Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol called for the deportation of Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. for being a Chinese from the province because ?Magulo ka dito.? (?Arroyo men gang up on Lozada,? Inquirer, 2/9/08)

Every day we cry out and sympathize with many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are abused in the Middle East, Hong Kong, Italy, United Kingdom, etc., and yet here, we have a ranking Filipino official making discriminatory remarks against a person just because of his racial origin. We have to remember that Lozada is a Filipino citizen born in the Philippines and has been living in the Philippines all his life.

We have many relatives and friends of Filipino origin who were born in the United States. Should they all be deported also just because of their Filipino origin? Let us not forget, we have thousands of OFWs working abroad. How can we ask the foreigners not to abuse them when a ranking Filipino official verbally abuses a fellow Filipino of Chinese origin? All the abusive foreign employers of OFWs can now say that they are just following the example of Apostol?

In Japan or the United States, government officials who would make such a booboo would resign out of shame. But here in the Philippines, they shamelessly hold on to their dear government positions.

DREX CORONEL (via email)