Passengers that just arrived at Naia Terminal 1 line up behind the yellow lines of immigration counters. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — Recently, there have been several stories on social media about how foreigners, mostly Chinese, have bossed around Filipinos even inside local establishments.
Apparently, even government officials have not been spared from these rude behavior.
Commissioner Aileen Lizada, of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), who was at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 on Thursday morning, said around four to five Chinese-looking individuals bypassed people, including her, who queued up at the pre-departure area.
“Papasok po ako sa pre-departure na area, lahat po ng mga Pilipino ay properly pong naka-pila, pati po ako naka-pila po ako. Out of nowhere, four to five what appeared to be mga Chinese nationals, sumuong po sa ilalim no’ng parang barrier,” Lizada said in an audio message sent to reporters.
(I was about to enter the pre-departure, all the Filipinos there are properly falling in line, including me. Out of nowhere, four to five what appeared to be Chinese nationals, suddenly just breeze through the barrier.)
“They were all laughing and they were all looking at us, and dumeretso po sila sa x-ray (machines),” she claimed.
The behavior of some Chinese nationals have been scrutinized by several Filipinos, in the wake of renewed ties between the two governments. Recently, a Facebook user who is running for an elective post in Quezon City claimed that a Chinese national also cut him while he was lining up in a local airport.
READ: Line-cutting, rude ‘Chinese mainlanders’ draw ire of Filipino netizens
Then in February, a female Chinese exchange student was arrested after throwing a cup of taho at a policeman detailed at the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) Boni Station.
LOOK: Chinese woman throws taho at cop detailed at MRT
Lizada said she was not able to take videos of the incident because it happened so fast and her phone was already inside her hand-carry bag. However, she has already requested copies of closed circuit television (CCTV) camera footages from Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Ed Monreal.
“It does not look good on us that’s why sinabi ko ho sa OTS (Office of Transportation Security), and OTS immediately took action. ‘Yon lang ho ang point ko dito is we have our laws, na pinapasunod ho natin sa lahat na ho ng mga Filipino citizens, they (foreigners) are not above the laws,” she explained.
“Kasi mukhang hindi ho maganda na tayong mga Pilipino sumusunod sa ating batas and we just allow ‘yong mga foreigners na kagaya ho no’ng gano’n na hindi sundin ‘yong ating mga patakaran,” she added. “Nakita ko ho how blatantly and how happy pa sila at proud na hindi sila sumunod, na hindi sila pumila.” /jpv