Pete's Letter from the Philippines


British Guy and Filipina wife taken to court for not standing when Lupang Hinirang played


At the time I was reading this story in last Sunday's copy of the Phil Star I was sitting in my nice little 3 seat section of Philippine Airlines Airbus A320 PR133 Bound for Manila Centennial 2 terminal from Bacolod City, the provincial capital of Negros Occidental.

I noticed a very interesting article which I thought was worth writing about, Philstar is one of my favourite Filipino journals, as for one thing you get Philstar opinions, from various journalists, this paticular article was written by a male journalist, and for the purposes of this letter to you all, the name does escape me, however the story did not.

A British man and his Filipina wife were having a meal at a local country club in Laguna, at the time the Philippine National Anthem "Lupang Hinirang" was being played at some local social function attended by one of the many millions of Filipino organizations that dot the Philippines.

The Offending Foreigner and his Filipina wife, did not take much notice of this, as they carried on eating there respective meals, however it was noted by several officials at the club that they refused to stand and pay homage to the Philippine National anthem.

This infuriated the officials who promptly during the course of the following week filed charges against the couple, who were in fact members of the club, although the British man later apologized for his behaviour, this simply was not good enough for the officials, he has had his membership terminated, and charges of disgracing the Philippine national anthem are being pedaled in court, although I doubt they will get much mileage out of this one, they seem nevertheless hell bent on extracting their pound of flesh.

One Filipino Official was heard to say:
This may not be the Queen of England, but the Philippines is till to be respected and the Briitish man should not think of all the corruption in the Philippines, the diry roads, the garbage, lack of facilities, dirty transport, poor toilets etc, but he must remember that Filipinos througout the ages have had to give blood and sweat to build this republic, he should have stood up
Petes Commentary


For one thing, I can understand the Filipino Officials at the Country Club being upset at the apparent lack of respect for Lupang Hinirang, and I can understand them wanting to press charges, but you simply cannot force people to stand and show respect for symbols of national unity in a society which has a parliamentary democracy, or a republic which has a President and a Senate and respresentatives of the people who are duly elected to serve, the only systems of Government where these laws can be enforced are dictatorships, such as the majority of the Middle East, I doubt there posturing will get them anywhere, and in any event who is to say that the British man knew the Filipino National anthem.

Even in the United Kingdom, it is not against the law for a person to show no acknowledgement for the Union Jack, nor is it a requirement for a person to stand show respect for the Queen, after all, there are some of us who are staunch republicans, where would they fit in to all this ?

Turning to the Philippines, the journalist was quite strong in his condemnation of our fellow Brit, but in his defense i would say this, his wife a filipina could have prompted him to show the required respect, at the time she was reported to be tucking into her Adobo, and she was pregnant which may suggest she was oblivious, and on a more moralistic point, perhaps the journalist from Phil Star may wish to note that the Brit guy may have had his own reasons for not standing and showing respect, I can think of many reasons why he may have chosen not to do so, it could be that the way that foreigners are lablelled as such in the Philippines is a huge turn off for us Westerners.

The constant referral to Western Visitors as "Foreigners" and the constant denial of basic services, such as Bank Accounts, Telephones in houses, and to top it all, to be asked to be registered as an "Alien".

The last time I looked at myself, and dont laugh you buggers from Sheffield, I came from Planet Earth, I only have to show my Alien Certificate of Registration when I pop up to Mars and Venus, the Martians are ok, as I have a mutiple entry visa for Mars, I eat cadburys smash, and they can smell that, so that entitles you to get on Mars ok, when Im on Venus, I silip them a packet of fags, and tthat goes down well, but to think when in the Philippines I have to have my Alien Certificate of Registration with me, I can only say to them as I do often in the Philippines when presented with an official, usually a young Filipina fresh faced out of college, it goes something like this

"We all breathe the same air, we all inhabit this small planet of ours, we all cherish our childrens future, we are in fact a global village, let us there fore all treat each other witth the respect of being fellow humans"

But sadly, a Foreigner in the Philippines is made to feel exactly that, a Foreigner, its not that your immedeate Filipino freinds and relatives really call you that for any reason at all, its just their way, they think of all Auslanders as Foreigners, in the UK we tend to use that phrase less and less, that is because we are a Global Country, of Mass immigration and we expect people of other nations to come and settle here, but the Philippines by its very nature is a protectionist country, its Government has protectionist policies, does not open up its markets to Foreign Investors, unless a Filipino is the Director of the company, will not allow Foreign Spouses of Filipinos to own property, will not allow them to have a telephone account with PLDT, does not allow them to open a bank account without a Alien Certificate of Registration.

Sadly, the Filipinos although they dont really mean it, live in a sub culture of internism, anything outside of the Philippines has to be foreign by nature, they of course simply forget that they originate from a steadily drifting Malay populous, mixed with the Portuguese and Spanish Conquistodoras, and the ever increasing flow of Chinese migrant workers to the Philippines over the last 300 years.

You cant blame them in many ways for thinking this way, after all, the Philippines is their little thiefdom, that is if anyone is going to bleed the country dry of its natual resources which is precious little, they the intelligentsia and the Political elite of Makati are going to do it first, they dont want foreigners coming in and doing it for them, if anyone is going to rip of the Filipino people, isnt it better that Filipinos themselves do it, foreigners should be controlled and kept at bay, and treated as such.

Back to our freind the British guy who failed to show respect for the Filipino national anthem, there are many ways of looking at this.

1. Perhaps maybe if he was made to feel a part of Filipino society, he migh just have thought the need to stand and show respect, and to be honest his future child is going to be a British-filipino child, so what does he teach his child, to respect both cultures ? a dilemma di ba ?

2. Alienating Foreign visitors, seeks to marginalize them from all aspects of society, when you marginalize people, they show nothing but disdane and contempt for what you hold to be dear, when you integrate foreign spouses into your culture, you produce a much more rich and vibrant society, bringing many cultural customs into your own country, after all, little do the Filipinos ever fail to mention that it was in Fact the British who brought english to the Islands in 1726, when the Royal Navy sailed into Manila Bay, and defeated the Spanish Governor, and his small force of Spanish troops, it was in fact the British who brought the first dancing music to the Philippines that year, when British Troops taught local women to dance, and many local women were given in marriage to British Troops during that Hundred years war with the Spanish and French.

In fact I have had reason to look back into Filipino History, and what I found is quite revealing about just how much We British have had a hand in shaping the Philippines, so come on Mr Journalist, my words of advice to you are this

If you want us to acknowledge your national symbols, make us a part of it and make us feel welcome, after all, how do you know where you came from ? you might even be related to a British man somewhere in the last 300 years, and as for your "Alien Certificate of Registration" the last country that introduced that scheme caused the Holocaust, I dont wish to apply for your "Alien Certificate of Registration" I find it offensive, and racist, yes racist, and thats a hard charge to throw at the Philippine Authorities, I make a stand here and simply say this:

Take your Alien Certificate of Registration and stick it up where the sun dont shine Pal !!!!!


If anyone has any replies please feel free to make a objective reply, please guys no jokes or p...taking, this is serious subject.