Reverse racism
You may know Jay David as the author of the two irreverent Kwentong Tambay books that chronicle his life as an overseas Filipino worker in Singapore and, currently, in California. His books are the printed version of his Web log. In one recent Web log entry, he recounts an incident at the Los Angeles airport involving a Philippine Airlines employee. I asked him for more details and he sent me this e-mail:
Jet’s [Jay’s wife] dad passed away recently and she had to go home to be with her family to bury her dad. She and her aunt booked the earliest possible flight to Manila and it turned out to be Philippine Airlines. I decided not to come home so we can give the money that was supposed to be my plane fare to help with the expenses.
I was helping Jet check-in her bags at the PAL check-in counter at Los Angeles international airport when this PAL employee rudely stopped me and asked for my tickets. I told him that I was just helping my wife check-in. He then pointed his finger at a small sign that says ‘For Passengers Only’ in a way that was really insulting and shouted, ‘This line is for passengers only.’ I felt embarrassed and shocked that all I was able to do was to quietly move away. I just decided to wait for Jet to get to the counter itself and rushed the bags to her when it was her turn. To add a big insult to the injury, the same rude PAL employee suddenly became super friendly with the two white guys behind us.
I’ve seen this incident happen to many OFWs in my travels. We get treated very rudely by our own countrymen because they have this notion that somehow they are superior. There are Filipinos who mistreat their own countrymen because they can. In their minds, the white man is superior and so they have to be extra friendly with them. The only ones they feel they can dominate are people like themselves—their own countrymen. It’s a screwed-up version of reverse racism where you are mistreated by your own kind.
I’ve complained to PAL and all I got the past three weeks are canned letters of apology, saying they are doing something about the incident. Three weeks to reply to a complaint? Either there are too many complaints that it’s too hard to handle the case load or they don’t have any idea what customer support is all about. Which is what I tend to believe since they assigned a rude racist guy to be the first person people meet when they check-in at the PAL counter of the Los Angeles airport.
Below is PAL’s reply to Jay’s complaint.
Dear Mr. David,
Thank you for the message we received apprising us of your recent experience with us. At the outset, please accept our regrets for the disappointment you may have felt as a result.
A request for feedback from the offices concerned had been initiated to provide us with the full circumstances of the reported incident. The handling Customer Management Officer will further communicate with you for the resolution of your concerns, as soon as we complete our reports. Meanwhile, you are assured of our most preferential attention.
Sincerely yours,
RAUL O. FONTANARES
Manager-Customer Relations
Philippine Airlines
As of this writing, the handling Customer Management Officer has not communicated with Jay.
A third of what’s been written about me is true, a third is half-true and the rest consists of drug-induced hallucinations. I suppose I’d better let me, rather than them, tell you 
