Actress Sunshine Cruz called the attention of an Instagram user on February 12, after receiving lewd message through direct messaging (DM).
Sunshine posted a screenshot of the message, which said that the sender, who was a chef, was fantasizing about the actress' daughter. Sunshine captioned it with: “I just saw this now. Chef pa naman. Hindi sa lahat ng pagkakataon mananahimik kami Masyadong bastos!”
Celebs commented on Sunshine’s post, including Kim Atienza, who suggested that the netizen’s account might have been hacked; however, the restaurant where the man worked reached out to Sunshine, and confirmed that "they have formalized all the termination documents" of the offender, who was revealed to be Lorence Guardian.
A public apology was also posted on Lorence's Instagram page.
It’s alarming how a stranger can just slide an unwanted, bastos comment into your DMs, but if there’s anything we learned from Sunshine Cruz, it is to never let any form of harassment slip away.
Speak up and call the offender out. Let him know that it’s not okay, then block and report the user. Keep screenshots (or rather, "receipts") of the message thread, photo, or video as evidence for your complaint. Remember that reporting such incidences and following through with the case does not make you "O.A." Asserting your right to be respected as a person never is.
With additional reporting by Patricia Melliza
This story was translated from Filipino to English and has originally appeared on Pep.ph
* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
