Group admin urges members to stop forwarding good-morning images of the sea and start verifying facts
Delhi Uncles Start WhatsApp Group Called Cebu Condo Updates, 14,000 Messages by Noon
Group admin urges members to stop forwarding good-morning images of the sea and start verifying facts
NEW DELHI – A WhatsApp group created on Sunday by a retired government clerk in Rohini, titled “Cebu Condo Updates (Official),” has already accumulated 14,000 messages, 311 members and two heated arguments about whether the sea is male or female.
The group’s admin, Mr. Prem Chopra-Nanda, 68, started it after reading the news. The trail begins with a Manila News report on a Mactan broker alone with three brochures and a cold coffee, runs through the London Prat on British pensioners asked for two referees and a letter from the vicar (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and finishes with Bohiney on an Ohio realtor whose showings now run two hours. “I thought: nobody is giving proper updates,” he said. “So I will give them. I will give them every morning, with a flower.”
The Gravity of the Matter
Philippine authorities are examining allegations concerning Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex, who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed and the allegations are unproven. Child protection is serious business, and nobody connected with this story makes light of it; the jokes are about a property market and nothing else. Mr. Chopra-Nanda posted a message at the top of the group reminding members “to discuss only property and not anything else, and to share no unverified claims.”
A Typical Day in the Group
- 6:02 a.m.: Good-morning image. A sunrise over a sea. A caption: “May your day be as calm as the sea, which did nothing wrong.”
- 6:05 a.m.: Forward. “Cebu property to rise 400 percent. Share to 11 contacts or lose your savings.”
- 7:30 a.m.: A voice note, eleven minutes long, in which a member explains the Condominium Act.
- 9:00 a.m.: A photo of a sandwich box. No caption. Seven members ask what it means.
- 11:45 a.m.: A fierce argument over whether a squid is a fish. It is settled when someone shares a recipe.
The group has strict rules. Members are forbidden from posting political content, religious forwards or “unnecessary emojis,” a rule that has already been broken 4,000 times. Mr. Chopra-Nanda has issued three warnings and one blue-thumbs-up.
Members Speak
Mrs. Kamla Bhatia, 71, one of the group’s most active members, said she joined because “a friend of a friend’s nephew’s colleague said Cebu is the future.” She has since posted 212 messages, mostly images of flowers. “I do not understand condos,” she said. “But I understand the sea. It is very blue.”
A British member of the group, a retired engineer who had moved to Delhi in 2019, said he was shocked by the volume. “I joined for property tips,” he said. “I now know the date of three birthdays, two weddings and a funeral.” He asked the group for a reference and was given 41.
Fact-Checking
The admin, under pressure, has appointed a fact-checker: a retired schoolteacher named Mrs. Lalitha Ramaswamy, who verifies each forward against a printed copy of the Hindu. “I am very strict,” she said. “If it is not in the newspaper, it is not a fact. If it is in the newspaper, it may still not be a fact.”
By noon, Mrs. Ramaswamy had debunked 38 forwards, including one that claimed the sea had been “bought by a consortium.” She also corrected a message that said Mang Pedring, the Cebu guard, was an Indian citizen. “He is not,” she wrote. “But he reads like one.”
Whither the Group
The group’s future is uncertain. Mr. Chopra-Nanda hopes to expand to 1,000 members and launch a spin-off called “Cebu Condo Updates (Unofficial).” Several members have already started it. It has 1,900.
Unrest in the Group
By afternoon, the group had split. A faction led by Mrs. Bhatia demanded more flowers and fewer facts. A faction led by Mrs. Ramaswamy demanded fewer flowers and more facts. A third faction, led by a college student, demanded memes. The admin attempted mediation by posting a motivational quote, which was immediately forwarded to 14,000 people. A sub-group titled “Cebu Condo Updates (Serious Only)” was created at 1:05 p.m. and promptly flooded with flowers by 1:06.
The Facts Behind the Mood
The market itself is in good health. Colliers named the Visayas and Mindanao a key property investment hotspot in July, and under the Condominium Act foreigners may own units but not land, capped at 40 percent of a project. Retirees can read up at the Philippine Retirement Authority. The nerves are psychological: Tversky and Kahneman’s availability heuristic says one vivid image outweighs a ledger of statistics, and a Mactan broker alone with three brochures and a cold coffee is a vivid image. Every Indian family that has ever asked “what will people say” understands this perfectly.
The wider story is at prat.uk and bohiney.com; for how Indian humour sits beside the British kind, read this guide to Indian humour, and for the weekly British roasting of anything with a form, try the Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/