Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach gracefully handled an unexpected situation at this year's Manila International Book Fair (MIBF).
During Fast Talk With Boy Abunda's September 20 episode, Boy Abunda reported that Pia already reached out to apologize to Mr. Ricky Lee following the MIBF incident.
Earlier this week, a video of Pia arriving at the event went viral—but it's not because of her or her newly launched book. Instead, it was because of her encounter with National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts Ricky Lee.
In the video, Pia can be seen arriving with a bunch of marshals protecting her from the crowd at the book fair.
As she was walking towards the stage for her book launch, she spotted Ricky and reached out to shake his hand. However, a marshal extended his arm to separate the two.
The video made rounds online, with most netizens saying it was a "disrespectful" gesture by the marshal towards a National Artist.
While Pia did not say anything publicly about the incident, she mentioned in her Instagram post (which carried a photo with Ricky Lee) that she has much respect for Filipino writers, especially after going through the grueling process of publishing a book.
"Print is not dead. Reading will never be passé. I want to take this opportunity to say, let’s support authors and novelists, especially Filipino writers. Now I know how much ‘blood, sweat and tears’ there is to produce and get a book out there," she said.
Earlier this week, Ricky aired out his thoughts about the incident .In an interview with PEP.ph, he said he had the chance to give Pia a copy of his book before the incident happened.
"So, tumingin ako at nang lumapit ako, hinawakan ako ni Pia. Sabi ni Pia, ‘Thanks for the book, Sir Ricky’," he said.
The National Artist admitted that he only realized what happened after people told him about the video going viral.
"I think, 'dun yung hinarang ako ng guard at itinaboy ako. In the gulo of the moment, hindi ko na nahalata 'yon kasi lumayo na si Pia."
For Ricky, regardless if he's a National Artist or not, respect should be given to any person—especially when Pia already acknowledged that person, just like how Pia acknowledged him among the crowd.
"Siguro ‘yung guwardiya could have been more gracious. [...] Hindi kinakailangan na senior or hindi kinakailangang National Artist. Pero kung may taong nilapitan din ni Pia, kinamayan pa ni Pia, respetuhin niya [guard] ‘yung tao at si Pia, kasi kilala ni Pia," the National Artist stated.
