The color of money

It's easy to bash the Chinese these days. They put one over us in Mischief Reef, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines does not have enough force to drive them out. They poach our fish and corals in Scar-borough Shoal. Within undisputed Philippine territory, a number of ethnic Chinese are perceived to be too cozy with President Estrada, close enough to be rewarded with juicy deals with the government. It has not helped that the administration seems to be bent on welcoming controversial Macau gambling mogul Stanley Ho, whose operations, many fear, will bring the Chinese criminal gangs or triads to the Philippines.

In raising these alarms, however, this land of people power must avoid slipping into racism. There are 1.2 billion Chinese on the mainland and millions of ethnic Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, the rest of Asia and the world. While many of the Filipino-Chinese, including Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, still have relatives in China, they are no supporters of the government in Beijing. In fact, many of the older-generation Filipino-Chinese fled their homeland to escape communist rule. Ethnic Chinese in the West are providing moral and other forms of support to freedom fighters in China.

As for President Estrada's Filipino-Chinese friends, he should get much of the blame if these campaign sup-porters are rewarded with sweetheart deals. Perceptions of cronyism in this administration, however, are not confined to the President's Chinese friends. Many of the influence-peddlers are not ethnic Chinese. A number of them are related by blood or affinity to officials in Malacañang. And as for Stanley Ho, the opposition to his presence here stems not from his being an ethnic Chinese but from a belief that he intends to transfer his casino operations here, with all the criminality that gambling often generates.

Racism does not become this democratic nation. There are bad Chinese, as there are many bad Filipinos. There may be some Filipino-Chinese who have gotten rich through unholy alliances with those in power, but there are even more who accumulated wealth through sheer hard work, for which the Chinese are noted. Whatever is happening in the South China Sea or in the Jumbo Palace, Filipino-Chinese have enriched Philippine culture and contributed to the nation's progress. What is it about some of them that dazzles the corrupt? Not the color of their skin but the color of their money.