What began as a happy day for Matmat (Carlo Aquino) at Mia (Anne Curtis)'s book signing event turns into a full-blown meltdown when his attention is caught by a young girl wearing a dinosaur costume. As he approaches the kid out of pure amusement, the girl's father suddenly grabs him by the hair and shoves him aside, calling him a creep and a psycho. The rough contact triggers Matmat’s distress. Patrick (Joshua Garcia) rushes to his brother’s side, shielding him from further harm.
Seeing what unfolded, Mia steps in and confronts the kid's father for disrupting her event, but the man only grows more hostile, repeating the insults and refusing to back down. To make a point, Mia yanks the man’s hair and says anyone would have reacted the same way if someone suddenly touches their head—just as Matmat did.
Mia pays no attention to the crowd, nor to the phones recording her reaction. The man’s wife joins in the chaos, spewing offensive remarks and insisting it was Matmat who was out of line. That’s when Patrick speaks up to defend his brother, explaining that Matmat has autism and that his reaction was a result of being physically hurt.
Mia echoes his defense and fires back at the woman, who she says is the real lunatic for speaking nonsense. The wife, offended, calls Mia rude, but Mia brushes it off and and walks toward Patrick while locking eyes with him.
The altercation goes viral online. While some praise Mia for standing up for Matmat and speaking up for those with autism, others accuse her of revealing her so-called true colors.
Catch “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), A2Z, and TV5, weeknights at 8:45 PM. Watch it in advance on Netflix and iWant.