Gone are the days of traditional media when people had to audition for months or years to be “discovered.” Nowadays, Chinoy creatives who are full time students or working on their family business or office job can instantly show their talents to the world through apps like TikTok or YouTube. A number of them, like Benedict Cua or Tricia Gosingtian have seen their creative outlets blossom into mainstream success.
CHINOYTV has covered various up-and-coming Chinese-Filipino influencers, but few have been as unapologetically Cebuano as David Jones Cua AKA 13CDavey or Bisaya Conyo girl. A self-described content creator, they are able to satirize the unique personalities of Cebu City through their hilariously accurate parodies. They are the Bisaya Conyo girl complaining about her sheltered existence in and around the gated villages, bars, and malls of Barangay Banilad. They are the Bisaya Conyo kid always being saputon (bad-tempered) about his tablet being taken away. Their most recent character is the stiff and slightly overbearing Chinese Cebuano Dad, which Davey takes after their own father.
@13c.davey I’d say I was trilingual and a polyglot but I’m not great at the other 2 😂 does anyone else’s family speak like this? #pinoy #chinesefilipino #chinesefilipinacouple #chinesefilipinacouple🇨🇳🇵🇭 #chinesefilipinocouple #chinoy #fookien #philippinechinesecouple
♬ original sound – BISAYA CONYO GIRL 🧿 – BISAYA CONYO GIRL 🧿
Their videos have garnered millions of views, bringing a unique window into Cebuano humor to a nationwide audience.
BISAYA CONYO GIRL’S ORIGIN STORY
@13c.davey Based on real bisaya conyo girls aka my friends #bisaya #bisdak #bisdako #pinoy #pinoycomedy #pinoytiktok #cebu #bisayangdako #bisayangdako🇵🇭 #bisayata #womenoftiktok
Unbeknownst to the rest of the country, Cebu has had Conyos for a while. “Everyone thinks it’s based on Kryz Uy. It’s not Kryz guys, I’ve already said that on her vlog. The character is actually based on three friends of mine, who are flattered until I tell people it’s them.”
Long before TikTok, Davey worked “on a million different creative jobs” including as a writer and producer for a popular Bisaya web series called “Laysho Ka, Di?” Similarly making fun of the Conyos of Cebu, it provided Davey with valuable behind the camera experience and material for their characters. “On FB, your videos had to be 3-5 minutes long. Now that everything on Tiktok is about a minute to 90 seconds, I could just gun up whatever I would have written [on the show] and put it there.”
“I thought [the viewers for my Tiktok] would be like just me and my friends and some Titas and whatever. It really started out that way. But eventually, when I started going out more and people would start asking to take a picture. Then I started working with brands and they’ll be like ‘Oh, our brand manager loves your videos.’ And I’d be like ‘Oh but it’s not Tagalog.’ But then I realized it’s not even Bisaya, it’s mostly English with sprinkles of Bisaya. So I guess it was able to reach a wider audience that way. And I’m kinda happy about that because I’m pushing Bisaya culture.”
THE CHALLENGE OF ONLINE FAME AS A CHINOY CREATIVE
With brand deals in hand, 13C Davey describes their position as comfortably famous. “I can go out, maybe a couple [of] people will take a picture (three separate groups of people did as I was conducting this interview). And it’s like ‘Yay, cool. I get to do my thing.’”
Amidst their rise to internet fame, they credit vlogger Kryz Uy with helping them navigate what they call “the side of fame that’s not pretty.” “She helps me with my mental health on this journey. Because I don’t think people understand only a handful of people know what it’s like to be a content creator.” They compare negative comments to cake wherein they know it’s bad for them but they can’t help but read at times. “But that has nothing to do with me, especially when everyone else thought [the videos] were funny. I think it comes to a point where people forget you’re a person too.”
They credit their work ethic and business sense to their Chinese upbringing. “This is for all the Chinese creatives in the Philippines. If you’re getting into the creative field, your parents won’t understand what you’re doing until you start making money . Like once you start making money, they’ll be like ‘Oh, he’s fine.’ They’re just worried, you know, because it’s not a traditional path. But then like once you stop asking for money, they’ll be like ‘“Oh, this is a real job.’”
THE FUTURE FOR BISAYA CONYO GIRL
In addition to Tiktok, 13C Davey makes music through 13Cmusic, a self-described “experimental boy group from Cebu.”
Will Davey become bigger than a beloved hometown influencer? Davey admits they are excited for it. “I kinda want it. End of the day, I’m just a little gay boy that likes attention.” Through it all, they tell me that their biggest passion is music. They hope to use their Tiktok fame to jumpstart their music career in the same way pop star Doja Cat used her infamous “Moo!” song to catapult her into mainstream stardom.
“Because of the internet, I’ve learned to not make a plan that’s so far ahead. For example, it’s 2023. Three years ago, we had a pandemic, everything shut down. Tiktok only became mainstream after the pandemic. Now we have AI. You can’t plan ahead like that anymore.”
They do, however, hope to see Cebuano creatives thrive and grow in the next few years. “Our culture is so good and strong but there’s a ceiling right now. What we’ve lacked in Cebu and VisMin is budget. Right now, everything is just shot in your bedroom, do everything at home. Even in photo studios here, the biggest photographers here won’t invest in their own photo studios.I would love it if Cebu had a film studio. Or studios to make music videos.”
Davey is undoubtedly ambitious, sharing all the insights they’ve gotten from podcasts and books on content creation. Concepts like walking the tightrope between creating something equally new and familiar. But for now, balance is what’s on their mind. “The Chinese brain in me is always like ‘It could always be bigger.’ Then I have to switch it up, because I’m pretty spiritual. So I have to remind myself to always be grateful and remind myself that this is exactly what I wanted.”
“I also need to remind myself to sleep, because if not I’ll look horrible on camera.”
You can check out David Jones Cua aka 13C Davey or Bisaya Conyo Girl’s music and hilarious videos on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok at 13c.davey or 13c.music.
