DFA mum on taking action vs racist Hong Kong textbook

Screengrab from https://hongwrong.com/

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is mum on taking action against the reported school textbook in Hong Kong that depicts Filipinos as domestic helpers.

When asked by reporters whether the DFA would file a request to have the textbook changed, DFA spokesperson Charles Jose would not give any comments.

Instead, he just cited the growing demand for Filipinos anywhere in the world.

“In this age of globalization, Filipinos are everywhere,” Jose said.

“They are needed and welcome in where they can contribute,” he said.

The text book showed a sketch of a dark-skinned woman saying, “I am Filipino. I am a domestic helper in Hong Kong.”

Other sketches in the text book showed a white man saying, “I am British. I am an English teacher,” a light-skinned woman saying, “I am Japanese. I have a sushi restaurant in Hong Kong,” and a dark-skinned boy saying, “I am Indian. I study in an international school.”

Blogger Tom Grundy, who published a photo of the text book in his blog Hongwrong.com, said “In case you were wondering about your destiny in Hong Kong, a primary school textbook is here to enlighten you with this fun ‘fill-in-the-blank’ task [titled] ‘racial harmony’!”

At least 1.4 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were deployed in 2012, around 970,000 of whom were rehired workers while 458,000 were new hires, according to records of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

Hong Kong is the fourth most popular destination for OFWs with 131,000 of them working there. The top destination is Saudi Arabia with 330,000 deployments, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 259,000, and Singapore with 172,000.

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