JASON IVLER
Sinner or Saint?
by Ronald S. Lim
January 30, 2010, 9:43am
 The arrest of erstwhile fugitive Jason Ivler several weeks days ago prompted a myriad of reactions from the public.
But while the general sentiment was one of relief at his dramatic entrapment and eventual capture, as well as disbelief at his mother’s theatrics and actions, there is surprisingly growing support for him online.
Just take Facebook for instance. Already there are several Facebook fan pages dedicated to the alleged murderer, with the leading fan page now boasting more than 12,000 members (as of this writing) and even T-shirt designs in support of Ivler! The group’s steadily growing online presence has also drawn its share of critics, who decry the support for the alleged road rage killer. Even Marlene Aguilar-Pollard, Ivler’s mother, participates in the discussions that occur on this online flashpoint.
And why wouldn’t she? Wall post after wall post – often in capital letters – Ivler’s fans voice messages of support and shoot down any dissenting opinion. The government is viewed with a wary eye and the media is considered untrustworthy. The group has recently even taken to banning “haters” who join the group to either heckle or lecture the fan page’s members.
Jason's rabid warrior
“Rp Vanity”, “Maje Manuel”, Jesuke Keren-Happuch Capuz, and Christine Syjie Viajante are four of Jason Ivler fans.
Vanity and Manuel are administrators of the Jason Ivler fan page. Capuz brands herself as the fan page’s “number one warrior,” while Viajante is a member. Not one of them knew of Ivler before the exposure he received from the media.
“I first saw him on the news. I thought that he was an interesting young man. How could he kill a government official at such a young age?” recalls Viajante. Vanity, Capuz, and Manuel say that they admire Ivler’s bravery, while Viajante expresses that she has doubts about the facts of Ivler’s case.
“The main reason why I became his fan in the first place is because there are confusions in my mind every time I see update and reports on him on TV. There are always questions left unanswered,”
she says.
The four also put up a united front when asked about whether they think Ivler is innocent of the charges leveled against him, invoking the maxim that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty.
“Inosente siya dahil wala pa namang nangyayaring pagdinig sa korte. Sabi ng mga anti-Ivler, kung inosente daw si Jason ay hindi daw siya magtatago at manlalaban sa mga pulis. Sa pananaw ko naman ay naisip na din ni Jason kung ano ang maaring mangyari sa kanya kapag siya ay sumuko lalo na’t bigating tao ang sinsabing napatay niya,” says Manuel.
Manuel even goes further to say that perhaps Ivler’s alleged victims had it coming. “Kung totoo man na ginawa niya nga ang kasalanan na iyon, tingin ko ay may ginawa ang tao na iyon kay Jason kaya siya pinatulan.”
Of course, taking such a controversial stand has resulted in more than a few enemies, both online and in the real world, but not one of them is backing down from their beliefs anytime soon.
“Takot lang nila, I’m the number one warrior sa fan page na ‘yun!” excaims Capuz. “Kanya kanyang buhay ‘to. Kung gusto namin maging fan ni Jason Ivler, wala silang paki. Ganun lang kasimple ‘yun.”
The group is certainly quick to shoot down any critic that musters up the courage to face the group’s thousand strong members. Pictures of “haters” are manipulated for maximum embarrassment, and homophobic and racist insults are part for the course. Even this reporter’s request for an interview was greeted with disbelief, taunting, and insults.
Free speech?
However, not all of these fans are in it to show support. Some are in it just for the opportunity to poke fun, and in a roundabout way, stand up for free speech. “Sentrei” is one such fan, and says that the same can be said for a lot of the fan pages members.
“For guys, to like someone who is considered a ‘bad person’ by the media is cool and funny. For girls, attracted sila sa looks ni Jason Ivler. And they know the difference between right and wrong and they know that Jason Ivler did something wrong,” says Sentrei. “But the page has drawn critics and good-two-shoes who try to convert these fans. Siyempre, we know it’s wrong to idolize Jason Ivler. We get irritated by these people.”
Sentrei admits to not even caring about Ivler all that much, saying that he has to pay for what he did, but relishes the opportunity to pile on people who try to impose their beliefs on the group.
“People who are polite and air their anti-Jason Ivler views in a nice way are respected by the forum. I don’t care about Jason Ivler but when I see a person’s anti-Jason comments and he’s being obnoxious, I feel like he’s fair game to be humiliated,” he says. “Tapos what happens is people see the funny pictures, laugh at them, and invite their friends to view the funny pics. That’s how the page has grown so quickly.”
‘’Vanity’’ even claims that becoming a part of this group has improved her for the better.
“Being a fan has helped me because I’ve gained confidence in myself. I speak out what is on my mind,” she says. “Haters joining the page don’t respect me and my co-fans’ opinions, but we don’t care. For us, they don’t exist.”
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The Jason Ivler I know
by Dru Baltazar (The Philippine Star)
Updated January 30, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - It’s been a long time since we hung out, I think it’s because almost the whole barkada was spread out around the world. Nevertheless, it doesn’t change our past and what we went through. We’ve known Jay from the high school days at Brent International School, I think it was ’95 or ’96. He was new from Connecticut and was looking to find himself within the community, looking to meet friends with similar taste in music and interest. It just so happened that we were a group of friends who were in the exact same situation as he was but older by a few years or so. We were all new here and were looking to make friends. The cool thing about that barkada was — I’m not sure if it was coincidence — we were all brought here around the same time from the US, with strong influence in hip-hop music! So from the day we all met each other, we started hanging out immediately, with Jason as the youngest, I think he was only 14 or 15 at the time. He was a happy-go-lucky kid with no worries and troubles in mind.
The thing that no one really knows about Jay especially back then, and I’m sure he still is, is his family is spiritual. That’s where Jay and I, with some of our other close friends who are in California today, even bonded. He gave me a book before called Seth Speaks which was a great influence in my life. Another thing about the family is that they are a breed of artists, that’s from being an Aguilar. Tita Marlene was busy getting the most creative Filipino artists and their work out there and we tried to help and participate in every little way we could.
During the late ’90s, the hip-hop music scene in the Philippines was in full bloom, hitting the radio waves and clubs. Since we were “hip-hop heads,” we were in every hip-hop event possible. Enjoying the music and the scene, that’s when I think he decided as an artist, to start working on an album. That’s the same time we met foreign DJ’s and promoters who were contributing a lot to the hip-hop music scene. We surrounded ourselves with these people. Another thing people should know is, Jason is a joker. He showed it in his lyrics and music videos. Don’t take them literally and seriously, ever!
To sum it up, the Jason Ivler we knew was neither angry nor did he hate anyone. He loved his family! He never showed any negativity or doubt. He minded his own life and did what he could with his talents and interests. He never paid attention to what people thought of him coz that would bring him down. And he always made sure he never hurt anyone along the way.
So you see, I still don’t know why he even joined the US army. That talk never came up in any discussions in the past. One thing I do know is, no human being was born evil. The monster that media shows the public isn’t the Jason Ivler we know.
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The (online) cult of Jason Ivler
by Bianca Consunji
January 30, 2010
 Jason Ivler, who who allegedly gunned down Renato Ebarle Jr., in a display of road rage last November 18, was recently apprehended by the NBI following a shootout at his mother’s house on January 18. Footage of the early morning raid quickly made it to news channels and websites, as transfixed viewers watched the exchange of gunfire between the defiant Ivler and the NBI team. Days after the shootout, the Jason Ivler Facebook fan page was born. The article discusses the ethics of Facebook fan pages.
You might not believe it at first, but there are apparently thousands of Jason Ivler supporters—if his Facebook fan page proves anything. In less than a week, Ivler’s Facebook page went from 1,016 fans to 10,436 as of press time (the number grows every day, but when his mother, Marlene Aguilar, started granting interviews the other week, the fans tripled in a matter of hours). And no, it isn’t a massive display of irony, because many of these fans are dead serious about defending Ivler, whom they refer to as a kick-ass “gangsta,” the “Eminem of the Philippines,” or simply as “idol.”
Ivler, who allegedly gunned down Renato Ebarle Jr., in a display of road rage last November 18, was recently apprehended by the NBI following a shootout at his mother’s house on January 18. Footage of the early morning raid quickly made it to news channels and websites, as transfixed viewers watched the exchange of gunfire between the defiant Ivler and the NBI team. Days after the shootout, the Jason Ivler Facebook fan page was born.
Obviously, Ivler himself does not moderate the page. It is unclear who exactly the site administrators are, but Ivler’s fan page simply states in the personal information that he “loves Grand Theft Auto 4 and the movie Scarface.” The site administrators also took it upon themselves to speak for the accused, saying “It used to bother me being portrayed as this bad person, but now I feel that the public understands me better than some writer. There are people who know who I really am, and that’s good enough for me.”
Since last week, the Facebook page has attracted quite a lot of attention from defenders and detractors alike. Ivler’s page, which some parties had initially dismissed as a sarcastic outlet for detractors, is actually filled with messages of support, encouragement, and sometimes, outright adulation for the 28-year-old former member of the U.S. Army.
Others also staunchly defended their “idol,” pointing out that the trial had not yet begun, and that he was being made to go through an unfair trial by media. “Never judge the lives of other people, you never know what their journey is about. Team Ivler!” wrote Krystel Anne Alegre, one of the listed fans, on the page.
Nadine Antinew posted, “How sure are you that those guys who he allegedly killed are innocent? For all we know, parehas lang sila nagkataon lang na mas marunong gumamit ng baril yung isa. (they could both be the same, only [Ivler] knew how to work a gun better.) Just saying. By judging him, you’re just like us. Filthy, dirty, scumbag. We cant help it, after all, we are all humans.”
While some reasoned out that a fair trial had yet to be held, there were many who simply expressed their blind adulation based on his daring shootout with the police, his good looks, and the fact that he had released a rap album in the past. Kam A. Oriendo, for instance, told off detractors by saying: “Sa mga hater ni Jason Ivler: manahimik nalang kayo di niyo naman alam ang alamat ni Jason Ivler eh. Wala kayong talent sa rap.” (To Jason Ivler’s haters: just shut up, you don’t know anything about his story. You have no talent in rapping.”)
More controversial ones express their outright support for his deed. Gary Arcelo wrote, “Idol tama ginawa mo. Pinatay mo ang taong yon, siguro ubod ng yabang yon kasi anak ng something government. Ok yan idol… pareho tayo ng pag-iisip.” (Idol, what you did was right. You killed that person, he was probably arrogant because he was the son of a government official. Good job, idol… We think the same way.)
A blogger posted, “You have to admit, not since the Vizconde massacre had there been telegenic criminals [in the Philippines.]” Ivler has not yet spoken about the incident because of his confinement at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center, so whether his popularity will increase or not after his release remains to be seen.
Admittedly, the adulation that surrounds the currently incapacitated Ivler is similar to the dreamy sighs from colegialas 10 years ago, when a young, educated and preppy-looking Hubert Webb stood on trial for the Vizconde rape-slay. Or more recently, the reactions of women during the trial of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, who made the news after he allegedly raped Suzette Nicolas and left her dazed on the street (he was eventually acquitted). The public showed a more forgiving—even adoring—side to the baby-faced men.
“It’s the lure of the bad boy,” writer Kinny Amparo said on Facebook. “The fact that he is mestizomakes it worse. If the guy were dark, fat and acne-studded there would be a mob outside the hospital to snatch and torture him!”
However, social networking in those times (Webb made headlines in 1994 and was convicted in 2000, while news of Smith appeared in 2005) had not yet completely taken off, so whispers about the good-looking yet wayward boys were limited to giggle-riddled discussions held in the privacy of homes, barbershops/salons, and offices. But since then, Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 mediums had opened new forms of communication, where people could bravely offer their opinions to strangers as an anonymous web presence, or express their interests in all sorts of mundane activities.
Facebook, for instance, has fan pages and groups dedicated to obscure artists, films, pop culture references, controversies and other random items. While some are serious (“We Condemn The Maguindanao Massacre & Demand Justice For The Victims,” “Stop Violence Against Women”), there are also some that are admittedly nonsensical (“When I was your age, we had to blow on the video games to make them work,” “Edward Cullen is a fictional character and he will never love you,” “I’m always tired because I become a superhero at night”).
Many Facebook pages are put up in the spirit of fun and are not meant to be taken seriously. However, the more controversial ones—such as Ivler’s Facebook site, which is already established as a non-ironic, actual support page—should be given more attention, primarily because of the unethical content that could possibly influence uninformed parties, primarily the youth.
In 2009, Facebook received flak for initially refusing to delete groups/fan pages that supported the Holocaust denial. Spokesman Barry Schnitzen pointed out that the social networking site was created so ideas—even controversial ones—could be discussed. However, the groups (“Holocaust: A Series of Lies,” and “Holocaust is a Holohoax”) were eventually deleted, much to the relief of relatives of victims of the Holocaust. On a smaller scale, the Internet is also full of sites that support anorexia and bulimia, which are popular with teens looking to lose weight.
While Ivler’s case is in no way comparable to the Holocaust, and that yes, he is entitled to a fair trial, the principle is the same: his Facebook fan page glorifies the traits that got landed him in a gloomy hospital, riddled with bullets, in the first place. And the thing is, the page isn’t even something he started or maintains himself—it’s the work of his “fans,” who egg on their idol to continue his “gangsta” ways, or fail to see beyond his Amboy good looks and bad-boy vibe in order to analyze the issue at hand.
Is it an indication of things to come? Hopefully not. Some users, such as Julienne Yee, expressed their indignation over the page content. “I reported this to Facebook,” she wrote. “Hopefully, they do something about it. It’s just wrong.”
True, the Internet should be kept as a means of unregulated communication and self-expression. However, should unethical content really be left to its own devices, unguarded and ready to spring on unsuspecting and uninformed users?
Email the author at biancaconsunji@yahoo.com or visit www.twenteensomething.com
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PHOTOS OF JASON
All photo credit goes to Jason's friends and fans supporting him all around the globe.
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