Okay, so upon some research, the original lady in red pulling a red suitcase is Daniela Mondragon, a lead character in an ABS-CBN teleserye with the title Kadenang Ginto played by actress Dimples Romana. Apparently, in a scene from the show's current season, Daniela found herself dressed to the nines, fully accessorized and color-coordinated, but walking along a busy street in a working-class neighborhood, and the internet went crazy.
I could be wrong, but from how I understand things, it isn't even important exactly why she found herself in that situation, Filipino netizens simply loved the disconnect between her attire and her circumstances - and I'm fascinated by the question of why exactly that is..
Let's face it, there's something about scenes like the one described above that touch a chord within our collective national psyche. Just a month or two ago, I was discussing cheap luggage with a friend of mine. We were imagining a woman, otherwise expensively dressed and walking imperiously through an airport terminal, suddenly have someone chase after her with a wheel that had fallen off from the luggage she was pulling; we both had a good laugh out of that. I also remember a gathering I was at, years ago, where someone talked about how good the "Cliffhouse" sandwich was at UCC Cafe. Someone else then pointed out that the former probably meant the "Cliffhanger", which, in fact, he did. Immediately, a third person thanked the second person for the correction, stating that she would hate to be in the position of being at UCC, and ordering the "Cliffhouse" in a somewhat snooty tone, only to be told that there is no such thing. Everybody cracked up.
I don't know exactly why we find so much humor in such situations. Mabenta so to speak. Is it because we are fascinated by the financial ups and downs of people's lives and are much titillated when we encounter evidence of lifestyle inconsistencies? Is it because we dislike social climbers and celebrate gleefully when we see them meet a comeuppance we feel they rightfully deserve? Is it because we all remember occasions of being slightly embarrassed when we need to dress up formally and therefore have a need to make light of such instances? Is it because we daydream of a world that we deem beyond our reach and thereby choose to just joke about the unattainable? I really don't know, perhaps it's a little of all of the above.
I do think that whatever the reason, or the combination of reasons, it does hint upon an inferiority complex we all share, borne out of being part of the Third World. I think we've all been conditioned to believe, and instinctively assume, that people in general will always try to seem more affluent than they really are, and so we find it hilarious when we feel such "projections" have gone awry.