Dumaguete City to discipline unruly foreigners.

Pretty sure the governor of NO wears colors himself and organizes a massive ride every year. Many of those MCs also do charity work. MCs are NOT gangs. There is a reason why the bad ones are called 1%ers. They are a sh*t stain to the other 99% of MCs.

 

Now how could you possibly know it was the same guy?

The guy is obviously oblivious to being shamed. If I had my picture posted all over social media for doing something as stupid as he did you wouldn't catch me anywhere near the spot I was caught doing said stupid thing for a very long time.

 

I read the article a while back, and have also seen an increasing number of anti-foreigner sentiment from some of the locals. To be honest it is something that does bother me. Some of my thoughts:

1. those anti-foreigner sentiments come from a very small percentage of Filipinos, and it is my belief will have resentments against us regardless of what we do. The majority of Filipinos in the Dumaguete area are good people who also see the majority of foreigners as good people, regardless of the actions of a few bad apples. I tend to think that I should not paint all Filipinos with the same brush and hope for the same treatment from them.
2. Filipinos in my country, and most other western countries are NOT treated badly. In fact a Filipino in Canada is treated far better than I am here in the Philippines. They are given rights such as the ability to own property, business and get jobs. They are given access to a social safety net that includes medical coverage, welfare and employment insurance. They come to my country , make money, send it home and help out their families. We afford them opportunities far beyond any in their home country. If they step out of line, and break the law, they are afforded the right of due process. There are many many more Filipinos in Canada, than us Canadians in The Philippines,(like most western countries) so any talk from anyone that they get a raw deal is crap.
3. When a Filipino in my country is rude or disrespectful,,, and yes that happens, I and most of my countrymen do not target them as a group and tell them to go back to their country. Actually, if we were to do that, we would be socially castrated and vilified, if not face criminal charges. Though I am realistic enough to understand that I cannot expect to be treated the same way here in the Philippines as Filipinos are in my country, I sometimes want to suggest to the Filipinos who want to attack us foreigners here to think long and hard how they would want their friends and family members to be treated in my or other western countries country. And I can almost guarantee that each and everyone of these Filipinos who complain about foreigners probably have relatives or friends overseas.
   
4. After seeing a blog article written by a foreigner about how Foreigners are rude and disrespectful, I cringed. To me this is simply the wrong thing to do. This is stirring the pot and fan the flames of that small group of locals who do harbor resentments towards foreigners. This was borne out by a Facebook post about a week after where a Filipina complained about a rude and disrespectful foreigner in Dunkin Donuts. eventually she admitted that she made the post partly because she had read the article the week earlier from the foreigner. Obviously it did stir the pot.
   
5. Rudeness and disrespect happens all over the world, in every country, by locals and foreigners to those countries alike. Being an *sshole IS NOT related to race, nationality or any other "group" classification. There are Filipinos in the Philippines who are rude and disrespectful, as there are Canadians in Canada who are rude and disrespectful. Each and everyone who is rude and disrespectful should be treated as the specific *sshole in a specific circumstance that they act this way in. If a foreigner in Dumaguete is rude, disrespectful, or breaks a law, he should face the consequences to the full extend of that law. The same holds true for Filipinos in foreign country. What is wrong though is that good people should have to pay the price for the bad apples.

Ok, All that is my emotional response, however the only thing that really matters is reality. I am living in a foreign country and there are some people in this country that will have resentments towards me, for reasons real or imagined. I do not have the power to change that, but what I do have the power to do is live my life in a way that I am proud of. That means being respectful of the locals, obeying the laws of the land , and giving back to the community in whatever ways I can. I have faith that the majority of the locals in this "City of Gentle People" will live up to their name and accept, appreciate and continue to welcome me. Should there come a day when the small people who harbor resentments towards me as a foreigner, grows to a poitn where I am uncomfortable, I will pack my bags and move with my family somewhere else. I believe that if it comes to that for me, then it will probably come to that for many other expats here, and then, sadly Dumaguete will be the loser, because most of us bring more to this region than we take.

Gord

 

Newby questions. Learn to adapt.