AS SEEN ON TV
Brown versus Brown
March is the month of many things from fire prevention to international womens’ day—from world water day to day of elimination of racial discrimination. But of all of this month’s observances, racial discrimination has been getting less publicity.
So I decided to post a breezy Facebook version of my own observations on racial discrimination: “Today marks a special day for the elimination of racial discrimination. Irrelevant when you’re in your own country but a serious concern for anyone overseas”.
Within minutes, that post elicited responses from FB friends, many of whom, proved me wrong. Discrimination exists in the Philippines. Not racial but discrimination nonetheless. One insight came from former ABS CBN reporter and friend Kim Quilinguing, who talks about a form of discrimination perpetrated by Filipinos on Filipinos in their own country.
Kim who is from the sunshine city of Cagayan de Oro revives the age-old sentiment of probinsyanos—- one he described as “ethno-linguistic discrimination”— where imperial Manila or mainstream Tagalog humors Visayan accents whether hard (Cebuano-hard as in “asusisyun”) or soft (Ilonggo-soft as in “leberti condinsed melk”).
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Mind you this could also go the other way around as Visayans could be unforgiving of a Manileno’s “confeeeerm” or “traysiKEL” or “jornaliseem” or mainstream Tagalog’s proclivity to interchangeably use “F” and “P’ or “B” and “V” for words like “preedom” or “baricose beins”.
Blame it on our excessive regionalism (or regionaliseem?). The Spaniards did an excellent job in dividing this nation with invisible, sturdy barriers that would stand long after they’re gone.
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Today being Bisaya is synonymous to being called “country bumpkin” in the US—- or being labeled “promdi” (which means probinsyano or “prom di mountains”). We often see discrimination woven in humor in Pinoy film where a probinsyano (most likely from the Visayas) becomes the butt of all jokes in the big city. Stereotypically, his naiveté is misconstrued as “lack of refinement” when he adventures in Metro Manila, like it is his misfortune that he was not born urbane.
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Another form of local discrimination is the stupification of any good point when not expressed in English.
Facebook friend Mary Ann Gallo reacts: “Ang malupit sa sarili nating bansa kapag hindi ka magaling mag English may mga taong mababa ang tingin sa iyo and they will even think that you’re an outcast.”
To this day many Filipinos still equate “English-speakinghood” with intelligence while the national tongue is categorically treated as “language of the unschooled”. Many try to speak English to sound sophisticated never mind if it is peppered with grammatical transgressions.
And it doesn’t matter if our (often) twang-y English sentence does not even have meat, as long as it’s in English. Maybe this is the boon of our innate and undying colonial mentality, which is the root of this type of Filipino-to-Filipino discrimination. We are just too enamored with other languages but our own.
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It is not just language that Filipinos discriminate. No ethno-linguistic slur could be worse than skin color discrimination ruling this Glutathione-devouring nation of ours.
Trademark Filipino dark skin is seriously frowned upon by many Filipinos themselves. Our skin has been a source of insecurity which blossoms into low esteem of the “toned” or vanity of those born fairer.
Many Filipinos have unrealistic goals of defying genetics as they blanch their skin to ash whiteness. The financially-challenged who cannot afford surgically-induced palor turn to mercury-laced creams (from China) or acidic astringents to peel themselves off their last remaining brownness.
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Some Filipinos can be discriminating of other people of color as they are with their kind. Where else in the world today can one use “negro” to refer to the African race ever so casually and descriptively? Many Filipinos (in their moment of ignorance) use the “N” word for lack of adjectives to describe blacks.
It is just absurd that when said in the Philippines “negro” is not even incriminating. Elizabeth Ramsey and Jinky Oda even made a fortune by allowing Filipinos to make a mockery of their African lineage in the guise of clean, enterprising and comedic bigotry.
And it’s not just the “N” word. Derogatory names “Bombay” for Indian national and “Intsik” to call our Chinese brethren are still used (matter-of-factly) these days, without a tint of embarrassment, restrain or remorse.
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Only in the Philippines is it okay to use a person’s disability, deformities or associations as points of reference in identifying them. “Petrang bungal” or “Pepeng kuba” or “Teklang hika-in” or “Jun Jun adik” are common adjectives attached to a person’s name. The name-plus-affliction format is for purposes of accuracy and clarity.
Filipinos really live in a more cruel society. Right in our own home these slurs do not even sting that much anymore because we’re so used to them already that we never draw the line.
