Attitude Check

Talk about the tribulations faced by our overseas workers.  Not only do they face the hardships of adapting to a completely alien way of life abroad, they also have to survive the hazards posed by their very own countrymen.  And I am not referring to just fellow migrants, those snakes that we mock as being possessed with the slightly more palatable term "crab mentality".  Instead, I refer to officialdom: government functionaries sent abroad in order to, ironically, look out for the welfare of our labor exports.

Case in point, our consul general to Vancouver, Jose Ampeso.  The consul has just been caught on video berating a fellow Filipino because he was being too stingy at donating to the Philippine National Red Cross.  The root of the tirade?  The explanation reported in the press was that the Filipino recipient of the rude behavior only wanted to donate a dollar, and this amount wasn't enough for the demanding consul.

The consul also seemed like he had too much to drink, as his speech was slurred.  (Now drunkenness, for me, would tend to aggravate his situation, but the warm blooded machos in this society think differently.  Alcohol might actually afford the consul some leeway, in their books.) And finally, this all happened while people were apparently in line waiting for their passports to be renewed.

In other words, we were looking at what I can only describe as a shakedown.  You go to a government office, you ask for a license or a permit, or in this case, a passport, but before you get it, the government official asks you to fork something over.  In some cases, it's blatantly illegal, like payolas or bribes.  In other cases, it's not so patent.  Maybe it's even for a really good and legitimate cause, like what was allegedly present here, the Red Cross. (Although who keeps tabs on how much is donated and how much then ends up in the coffers of the Red Cross?)

But, come on, dear government officials.  Try to place yourselves in the shoes of the applicants.  Faced with that situation, do you think freedom of choice exists in that scenario?  An applicant would probably just fish out something from his wallet rather than risk a denial of his permit slash license slash passport.  He's in a bind.

Good cause or not, this should be something we should not tolerate.  It's funny - we prohibit simple public school teachers from imposing collections from their students, and selling raffle tickets for this and that cause. And yet, we see more sophisticated diplomats, who went through rigorous rounds of tests and interviews before being accepted into the echelons of foreign service, doing practically the same thing.  Why is it allowed in their case?

More importantly, this tempest in a teapot is emblematic of the challenges hurled at our richest natural resource, the labor force that's been keeping our economy afloat by their remittance of billions of dollars annually.  Instead of retrofitting our foreign service to provide spectacular service to our migrant workers, so that our workers are extended VIP attention when they step into the consulate's doors, and are treated with dignity and respect, they are given the gamut of uncivil service: shoddy, rude, arrogant or even corrupt officials.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has it right when he says that foreign service officials cannot seek donations, even for good causes.  He agrees that it is improper and inappropriate.  He has requested Consul General Ampeso to come home and explain himself.  But what else is going to come from this experience?

Fine, we might end up with a demoted or even resigned Consul General.  But is that all there is to it?  Perhaps, Secretary del Rosario needs to take this opportunity to overhaul his entire department and recalibrate the psyche that seems to pervade the high and mighty diplomat circle.

The foreign service should be just that, a service.  There should be less of that superior attitude that dominates dealings by foreign officials with their 'humble' supplicants whenever we go in and apply for new passports or request for other forms of assistance.  Instead, there should be more of the compassion, efficiency and genuine desire to serve that we Filipinos have ably demonstrated in so many other fields.

Our migrant workers have paid quite enough for these, and more, with the daily sacrifices they make with each day they stay away from their families.  We don't need another dollar from them, do we?