BBC says sorry to RP for slur

MANILA, Philippines – The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) has apologized to the Philippines for the offensive skit in the comedy show “Harry and Paul” that portrayed Filipino women as sex objects.

BBC director general Mark Thompson apologized, in a letter dated Oct. 10, 2008, to Philippine Ambassador to the Court of St. James Edgardo Espiritu, for the offense caused by the episode of Harry and Paul.

The Philippine Embassy in London received the letter from Thompson only last Oct. 20 and it stated: “Please accept my sincere apologies, on behalf of the BBC, for the offense that this programme caused you.”

The apology came following a letter sent last Oct. 3 by Espiritu to BBC Trust Chairman Sir Michael Lyons expressing the ambassador’s dismay over an episode of Harry and Paul, initially shown on BBC on Sept. 26 and replayed on BBC 2 on Sept. 29.

The episode made an insulting reference to Filipino women, stereotyping them in dual roles as domestic helper and sex toy of their British employers.

Espiritu also wrote a similar letter to the BBC Complaints Centre, copy furnished to Mark Pritchard, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group-Philippines and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Sir Trevor Phillips, head of the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission; the Office of Communications (OFCOM|), the independent regulator of the UK communications industries; Sir Christopher Meyer KCMG, head of the UK Press Complaints Commission; London Mayor Boris Johnson; and the Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman MP, UK Secretary of State for Women and Equality.

The episode angered most of the 200,000-strong Filipino community in the United Kingdom and prompted some leaders of the community to put up an online petition where Filipinos could lodge their protest against BBC and the show’s producer, Tiger Aspect Productions. The online petition gathered more than 2,000 supporters within three days.

Simultaneous silent vigils were also held on Oct. 17 in front of the BBC office in White City, just outside central London, and Tiger Aspect Productions in Soho in central London.

Tiger Aspect Productions Chief Executive Andrew Zane issued an apology before the members of the Filipino community who joined the Soho vigil.

“We’re sorry to anyone who was in any way offended by the programme. This certainly was not our intention,” Zane said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) summoned British Ambassador Peter Beckingham last Oct. 7 following the airing of the offensive skit.

Beckingham said after a meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo that the United Kingdom regrets the skit of the comedy show and he promised the secretary that he would relay the Philippine government’s concerns about the program to the British government.

Beckingham did not make any apology and said that the producers of the program should apologize.

The ambassador added that, like the Philippines, the British press is free and the government does not interfere with the media directly and the BBC is completely independent.

He said the BBC is not a government broadcasting station “but obviously as a government we hope the media always respect the human rights and dignity of ethnic groups, minority groups, particularly religious groups.”

Beckingham said Romulo did not hand him a note verbale to protest the comedy show for the offensive portrayal of Filipino women.

He said that there are around 200,000 Filipinos in the UK.