Real-life Maritess reacts to her name becoming a meme for 'chismosa'

The name Marites went viral on social media after becoming a meme for a chismosa or gossiper. But how do people who are born with the name feel about this?

According to Dano Tingcungco's report on "24 Oras Weekend," Sunday, netizens came up with the shortcut from the line commonly used by the gossipers: "MARe, Ito ang laTESt!"

One Maritess Oreza from Pangasinan shared how she feels that her name now has another meaning.

"Natawa lang tsaka 'di naman ako chismosa [I just laughed and I'm actually not a gossiper]," she said.

According to Maritess, never in her life have she thought of gossiping about others' personal lives.

"'Pag personal, hindi dapat 'yan chinichismis. 'Yung mga katuwaan, 'yon lang ang pwedeng chismis kasi papayat ako 'pag [masyadong] seryoso," she said.

["Personal lives shouldn’t be used for gossip. Jokes should only be the ones used for such because I might get thinner when the topic is too serious."]

She also took the time to remind those getting tagged as "Marites" to not take gossiping too seriously.

"'Wag naman masyadong personalin 'yung pagiging chismosa. 'Yung mga katuwaan lang. 'Wag yung seryoso kasi bawal na ma-stress ngayon sa panahon ng pandemya," she said.

["Don't take being a gossiper too seriously. Just talk about the fun stuff. Let go of the serious ones as it’s not good to be stressed now in a time of pandemic."]

Another name that's also being used as more than just a name is Marife or "MARe, FEram ng pera."

True to how it's being used on the internet, real-life Marife Valmoria said she agrees that those named like her really do like finding money. In fact, she had a lending business until the pandemic struck.

Now, despite still having debts, she continues to thrive by selling fish in a wet market for a better life.

"Mas maganda po 'yung ikaw ang hinihiraman kesa ikaw ang mangutang," she said. "Para sa akin, lahat ng Marife ay [dapat] mag-sumikap para 'di tayo maghirap."

["It’s better to lend money than to be the one borrowing money. For me, all Marifes should do their best to not have a hard life."]

"Mag-sumikap tayo mag-hanapbuhay para 'di tayo laging nangungutang [Let's do our best to work so we don’t have to borrow money from others]," she added.

—Franchesca Viernes/MGP, GMA News