Increase in incidents of Foreigners being discriminated against by local Filipino officials.
I thought I would bring to the attention of forum members, an alarming rise in the incidents of mis-treatment, unfair prejudicial red tape, and general discrimination that foreigners are reporting.
One such e mail I saw this morning, its from a contact called Gerhard, who is a German citizen living with his Filipino wife in Dumaguete City, the capital f Negros Oriental, on the Island of Negros (sandwiched between Panay and Cebu).
Gerhard's e mail whilst appearing petty, seems to illustrate an alarming rise in the petty graft, corruption and general discrimination that foreigners are being asked to put up with.
Firstly let me tell you about the case, our German friend Gerhard, has been married for 3 years and decided to retire to Dumaguete City, he wanted to buy a car to get around, but his first experience seems to be one I would also have the experience of sharing.
Car ownership in the Philippines seems to be a no go area for foreigners even when they are the ones paying for the car, no matter how hard one tries to make it clear you are the one buying the car, there is still an aroma of discrimination against foreigners owning anything.
Gerhard had this experience, when he went to buy a car, the dealer simply ignored his request to have the documents from the LTO put in his name, when the car was delivered, surprise surprise the documents were in his Filipino wife's name, whilst this may appear to be irritating, our friend simply laughed off the matter, reasoning, that as he was married to his darling wife, it really as not an incident he wanted to have a battle over, there are some battles you can fight, and others you can loose, this did not seem to be a battle worth fighting.
Our friend was downtown one day, when he was stopped by a Police officer and asked for his documents, when you buy a car in the Philippines the car must be registered with the LTO and the fees paid, the Police officer said his fees were not up to date, and that the date was not correct.
Before our friend could protest his innocence, his drivers license was confiscated and he was told he could retrieve it at the LTO office for payment of a P300.00 fine.
When our friend contacted the LTO office, no one seemed to know anything about it, on seeing the LTO Commissioner, he was told to not make a fuss, and pay the P300.00, he refused.
His license was withheld for 7 days, after discussing it with a legal friend of his, they said that this was common, and that foreigners were targeted by this, because it was considered easy to do so, P300.00 would not be much to a foreigner, and they would normally pay rather than have the inconvenience of hanging out for their driver's license.
This is but one example of one or two e mails I have seen over last year, some of them petty examples of graft and corruption by local officials, sometimes, it appears they are doing it to save up for birthday presents, or other payouts they have to make.
To support this case, I myself have on several occasions been unfairly discriminated against, one such incident which I have laughed off on several occasions has been trying to arrange the opening of bank accounts, both at Metrobank, and at BPI.
My BPI experience is funny, because on one visit with my wife, I was told I would need an ACI Alien Certificate of Registration, on another, I was told I must be a resident, another branch told me, to fly to Manila and register there.
2 years ago, I was in London, when I decided to pop into the Philippine Embassy when it was in Palace Green, there I spoke to officials who just happened to be downstairs, I complained at my mis-treatment, and discrimination about bank accounts, they telephoned Metrobank's respresentative in London, and assured me, they would open an ATM card for me, however, the reality in the Philippines was much different.
In truth, I now have an account, however, getting one was not easy, and involved being recommended to the bank by a long standing citizen in the community who has connections, it seems the only way to get ahead in the Philippines is to know someone who can exert some influence with an old school friend, or official.
I had occasion about 4 years ago, to meet another German Citizen in Manila, and we had a discussion about this very subject, he told me he had been living just outside Manila, for 10 years, and he said, he still could not get a telephone account from PLDT.
And yet the minute the wife applied to have the telephone put in, there was no problems with it.
To get things in done in the Philippines, you have to do most of the things in your Filipino citizen wife's name.
I was talking with another British friend of mine in the Philippines only recently on SKYPE, he made a statement to me that just about summed it up.
"This is one of the most prejudiced countries in the world towards foreigners having any status with banks, services and or other basic needs, and yet on the reverse side of the coin, I am treated like a celebrity, a super star, people salute me at the sub division I live in, its a contrast, that is very hard to understand"
I personally have found the same, when I drive into the sub division where I have my house (well my wife's house - I don't own anything - foreigners cannot own anything) the guard salutes me with a perfect military greeting, I am treated exceptionally well in all area's of the city, people smile at me, and I have never had a bad experience in the city.
Even when I comment on the fact that I have pushed my hard earned income into the house, my wife would often lament and say:
"Don't worry, even though its in my name, everyone knows who paid for it"
It would appear that our friend's experience is atypical of what happens to foreigners in the Philippines, these petty acts of graft, discrimination and corruption, only serve to embitter foreigners when in the Philippines, and yet most simply laugh it off as the way things are.
On the reverse side of the coin, I remember about 4 years ago, when 4 Nurses arrived in my town, I had got to know them through a mutual acquaintance, they were tickled by the fact that they went to HSBC bank, and were almost pulled through the door, to open current accounts, issued with switch and visa payment cards, offered credit cards with £4000.00 limits on them, I think at the time they thought it was christmas for them.
They were amazed at how easy it was to arrange a landline phone with BT, how easy it was to get a mobile phone account, how easy they sorted out their utilities.
"Things move so much faster here, and no one is prejudiced towards us as we are foreigners"
My wife has the same viewpoint, when she arrived in UK and got her job with the local authority, she commented to me at how welcoming the employer was, "No one here, looks at my black hair, my slightly brown complexion, no one stares at me"
"No one sees me as Filipino, they just seem to accept me for who I am, thats what I love about UK, everyone fits in- no matter where you come from, you seem to be accepted, I don't feel a foreigner here"
There are many great things about the Philippines, but as we all know, there are many things we do not like about it, a society is always measured by the way it treats its ethnic minorities, in this regard, whilst on the face of it, people in the Philippines are very welcoming, and they do treat foreigners very well, however there is a silent sub culture of obstruction, by those who make decisions in providing services.
This cannot be ignored, for how officials treat foreigners is a measure of the state of that society, it cannot be the fault of foreigners that some Filipino's who are in high places have a general inferiority complex about their history and their place in the world.
For now there is little that Foreigners can do in the Philippines to change the sub culture of indifference, graft, corruption, mis-treatment and obstruction, however, thankfully, I am proud that the United Kingdom and its people do not take this approach to our visiting foreigners, nor do they prevent those who seek to integrate into our society from owning property, receiving services, maybe we all must agree, that with all the problems in our country, and yes there are thousands of them, our society must be measured by the way we treat ethnic minorities such as our Filipino immigrants, and in that matter, I am confident we are an advanced society, and long may that remain so.
