This blogger has never been treated so badly in an event: updated
Update: Mr. Perlas has apologized through an email. Though he has expressed his desire to apologize in person, I have declined because my schedule has not been so forgiving. I have also informed him that we both need to put closure to this matter which has generated too much blogger buzz. In his email, Mr. Perlas did admit to being brash and has apologized. I have accepted it to finally close this chapter.
I believe it was better for us to say our goodbyes as civilized professionals. Life is short and we cannot afford to hate.
To my blogger friends and acquaintances, truly you have shown how solid we are as a community. Let us continue to support each other and work towards the good of the collective.
Mr. Perlas, again I reiterate, apology is accepted.
Sadly, there is always a first for everything including bad experiences.
Just today I was invited by an electronics manufacturer to the launch of their latest line of entertainment devices and gadgets. This company has always treated me well in the past and their invitations weigh like gold to me. So I figured today wouldn’t be so different and I would be treated to yet another wonderful smorgasbord of digital goodies. Apparently, I was wrong.
The venue was Le Souffle (which I have dined at more than five times this year) at the Fort Strip, Global City, Taguig. Upon entry, I fell in line for the registration and before I was allowed to register, I was accosted by Jayce Perlas (as it says on his name tag) and asked me what publication I was from. I answered him that I am a blogger and gave him my URL. He then asked me, “WHO INVITED YOU?” Mind you, this was BEFORE I was to register for the event. I gave him the name of the person who invited me to which he said, “I am the person in charge of invitations. Confirm ko muna kay XXXXX yung invitation mo, dyan ka muna.” Whoa? I don’t see him asking my friend Dante these questions, why was he picking one me? So, despite being humiliated in front of the people in the counter and treated like an arrested shoplifter, I waited anyway. I even offered to show him my email invitation to which he turned his back ran after XXXXX.
When XXXXX, came down and saw me, she immediately greeted me and flashed her sweetest smile, “sir Arpee! salamat nang marami at dumating ka!” When Mr. Perlas saw this he said, “sige mag-register ka na.” After I registered, Mr Perlas told the girls at the counter, “lagyan mo ng care-of dyan sa gilid. Isulat mo care-of XXXXX.” Well, maybe that was procedure.
However, by this time I was already fuming mad and felt terribly insulted. Another lady approached us (me and Dante) and introduced herself (I just forget her name, but she said she also worked for Perlas and Luna) and asked what publication were we from. I answered, yet again, ‘we’re bloggers’. She answers, “ay ano yun? Naku it’s probably something technical, my son would know what that is.” Hey, at least she was honest about it. While in the middle of explaining what a blogger is, I could see Mr. Perlas greeting other guests more warmly and even giving his card to some of them. This irked me even further, because I honestly felt I was singled out for no apparent reason. Was it because I was wearing jeans? In the invitation they made no mention of a dress code.
I approached Mr. Perlas and asked him if I could take some pictures, to which he said I was allowed to do so. After taking a few snaps of the place, I offered my name tage back to the ladies in the counter and told them that I was leaving. They looked surprised and offered to call XXXXX so I can say my goodbyes, which was the right thing to do.
I told XXXXX how badly I felt and she profusely apologized. I told her that if their future events were to be handled by PERLAS AND LUNA, better not waste time in inviting me because I will not go. I can only be treated like dirt once. NEITHER WILL I ATTEND ANY OTHER EVENT BY OTHER COMPANIES IF THESE EVENTS ARE HANDLED BY PERLAS AND LUNA. I will only be treated badly in an event ONCE and NEVER AGAIN.
Bloggers attend events all the time and understandably, some of us do behave badly. But if it is necessary for us to be humiliated please give us just cause. The lot of us are mostly decent, have above-average spending power and should be treated with respect as you would traditional media people. Bloggers are member of the new media and we are not a hype that will go away anytime soon. I ask PR agencies to please do your homework about bloggers before you have us invited to your events. As far as I know, I never emailed any company asking them to invite me; they’ve always emailed me to attend and even email me again to thank me for going. Mr Perlas and those like him should try to have a bit more PR in their PR work.
Comments
Comment from cheftonio
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:23 pm
tsktsktsk… when will they ever learn to treat bloggers the right way? haaay…
Comment from Bob Reyes
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:28 pm
Black list PERLAS and LUNA.
Comment from Babsy
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:30 pm
Simply means di sila organized kasi dapat nun alam ng lahat ng committee ang mga invited.
I feel for you.
*hugs*
Comment from jayvee f.
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:32 pm
apparently this PR group is the new retainer for said electronics company. their other 2 PR agencies in the past who did projects with bloggers were always good to us and treated us fairly. XXXXX also treated us well, sending us necessarily press material to publish in our blogs when we can. Perlas should do their homework lest they destroy whatever good relations have been established in the past.
Comment from laszlo
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:43 pm
sorry to hear about this bad experience.
seems like someone needs to learn some manners on how to treat guests — bloggers or otherwise.
Comment from Noemi
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:44 pm
Whenever a PR agency invites me and I’ve never heard of them, I am blunt in asking them if they treat bloggers and traditional media the same way. I make it clear that I don\t attend if there is a disparity in treatment. Of course, in your case…you didn\t know that the company hired PERLAS AND LUNA.
Oh those raffle raffle and you see the same traditional media persons winning it over and over again in other events…ay never mind. I sometimes wonder think why they invited bloggers in the first place.
Comment from eric
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:47 pm
ay ang bad nila….
Comment from Monique
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:53 pm
Sooo sad and so humiLiating…sorry for what happened to you Kuya Arpee.
Comment from koorime
Time: November 27, 2008, 2:00 pm
May mga ignorante talaga sa mundong ito. After reading it I feel bad. I hope makahanap siya ng katapat niya. Thanks for the info.
Comment from fruityoaty
Time: November 27, 2008, 2:01 pm
That’s awful… sorry to hear you were treated so poorly.
Comment from loonie
Time: November 27, 2008, 2:08 pm
don’t mess with the bloggers!
ikalat yang pangalan ng taong yan and ang magaspang nyang ugali!
eto ba ang mokong na yun? – http://profiles.friendster.com/2639492
Comment from arpee
Time: November 27, 2008, 2:10 pm
to loonie: my goodness, sya nga!
Comment from arpee
Time: November 27, 2008, 2:15 pm
just to clear the air, i have nothing against the guy personally. i don’t know him that well to judge him. i just ranted about the bad treatment that i got. perhaps if he knew any better, things would have been different.
Comment from Ferdz
Time: November 27, 2008, 2:26 pm
Their so plain RUDE. Even if you are not a blogger or a guest they should treat people courteously. Who knows you might be a potential client/costumer. So much for their PR
Comment from Hannah.Flair Candy
Time: November 27, 2008, 3:00 pm
A bit of courtesy shouldn’t hurt them…
Comment from letsgosago
Time: November 27, 2008, 5:03 pm
“I am the person in charge of invitations…” – apparently, he shouldn’t be handling it anymore. =)
“try to have a bit more PR in their PR work.” – panalo! =)
Comment from Prudence
Time: November 27, 2008, 7:01 pm
He shouldn’t have treated you rudely, even if he’s not sure of who you are or who invited you. The best assumption when you find someone in an event is that person is invited, and not an intruder. That guy was so tactless it’s a wonder why he’s in a PR company.
Comment from Christa
Time: November 27, 2008, 9:56 pm
That is a horrible way of treating guests, even if we may not be as well-connected as the “Press”. That is really very bad. And to think that Mr. Perlas did that straight to your face. Very tactless and unprofessional.
PR companies who don’t know about bloggers and about their connections on the web, should seriously DO THEIR HOMEWORK if they wish to reach the world.
Comment from Jori
Time: November 27, 2008, 10:05 pm
Taas noo ako sa naging asal mo. You stay refined and calm.
Comment from itot
Time: November 28, 2008, 12:07 am
cheer up! sabi nga kapag may bad na nangyari e good ang kasunod! She answers, “ay ano yun?, naalala ko tuloy yun babae sa western union nong tanungin sakin ang apelyido ni google! 
Comment from cigarette-girl
Time: November 28, 2008, 5:37 am
Awful! Blogger or not, they should treat people with respect, especially since they are a PR company.
Pingback from PR gaffe as invited blogger denied event entry : PR Disasters
Time: November 28, 2008, 9:28 am
[...] Blogger Arpee Lazaro Sadly contacts me relating how he was invited by an electronics manufacturer to the launch of their latest line of entertainment devices and gadgets. Upon entry, Arpee fell in line for the registration and before being allowed to register, was accosted by Jayce Perlas (as it says on his name tag) and asked me what publication I was from. I answered him that I am a blogger and gave him my URL. He then asked me, “WHO INVITED YOU?” This lead to much humiliation in front of the people in the counter and treated like an arrested shoplifter. Here’s his blog piece: http://gadgets.arpeelazaro.com/?p=67 [...]
Pingback from Jayce Perlas Angers Blogger – Viloria.net
Time: November 28, 2008, 9:37 am
[...] Perlas (Perlas & Luna) meets and angers blogger Arpee Lazaro. Now Arpree rants about it in This blogger has never been treated so badly in an event. The story online, however, does not end [...]
Comment from Jonas Diego
Time: November 28, 2008, 12:56 pm
Grabe naman ‘yan!
Comment from MiGs
Time: November 28, 2008, 12:58 pm
Ay.. may kabastusan ang dating ng PR guy…
sana naman wag ganun.. well.. now pinag uusapan ang event nila.. hindi nga lang about the product…
Comment from cheftonio
Time: November 28, 2008, 1:13 pm
@loonie, naku, sikat na siya. pashades shades pa lol
Comment from ven
Time: November 28, 2008, 1:49 pm
ooh that’s so mean! talk about “public relations”, they obviously need to be schooled!
Pingback from Filipino bloggers disrespected TV station & PR agency | WordPress Philippines
Time: November 28, 2008, 5:14 pm
[...] think Pinoy bloggers have gained equal footing with mainstream media. Noemi Dado’s and Arpee Lazaro’s and recent experiences prove [...]
Comment from thegreatest
Time: November 28, 2008, 5:40 pm
Mr. “Person-in-charge-of-invitations” throwing his weight around, lulz. Lame.
Comment from Dexter | Tech At Hand Dot Net
Time: November 29, 2008, 11:43 pm
That’s Bad.. Those PR people should be the one to know bloggers like us in our niche. They should know that bloggers can also give an advertisement to their product.
Pingback from Do Blogger’s Deserves To Be Treated Like This ? | Tech At Hand Dot Net | Philippines, Technology, SEO and Blogging
Time: November 30, 2008, 12:07 am
[...] Perlas of Perlas and Luna PR Agency, Well to those of you who does know it yet, Mr Jayce Perlas have angered a Tech Blogger ( Arpee ), It was an incident that happen in a product launch of a certain Electronic Product handled by [...]
Comment from the jester-in-exile
Time: November 30, 2008, 2:18 am
i’m guessing they’ve never read the wave3 study on how blogging about products drives customer spending.
i feel for you, man. not just as a blogger, but as a person. nobody, blogger or not, deserves such ill-treatment.
Comment from Roy
Time: November 30, 2008, 5:22 pm
I’ve never been to any event representing myself as a blogger… but that person (he doesn’t deserve his surname), is really an idiot and I do believe the word should really go out about this.
Nobody deserved what he did, he should not be in the PR business, he knows nothing of it.
Comment from PinoyCopywriter
Time: November 30, 2008, 6:26 pm
I sympathize with you. Bloggers, or anybody else for that matter, should not be treated that why. Those people should never be in the event organizing business if they act and treat people like that.
I believe there are still a lot of people who don’t know what blogging is. Even people engaged in events coordination and PR, too. I once added a blogger’s party to promote this new drink. It was very boring. I could tell that the organizers had no idea what to do with a room full of bloggers.
Comment from Call Center Gal
Time: November 30, 2008, 6:34 pm
That was a rude attitude they committed on their guests. Just because they don’t have an idea about us ‘bloggers’ tsk…tsk… I just hope that they will still have their jobs after a couple of years because a lot of businesses nowadays go to bloggers to promote their products…
A PR company who needs PR? Whew! I just hope this won’t happen again to any one of us.
Comment from only in the philippines
Time: November 30, 2008, 9:40 pm
My sympathy is with you. That was rude enough for treating a guest like that considering their stature in the PR world. Granting that bloggers are not in their vocabulary, it is safe to assume they are ignorant of the power of the internet as a tool for their main livelihood-public relations & advertising. Or are they simply using their expertise? Which is to create a situation specifically intended for bloggers to blog about and gain free publicity and advertising instead and become instant internet celebrities? FYI, there are 4,350,000 searches @ google for perlas and luna while jayce perlas has 1,850 searches as of this writing.The more we dignify and talk about thier acts on that fateful day, the more they will become popular.
D3Marketers
Comment from thegreatest
Time: November 30, 2008, 11:17 pm
Only in the philippines,
Try again.
4,350,000 searches for perlas and luna, but only 112 for “perlas and luna”, of which, the extreme majority of items found relate to this unfortunate NEGATIVE event. I don’t think your theory flies.
Comment from Ada
Time: December 1, 2008, 1:06 am
I remember one time in mall, I was wearing rugged jogging pants, loose large t-shirt and kinda dirty rubber shoes that time, I entered one of the stores, a footwear store. I intend to buy a slippers that time and my feet really hurts that I came from a training.
The store is huge with five sales people, and there were three customers including me. The two were assisting the two customers and no one is assisting. The slippers I wanted was on the highest top and I can’t reach it. I told the three sales people to please get it for me.
I told them to get it for me about 3 times, and the fourth time I shouted at them “wala bang papansin saken?” and I dropped like 4-5 slippers and get out of the store. All was looking at me and I don’t care. After that, I said to myself I will never ever buy in that footwear store. NEVER EVER.
It’s sad that some people look at you by how the way you dress. I feel so sorry for them that they treated the wrong person.
Comment from Ada
Time: December 1, 2008, 1:09 am
*no one is assisting me. Sorry for the the typo
Pingback from Weekend Roundup #26 » JaypeeOnline // Blogging News & Reviews
Time: December 1, 2008, 1:24 am
[...] Lazaro talks about his recent “experience” during a product launch and how he was “treated” by one of the event organizers. PR [...]
Comment from Legal Eagle
Time: December 1, 2008, 8:39 am
Different Thought naman: I think we bloggers should also learn a lesson here. Lucky for Arpee Mr. Perlas hasn’t sued.
Quotiong Warior Lawyer:
“If you call someone a scum-sucking, slimeball, swindling pimp, even if this is fairly accurate, and post it online, you may be sued for making libelous statements.
Defamatory words are those calculated to induce the hearers or readers to suppose and understand that that the person or persons against whom they were uttered were guilty of certain offenses, or are sufficient to impeach their honesty, virtue or reputation, or to hold the person or persons up to public ridicule. Philippine law also presumes every defamatory imputation to be malicious, even if true, if no good intention and justifiable motive for making it is shown (Article 254 of the Revised Penal Code). ”
http://thewarriorlawyer.com/2007/02/20/libel-on-the-internet-under-philippine-law/
Comment from Legal Eagle
Time: December 1, 2008, 9:06 am
addendum:
And this has many counts pa:
“In the Philippines, the “multiple publication rule” applies. It means that if a single defamatory statement is published several times, it gives rise to as many offenses as there are publications.”
Comment from Gerry Alanguilan
Time: December 1, 2008, 10:52 am
I’m glad that this has found some resolution. Slowly but surely, people are starting to see the power that bloggers have. Once in a while we really just have to let people feel it. For emphasis.
Comment from arpee
Time: December 1, 2008, 11:33 am
to legal eagle: if you read my post, i made no such defamatory statements against the man. however, what the other bloggers have said is beyond my control. if indeed mr. perlas wanted to sue me, then he is well within his rights to do so, as i am well within my rights to get representation. incidentally, i do have representation at my disposal. my family has a legal team on retainer. however, an apology does work wonders where lawsuits will fail, don’t you think?
Comment from Legal Eagle
Time: December 1, 2008, 12:19 pm
I agree. But let this be a lesson too, again, to other bloggers, because if you, as you say are not liable, those other bloggers whose IDs and clear refrences to whom their defamatory remarks are directed to as well as explicit intention of publicly ridiculing him posted online in their plurks and blogs etc, ARE liable of such offense, don’t you think?
Comment from arpee
Time: December 1, 2008, 12:32 pm
to legal eagle: how right you are. we all learned here.
Comment from Roy
Time: December 1, 2008, 12:38 pm
thanks for the update.
Comment from Dexter | Tech At Hand Dot Net
Time: December 1, 2008, 1:56 pm
Thanks for the update
Comment from bloggista
Time: December 1, 2008, 7:07 pm
Very unfortunate. Kaya ako, as much as possible, umiiwas sa mga events na ganyan. Para sa media nalang yan. Baka tayo pa mapag pyistahan.
And I strongly disagree that bloggers should be associated or likened to Media. We may have somehow same medium to express our thoughts, but bloggers “include” in their blog articles the “emotions” that made up a story.
Comment from -gayle-
Time: December 1, 2008, 7:25 pm
only in the philippines :
parang may point ka. parang may connection ang shoutout nya sa frndster page niya sa sinabi mo.
Pingback from Wrong Move for a Perlas and Luna PR Person
Time: December 1, 2008, 8:51 pm
[...] Just like in the case of Arpee Lazaro. He blogged about the unfair treatment he got from a PR Person from Perlas and Luna, Jayce Perlas, want to know the entire story? You can check out his post This blogger has never been treated so badly in an event. [...]
Pingback from FullyBooked Blogger’s Event 112808 | Maligayang Pasko | TitaKoSiVilma.com
Time: December 1, 2008, 11:49 pm
[...] Oha! I love it when huge companies recognize the importance of bloggers(and I hate it when they don’t, or much worse treat them like dirt…). [...]
Comment from cam
Time: December 2, 2008, 12:04 am
it really feels bad to be treated like that. no one should ever do that. not because a person doesn’t flaunt his/her “being in a high class” means you can just treat him like that. at least you’re not bragging like the others. at least he apologized now. i hope it’s a sincere one and not just to stop the bad writing about them.
Comment from Jehzeel Laurente
Time: December 2, 2008, 1:18 am
aww….ang sakit nun.. buti nalang di ako na invite… kundi mag papa kamatay na ako! hahaha.. joke lang ^__^
sarap e blog nun, pag ginawa yun sa akin, iiyak talaga ako at e boblog ko din gaya ng sinulat mo ngayon.. tsk tsk tsk.. ang sama nila ang sama sama.. hehe 
dapat magkaroon ng common sense yung mga andoon, kaya ka nga nandoon eh, syempre invited ka.. nyok ^__^
Comment from Jaypee
Time: December 2, 2008, 5:06 am
Buti naman at nag apologize na sya sayo. PR agencies and personnel should learn from this experience that they should treat their guests well regardless of who they are and that they shouldn’t mess with bloggers.
Comment from Legal Beagle
Time: December 2, 2008, 8:07 am
It’s a good thing more bloggers have access to legal assistance. It helps them easily see through thinly-veiled attempts (placed in popular comment areas) to create a “chilling effect” on some bloggers. Enough of the blah-blah warnings… just go ahead and sue.
Sa madaling salita: “Tama na ang satsat. Kalabitin mo na!” 
Comment from Jim
Time: December 3, 2008, 10:59 am
it is a PR mess for them had this landed other media, pero wala na sila magagawa ‘repair’ online. markado na sila.
Comment from mayen
Time: December 3, 2008, 10:09 pm
“Any blog that spins out the truth will be found out. In a world of social media, honesty is the ONLY policy” — Universal McCan Social Media Tracker, Wave 3. ; – )
Comment from mayen
Time: December 3, 2008, 10:44 pm
It’s a good thing you are not twisting the truth naman to your advandage, diba? ; )
Comment from arpee
Time: December 4, 2008, 12:25 am
to mayen: my readers are intelligent. they can tell fact from fiction.
Comment from mayen
Time: December 4, 2008, 8:20 am
of course, they WOULD ; )
Comment from mayen
Time: December 4, 2008, 8:48 am
And they know you are not sensationalizing the story to rally sympathy by embellishing the truth by making it appear that it was a dsicrimination against bloggers in general ; )
Comment from mayen
Time: December 4, 2008, 9:13 am
http://techathand.net/2008/11/do-bloggers-deserves-to-be-treated-like-this/#comments
Comment from arpee
Time: December 4, 2008, 11:35 am
to mayen: i don’t think mr. perlas would apologize if it were untrue. mr. perlas is a professional and he has been man enough to say sorry. i admire him for owning up to his mistake.
Comment from Winston
Time: November 27, 2008, 1:20 pm
hi kuya arpee, i felt sorry on how they treated you. i’m supposed to attend this event too. like you, i also received my invite from XXXXX. Naku, kung tumuloy ako, baka ganun din ang ginawa sa akin. hehehe. anyway, at least we all know that we should be cautious when receiving invites from PERLAS and LUNA.