perhaps in Michael Fazio resurrected part 2 I might state some of these snippets of information and asked if anyone actually can send me a copy of the video and comments for the authorities because I don’t think I’m going to let this drop Easy as they hope coming on my channel and professing to be sorry.
Another interesting fact is that if you go to this Australian cretins channel you will not find a single one of my following who have made some pretty straight up and down vicious commentaries against this Australian cretin on the Australian cretins channel itself.
Apparently the slime ball doesn’t allow the negative comments on his page?
Well you can’t do much about that everyone runs their channel the way they do but it was worth noting.
Every single person on YouTube knows you are not allowed to disseminate a person’s personal information and yet that is what had occurred and my ex-landlord receiving countless phone calls because of this Australian cretin.
Thank you once again from Daisy and myself.
Michael
Fazio is mentally disturbed. His years of YouTube insanity proving evidence to this abnormal incompetent behavior. Fazio is a blatant racist and his use of his DICK of DOOM with an Obama rubber mask and toys again show his mental illnesses.For you to defend Fazio’s hateful racism is also disturbing.To say he( Fazio) is harmless is not a true statement. I have seen his behavior and his purpose which leads to only one thing, whats in it for Fazio. Fazio constantly complains about the Philippine people and how he is always being taken advantage of. My opinion is as follows 5 weeks of drama that Fazio perpetuated and could have stopped instantly. The PEANUT GALLERY is where Fazio’s playground. All the DRAMA could have been stopped IMMEDIATELY by FAZIO. His past will catch up with him soon.Begging for dollars to build a phalacey at you the PATREON expense. Yes Fazio iI will donate $500 a month. Fazio behavior is not NORMAL and never will be.
So, I take it you don’t like Michael Fazio. That’s fine. You make the claim that he’s a racist. I’m Hispanic and in he’s never had a racist comment toward me in the few private messages I’ve had with him. If he truly was a racist, he’d have a problem with me. Yet, he doesn’t. Go figure.
Is he a bit outspoken and perhaps eccentric by the standards of ‘most people’? Sure, a case could be made for that. But I fail to see where he is hurting anyone. Does he not have the same right to free speech as anyone else? Of course, he does. Maybe you just don’t like his politics. So, don’t listen to him or watch his channel. Problem solved.
As for Patreon, anything he does there that is supported by his patrons is between him and them. If people want to support him, they aren’t doing it with YOUR money. So what do you care? Maybe the send him a little something because he is entertaining. I see no harm in that. He’s not defrauding anyone.
Bottom line, I’d say you need to just lighten up. Live and let live. There are worse people on this planet to get bitchy about than Michael Fazio.
I e-mailed Mr. Fazio a couple times . He has always been a gentleman to me in resopnding …and funny ! off the wall at times ???!! , oohhhh , you bet !!! But always kind to me . I thank him for this !
He y Reekay; Been following you since I was back home in Texas, now I too have been here about 3 mos and I can relate to alot of what you are saying. Anyway just wanna say “way to go” love your stories and insight and hey btw you are not the only latino here in PI now I am number 2 LOL
Take care and peace unto you too. Keep up the good work.
good to hear from you. my father’s side is from texas, CChristi on the south end. (hot!) enjoy the PH.. so much to see every day you walk out your front door.
Reekay there is an old saying ” those who try to look big by putting others down will always be on the bottom looking up”