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MANILA, Philippines?Concerned that anti-Filipino sentiment could spread to other countries as a result of the botched hostage rescue last week, a Commission on Human Rights official on Saturday said she would ask the agency to issue an advisory to the country?s foreign service to counter discrimination against Filipinos.
Ana Elzy Ofreneo, director of the CHR?s Human Rights Education and Research Office, said she suspected there might be a trend to discriminate against Filipinos as a result of the Aug. 23 hostage crisis after she received an e-mail that she considered to be hate mail.
The e-mail, which she said has been circulating in the internet, was supposed to have come from a Dutch national married to a Filipino woman.
The letter writer listed what he considered to be the mistakes of the police in its handling of the hostage-taking, and castigated Filipinos in general, wherever they may be, Ofreneo told the Kapihan sa Sulo forum yesterday.
The 11-hour hostage drama ended in the tragic killing of eight Hong Kong tourists, triggering outrage in the Chinese territory. It also sparked fears for the safety of more than 100,000 Filipinos living and working in Hong Kong.
Ofreneo said Filipinos need to work together to combat the negative image that the outrage and criticism over the hostage-taking crisis could breed.
If the situation deteriorates, the government may find it difficult to handle or counteract later, she said.
?There is an international convention on the prevention of xenophobia and other forms of racial discrimination. We need to remind the world that there is such an international law prohibiting stereotyping. We are being stereotyped, we are called idiots. Would we allow that?? Ofreneo said. Leila B. Salaverria
