Viral fur mom who rescued pet dogs amid Mandaue fire hits fake solicitations

The woman who chose to rescue her pet dogs first before saving herself during a fire in Mandaue City lamented the attempts of some individuals to fraudulently solicit money using her and her pets.

This was according to Nikko Sereno’s report on “24 Oras” on Tuesday.

Pet owner Ei Mei Lee Maningo was commended by the Mandaue City government for her selflessness in choosing to save her pets first, which was captured by a video earlier this month.

Maningo was sad that some individuals used the incident to fraudulently solicit money from others, adding that she never received any of the help from the fake solicitation attempts.

“Hindi talaga ako humihingi ng tulong financially mula kanino. Unless bigay nila willingly and voluntarily. For those who helped, salamat. For those na may bad intentions, please stop,” she said in the vernacular.

(I’m not asking for financial help from anyone, unless they give it willingly and voluntarily. To those who helped, thank you. To those with bad intentions, please stop.)

On December 10, Maningo saved her dogs, Miyah and Kayen, by tossing them from the third floor of a burning building in Barangay Guizo to people on the ground waiting to catch them.

Two days later, she was surprised to learn that a video of the breath-taking rescue went viral online and that she earned praise for her heroism.

Maningo said some well-meaning groups like the Island Rescue Organization, an animal advocacy group, stepped forward to help her by bringing gifts and dog treats for her pets.

She also reminded her fellow fur parents to be responsible pet owners by having compassion and taking good care of their fur babies. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/JMA, GMA Integrated News