Fellow blogger Pat's caulfieldisms is currently on This-blog-is-open-to-invited- readers-only mode. Pat is apologetic. He says something went amiss that just might cause him huge problem, aside from the trouble it brought him now--worrying about the possibility of losing his job and worse, getting sued.

He articulates his ordeal, if it is, in this comment he posted in The Sisters page:

na-trouble ako sa work dahil sa barista diaries series kung san garapal ang pangookray ko sa... coffee shop na pinagtrabahuhan ko at sa mga regular celebrity customers, one of whom got wind of the blog, read the posts and got offended. pero i intended lang naman na maging funny ang series. iniisip siguro ng establishment na 'yun, 'so who's laughing now?'.

so sa mga baklang nag-aakalang nagfifeeling exclusive ako, hinde. i had to block it muna dahil kaso siya.

i would've invited lte or anyone who'd bother to ask bakit pa-invited-invited readers pa 'kong nalalaman pero i didn't think anyone'd care if my blog's still active or not.

i take comfort with the fact na i was able to disturb someone's universe because of what i wrote kaht na im facing (possibly) termination and imminent joblessness.

so sa mga baklang feel magname ng mga actual tao sa blogs niyo, be careful at magsilbing leksyon sana ako.

thank u lyka for bothering to do this at salamat sa popularity ng lte kase kahit alam kong shameful ang haba ng comment na 'to, pinost ko pa ren sha.

nalulungkot akong talaga dahil dito. even then, hot pa ren si rodrigo santoro.

ps
bananas, number mo? Ü
joke lang.

thanks.

ciao.
xxx

The experience of Pat and all other bloggers presents alarming implications to the free (read: democratic) space given to the bloggers to express whatever they harbor--both emotionally or cerebrally.

In a nutshell, I can sense real trouble here especially that blogs are very fluid and open and opinionated that bloggers, being online journal-ists, can become very mean, anatagonistic, critical, arrogant and all in expressing their thoughts.

In other countries like Pakistan (and china and what else?), bloggers are prohibited from saying anything that can ruin their government's reputation (or whatever that's left). Clearly, it exemplifies how a state attempts to stop people from accessing their critical minds and expressing these through written and spoken words. It shows how a government limited the people's free space.

Pat's experience also exposes the fact that Filipino bloggers are facing a looming crisis--maybe not from the government whose policies are always criticized but from quarters who are as pique-prone as some players in the current administration are. For expressing something, now he is facing his demons and I can only imagine how difficult that could be.

I am not posting this because I want to defend Pat and fuel any justifications which were already made regarding what he did. Much more, I am not here to back and cry with the sensitivities of those who were offended by Pat's expressions.However, I firmly believe that he must not be fired for criticizing his company or his boss and their celebrity customers.

But I guess, all these experiences should serve as a wake-up call for all stakeholders. This is a concern that levels high up, actually more than the concern about how can we possibly get paid out of blogging.

I guess this is one important concern that must be discussed during forums and summits.