A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

While reactionaries in the Phil. government brought the fire and brimstone on that non-issue* from a stupid show like Desperate Housewives, a Filipina in Chicago gets insulted for her ethnicity. That’s an insult directed right to her face and barely a peep. Kahit harap-harapan na yung insulto, mahirap talaga pag hindi showbiz yung involved. Di napag-uusapan.

* I have to clarify my stance regarding this:

We (meaning Pinoys) need to start choosing our fights: government officials reacting to a misguided joke on a second-rate TV show kinda dilutes the whole righteous indignation of say our government protesting against our domestic helpers or drivers getting raped or sold to prostitution in some foreign country. Our government protests everything. The medical schools — who can certainly afford good PR hacks — should have collectively drafted their protest and that would be that. The Philippine government didn’t have to step in.

The Chicago H&M isn’t just about case of a healthcare worker who probably saves more lives every day than some idiot clerk in a retail store who didn’t like her accent. It’s about how the women from our country is being collectively looked at as mail-order brides. Do you think if you run across a racist jerk during one of your company sponsored US training trip that he or she would care if you came from Ateneo, La Salle or wherever? Nuh-uh. To him you’re a mail-order bride, fresh off the boat. That is what the Philippine government should pay more attention to: enforcement of anti human-trafficking laws and improving the economic conditions in the country so women didn’t have to leave the country for jobs.

Oh from what I know, you can’t practice medicine in the US with just a Philippine medical school diploma. You have to go through the whole placement, residency, internship etc & pass the state board again. So yeah, essentially you go back to training in the US if you want to practice medicine in the US.