Hong Kong's racism against Philippine citizens
Posted at 10/14/2008 5:33 PM | Updated as of 10/14/2008 5:35 PM
Hong Kong's racism against Philippine citizens
Dear ABS-CBNNews.com,
I hope that you be so kind as to publish this letter in ABS-CBNNEWS.com to let the Filipino people know of the racism and abuse of process being perpetrated by immigration agents at the Hong Kong International Airport against Philippine citizens.
I am a native-born U.S. citizen and U.S. passport holder. On October 5th, 2008 I flew from the U.S. to Hong Kong to meet my Filipino girlfriend who is 21 years old and who has never been outside the Philippines. We are engaged to be married.
The reason we were meeting in Hong Kong was that we both were excited to see the city. We both had heard many good things about Hong Kong: the shopping, the food, the excitement, etc. I heard also from a friend that it is a very romantic city. We were even considering getting married in Hong Kong!
Due to a storm in Hong Kong on Oct. 5th, I arrived almost three hours after she did. But was she nowhere to be found. However, I was able to locate her suitcase in the baggage area which she never picked up.
To my horror, I would later find that she was detained by immigration agents for no other reason that she was a young Filipino woman traveling alone to Hong Kong.
She told them that she was meeting me, a U.S. citizen, gave my name, my flight information, even the hotel information. Immigration agents could have easily questioned me to verify that her information was true. I was there waiting for her for hours. I did not even know that she was being detained. The immigration agents never bothered to locate me even though I was in the baggage area for hours.
I found out from Chinese desk agents that work for two major airlines that service the Philippines and Hong Kong that Filipinos, especially young women, are routinely singled out by immigration agents and detained for fear that these women want to stay illegally in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, it was clear that the airline agents and security guards I spoke were afraid of criticizing the immigration agents for fear of losing their jobs or worse.
My girlfriend later told me that she and three other Filipino women were detained that night and another Filipino woman that had been held for three days! My girlfriend was interrogated like she was a criminal. Her crime? Being Filipino in Hong Kong.
Her phone was taken from her. She was not allowed to call anyone. She was held for approximately 16 hours with nothing to eat. She and the other women were also subjected to a humiliating strip search for drugs. The only good thing was the search was conducted by female agents. Like the other women that were detained, my girlfriend has no criminal record and has a valid Philippine passport. After this 16 hours ordeal she was allowed to leave on the airline that brought her there.
I later traveled to Manila to meet my girlfriend. I was at the Aquino airport in Manila and I saw many young Chinese women from Hong Kong who were visiting Manila for the shopping and to have a vacation.
How would the Chinese Government react if their citizens were treated the way my girlfriend and these other Filipino women were treated? Held without cause, denied food, isolated and then stripped searched?
Filipinos reading this should be outraged as I am. I am an attorney and I can tell you that if such treatment occurred in the U.S., there would be a tremendous outcry from the public. There are probably Filipino citizens right now being detained in Hong Kong for no other reason than being Filipino.
And where are the airlines in this? Why are the airlines not complaining about the treatment of their paying customers? The airlines are aware of this racist treatment of Filipinos.
Thank you for you opportunity to let Philippine citizens to know of this abuse.
Sincerely,
Andrew Lee, Esq.
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend