Gov't should protest racial discrimination of Pinoys in all countries

That the Philippine government has lodged a formal protest with Israel for allegedly segregating Filipino travellers at the back of aircraft on flights to Tel Aviv is a positive step by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

According to DFA reports, Filipinos boarding flights to Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport are made to undergo "overly strict scrutiny and are assigned seats at the rear of the aircraft."

Cellular phones of Filipino workers were also confiscated.

While the DFA correctly stated that Israel's racist actions towards Filipinos were in violation of an international convention on consular relations, Filipino diplomats still have a lot of homework and appropriate action to do with regard to the systemic and widespread racism and discrimination against Filipinos in many nations.

While it seems that the DFA is taking up the cudgels to assert the dignity of 30,000 Filipino workers in Israel, it has not given a statement on the plight of Filipinos elsewhere.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and many other nations treat Filipino domestic workers as slaves. Many stories of abuse, maltreatment and death of Filipinas continue to reach us from these countries.

In the United States and Canada, Filipinos are racially profiled as 'absconders and 'potential terrorists' along with Arabs, Palestinians and other migrants from the developing nations in the ongoing war of terror being led by the US government. Filipino professionals are forced to take jobs that de-skill them (for example: doctors becoming nurses and architechts becoming draftsmen).

In Europe, many people consider Filipina a word that denotes being a housemaid. All these, including the discriminatory laws, wage levels and dirty, difficult and degrading job types given to Filipinos by many countries must be addressed by the Philippine government.

Our diplomats and Malacanang itself should issue timely and appropriate diplomatic rebukes to a lot of countries where Filipino workers suffer from astoundingly low wages, discrimination and various forms of abuse.

This has to be done if the diplomatic protests against the racist actions of Israel towards Filipinos are not only for show by the DFA. #