Stereotyping The Filipinos

A stereotype, by definition from wikipedia, is a preconceived idea that attributes certain characteristics (in general) to all the members of class or set. The term is often used with a negative connotation when referring to an oversimplified, exaggerated, or demeaning assumption that a particular individual possesses the characteristics associated with the class due to his or her membership in it. Stereotypes can be used to deny individuals respect or legitimacy based on their membership in that group.

Have you ever been stereotyped?

I am quite sure that at least once or twice, a fellow Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) like me have been stereotyped. An OFW have there own experience of this form of prejudice.

Working here in Doha, I had experienced being stereotyped… in my face, by a fellow OFW. That happened three weeks ago.

I reported to our other Project on that day, assisting them in formalizing our variation claims. I have been reporting in that Project for about two weeks then, but I am only spending my Saturdays to Mondays on this Project. The rest of the week is spent at my original Project.

It was about lunch and everyone had shifted to a lower gear. This Filipino colleague casually approached me and he asked if I am a Filipino. It is not that I don’t look like a Filipino, but maybe because he seldom sees me and if he ever sees me I don’t loiter around, but rather too preoccupied with my own work. Or he seldom hears me and if ever he hears me speak he has second thoughts. Most of my colleagues say that my accent is different with the rest of my Filipino colleagues.

I affirmed to him that I am a Filipino. And so we had a casual conversation, where are you from, when did you start with the company, …usual stuff.

He asked me if I was hired direct from Philippines. I told him that I was recruited from Singapore. Then he asked why I left Singapore, it is a very nice country and salarywise must also be better. I just smiled. And he continues, “Maybe you left Singapore because you have many wives over there and you are hiding from them that’s why you left Singapore”.

I was shocked from what he said. I was just stereotyped. Do I look like a sex-craved maniac? Maybe he is trying to relate me to his ways or some, if not most, of the OFW’s be it men or women. I pity him, he was barking at the wrong tree, such thing has no place in my moral orientation.

I just smiled at him, but this time my eyebrows are meeting each other. He may have sensed that what he just said was offensive. Quite a way to have your first conversation with someone you just met, huh…

My wife has also a fair share of stereotyping. During the late 90’s in Singapore, for locals if they see a Filipina, she must be a domestic helper. Many times my wife was mistaken for a domestic helper.

My wife once followed by an Indian expat. She took a bus after work that would take her more than half hour to reach home, it was already about 11:30pm. At the bus, my wife noticed this Indian staring at her. Then he came nearer trying to engage my wife to a conversation. Ignoring him throughout the trip, he is really persistent. Then he became loud, blurting inappropriate things about Filipinas. Sensing that this guy would not give in, my wife called me to meet her at the bus stop. To make sure that this Indian guy would find what he is looking for, my wife started to respond to him with a slight smile when she is just a bus stop away. She managed to lure the guy to alight from the bus when she alighted, just in time when I was approaching the bus stop. When my wife saw me, it was her turn to be “loud” to this Indian guy. I confronted the Indian guy and he kissed my knuckles tumbling him down on the bus stop floor. He scampered up and ran like a headless chicken.

I was once asked, with resentment, by a Singaporean taxi driver. “Why Filipinas likes Indians or Bangladeshi?”

“Why do you ask?” I replied.

“I have more money than those Indians or Bangladeshis but they have Filipina girlfriends and I don’t”, he said. I keep quiet, keeping to myself I said, “Maybe because you don’t share your money”.

The friendly nature of Filipinas sometimes is being misinterpreted as “easy-to-get” Filipinas. Sometimes I blame those Filipinas who are up-to-no-good. They have multiple boyfriends, some are even married back home but still entertain boyfriends when abroad. Some are also involved in the sex trade. Some are even both married but have consensual relationships when they are away from home.

These are some of the negative traits of OFW’s that causes the stereotyping of the Filipinos. The sad thing is that those who are innocent, living honestly, morally, faithfully are being unjustly dragged into this stereotyping.