The Truth Is Revealed

THE TRUTH IS REVEALED! By Franco del Rosario

It was revealed one Friday, August 14, that Jess Christian D. Ramirez is not in a relationship with his alleged much-publicized “girlfriend”, Kaelyn C. Gonzales, thanks to the courageous efforts of 4-Truth student Alec Jan V. Cheng. The event commenced during a “Truth or Dare” game at a 4-Truth acquaintance party in the garden of Marco C. Paderanga’s house. It was then that Jess Ramirez, 16, was challenged to call his “girlfriend”, Kaelyn Gonzales. Using Franco del Rosario’s cellular phone. Ramirez dialed the cell phone number of his assumed girlfriend. Ramirez pressed the call button and the call was put on loudspeaker mode. With his mouth to the speaker, Ramirez called out “Hello? Hello? Hon? Hon?” Ramirez then handed the phone back to del Rosario. Del Rosario moved towards the gate of the Paderanga residence, where he was followed by eight other students. A female voice resounded on the other line: “Hello?” The phone was then grabbed by Alec Jan V. Cheng. The crowd introduced themselves as classmates/friends of Ramirez. Additionally, the group of students told the person on the other end that they were at a class party and calling the girlfriends / boyfriends of everyone in the class. In an attempt to obtain more seclusion, Cheng and del Rosario exited the house through the gate and attempted to continue the conversation with Ramirez’s “girlfriend”. Cheng boldly asked, as his first statement: “Eto ba yung girlfriend ni Jess?” The voice on the end responded: “Uhhh, hindi. Kaibigan lang niya ‘to.”

The transcript of the first moments of the call is provided below: Cheng: Ehh, eto yung number na binagay niya eh. Girl: Baka nagakamali lang siya sa number. Mag-kaibigan lang kami. Cheng: Ba’t niya sinasabi ikaw raw yung girlfriend niya? Girl: Baka ibang pangalan. Ako si Kaelyn C. Gonzales. Cheng: C? Girl: Cataran. Gonzales then asked a student to confirm with Ramirez the name of the female, whom Ramirez had been labeling as his girlfriend. As suspected by Cheng, Ramirez declared that the name was indeed “Kaelyn Gonzales” and that the middle initial of his suspected girlfriend was “C.” (Though Ramirez did not know what it stood for.) The call continued, as more and more students gathered: Cheng: O, sabi raw niya “Kaelyn C. Gonzales” nga yung pangalan, eh. Ibig sabihin, ikaw nga ‘yun. Gonzales: Ganun ba? Cheng: So, nagsisinungaling siya tungkol sa iyo at yung pagkakaroon ng girlfriend? Gonzales: Oo, siguro. She then went on to say that she had met Jess through Yahoo Messenger (not at a friend’s party, as Ramirez previously stated once), and that the two have never met in person. She revealed that she was a 17-year-old Ateneo College student taking up Political Science. She also mentioned she was a model for Folded & Hung. At one point, she invited Cheng to add her to his Friendster and Yahoo Messenger. A look at Gonzales’ Friendster profile shows the same picture, which Ramirez had been keeping in his wallet and presenting to classmates as a picture of his “girlfriend”. The exchange between Cheng and Gonzales lasted for 15 minutes. When Ramirez was confronted with this after the call, he changed his stance, claiming he and Gonzales “did not care” about the status of their relationship. gauge