Doris Bigornia fundraising for surgery: netizens slam ABS-CBN, artists

  MANILA – A fundraising campaign for ABS-CBN journalist Doris Bigornia drew mixed reactions, but mostly ire from netizens on Thursday (March 25) as her colleague and daughter took to Twitter to share the GoFundMe page for her surgery. In a report on Philippine Star, ABS-CBN journalist Dyan Castillejo and Bigornia’s daughter, Nikki, appealed to the public for help as the veteran journalist started a fundraising campaign that aims to raise P1.5 million for another heart surgery. “What is ABS-CBN doing and they’re not helping you? When management asks you to target Duterte you do it, so let ABS-CBN pay for you,” Marino Loreto commented in Filipino on the Philippine Star post. Another netizen, Icong Rodeth Romero, questioned why ABS-CBN did not have funds for the medical needs of their “loyal employee”, criticizing ABS-CBN management for leaving Bigornia to “beg for her life”. Bigornia is a vocal critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, and had been involved in several spats with residents, including a confrontation with two concert goers where she accused them of stirring up trouble to latch on to her celebrity status. A video of the incident went viral. She was also called a “demon” by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Assistant Secretary Celine Pialago after Bigornia reported misleading news about the re-opening of a bridge in Quezon City. On Thursday's story, many netizens criticised ABS-CBN artists for not coming forward to help Bigornia. Cruz Pasot called on “haughty millionaires” from TV shows Probinsyano, Showtime, Darna and MMK, in reference to actors Coco Martin and Vice Ganda—both also Duterte critics—to help Bigornia. Bigornia’s daughter, Nikki, revealed that her mother needs an operation to implant a pacemaker, a device that will control and regulate her heartbeat. “We never would have thought that we would be in this situation; more so, helpless and humble in asking for everyone’s help financially,” Nikki said. Bigornia, 55, suffered a heart attack in February. She had open-heart surgery last February 25 and needs another operation for the pacemaker implant. She is also undergoing dialysis every other day due to diabetes. Nikki revealed that her mother continues to be under observation in hospital while undergoing recovery and cardiac rehab. “While we are extremely grateful to those who have helped since mommy’s admission, after having been in the hospital for more than a month (and counting) it is unfortunately, not enough,” she wrote in the description of her mother’s GoFundMe campaign. We are knocking on everyone’s kind and generous hearts to help us in raising funds for mommy’s hospitalization. As a single mom, juggling her career and family, we are thankful that mommy has been able to provide for the family on her own. But our family of three simply cannot make ends meet—hospitalization, especially in this time of the pandemic, is financially exhausting,” she said. CAM/Expat Media
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