Actress-turned-politician Niña Jose Addresses Viral Video Concerning a Stinky Microphone
Actress-turned-politician Niña Jose-Quiambao faced an unexpected incident during a recent speech in her hometown of Bayambang, Pangasinan in the Philippines concerning a stinky microphone. In the now-viral video, Mayor Quiambao expressed her discomfort with the foul-smelling microphone wherein she asked a staff to replace it mid-speech.
Famously known as Niña Jose from her stint on “Pinoy Big Brother (PBB),” she entered the political arena after marrying businessman Cezar Quiambao, who later became the mayor of Bayambang. The video captured her stopping her speech to request a replacement microphone due to its unpleasant odor, expressing concern about bad breath or halitosis.
“Can we change the mic? There’s bad breath here. Sorry, mabaho talaga ang mic (Sorry, the mic smells really bad),” she said. “Sorry, I can’t! Mabaho (It smells). It’s amoy maasim (It smells foul). Sorry. I don’t wanna have halitosis, you know?”, Mayor Quiambao says as captured in the video uploaded by a netizen.
While the original upload on TikTok has been taken down, the Mayor has already received online backlash following the incident. Mayor Quiambao addressed this, alleging it was “maliciously edited” to tarnish her image. Via Facebook, she clarified that her remarks weren’t meant to demean anyone and shared the full video to provide context.
“Ang microphone ay hindi ginamit ng sinuman bago ko gamitin bagkus ito ay naitago ng matagal kaya marahil nag-cause ng hindi magandang amoy. Hindi ko iyon nasabi to malign or magpahiya ng tao (The microphone was not used by anyone before I did, because it was kept in storage. This might’ve been the cause of its foul odor. I didn’t say such remarks to malign or embarrass anyone.),” Mayor Quiambao said.
Aside from explaining what may have caused the foul odor of the microphone, Mayor Quiambao also mentioned her tendency to make unconventional statements. She even humorously suggested she would apologize to the microphone itself if necessary. “If ever I have to apologize, I will apologize to the microphone because nasabi kong mabaho na ito,” she said. “Sana kung sinuman ang nag-upload ng video na ito at ginamit upang kumita ng pera ay sana nakatulong ito sa iyo. (If ever I have the need to apologize, I will apologize to the microphone because I said it smells bad. I hope that whoever uploaded the video and earned money from it, the video helped you in some way.)”, she says.
Quiambao urged her constituents to refrain from hasty judgment, emphasizing self-reflection over criticizing others. She concluded her statement by expressing her willingness to endure hardships for her faith and advocating for love and understanding over judgment.
Nevertheless, let this also be a lesson to always test microphones beforehand, clean them, and take proper care of them! Unless you own one yourself, microphones are generally recording devices that can be used by many.