FILIPINO HOUSEMAID SINGS 'AND I AM TELLING YOU I'M NOT GOING' LIKE A PRO

I live in a small town in Pampanga where internet is still a luxury. My humble abode is known as the ‘tech haven’ in a community where everyone knows everybody else, because I am one of the lucky few who has internet, printer and other gadgets.

When our place was still recovering from the wreckage of the Habagat flood last month, an unfamiliar petite, young woman showed up on my doorstep and asked me if I could help her download and burn it in a CD a minus one or instrumental version of  Jennifer Holiday’s/Jessica Sanchez’s/Charice’s “AND I AM TELLING YOU I’M NOT GOING” because she was joining an amateur singing contest in Bataan later that day.

I was really busy cleaning up my place but I thought it was the best time to do some good deeds after surviving the deadly flood.

After almost half an hour of searching for file-sharing websites, I finally downloaded the song. Illegal or not, all I know is that I helped someone in need. I just thought of the words of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that goes, “Sometimes, it’s okay to break rules.”

The internet connection in our place is horrible so downloading is a nightmare. The brighter side of it was that I was able to know her a little better.

This skinny, dark-skinned girl is from the Visayas. Too bad I didn’t ask where in Visayas and worse I didn’t get her name but she told me that she is staying in a small, remote barrio named Brgy. Bebe Matua. She has been working as a housemaid for a kindhearted family for several years now. Her story is familiar to us - she  went to Manila to escape poverty back home. She didn't find her luck in Manila and by fate, her feet brought her to a less urban but friendlier Pampanga. She said that she feels blessed because her ‘bosses’ don’t treat her like a house help. She is being treated like a member of their family.  

Before I burned it to the CD, we checked the song if the quality was good then I suggested, “Why don’t you practice the song now and I’ll play Simon Cowell?” She was shy at first but I threatened her that I wouldn't burn it if she wouldn't let me hear her sing. She finally gave in to my request.

So I played the song and when she was just at the first line of the song, I screamed “WTF! Wait I gotta record this!”

I paused the player, took out my iphone and recorded it.

She couldn’t be a housemaid!!! She just killed it! I was like where does her voice come from? She could even give Jessica Sanchez & Charice a run for their money.

Here is the video that I am talking about. Imma name her the ‘HOUSEMAID DIVA’! Please don’t take it like it’s a derogatory name because we all love or househelps don’t we? It may be too cliché-ish but  being a househelp is something to be proud of . Once again, watch her and see for yourself and maybe together, we can make ELLEN DEGENERES notice this undiscovered precious talent.