Iceland’s volcanic ash brings forth discrimination to Filipinos in Frankfurt International Airport
(Photo Credits: Life)
Unfortunately, when you’re a Philippine passport holder, you still don’t get the same respect like any other nationalities. How can one small country like the Philippines fight back? Hmpt! Grrr! Ok. Maybe that’s the wrong question. How can we prove to other nationalities that we deserve the same respect like any one else?! Better? (Maybe start with a clean and honest automated elections?!) Then again gaining international respect and recognition takes a collective national effort. Right?
I remember Brazil back in 2004, when the United States imposed border security measures. The Brazilians reacted angrily and decided to fingerprint and photograph every American that enters Brazil. Boy, that was such a big story back then!
But we are the Philippines. We have so many problems to even care about what is happening to these hapless Filipinos stuck in Germany. Por dios por santu! But see, to be fair, if you look at the overall picture, we might not want to hear the real reason why they are doing this. Sa totoo lang, kung makaka-alpas ka nang Pilipinas, tatago ka sa ibang bansa. And the blaming game starts – from corrupt politicians back home to poverty to POEA to la-la-la! Why do I suspect that this could be the real reason?! I don’t know. Somehow, yan ang tinitibok nang puso ko. But I could be wrong. However, what I am getting from reading the article was an obvious discrimination.
Can the Philippine Embassy or Consulate in Frankfurt help? Do we have Filipino-Germans reading this blog and extend assistance to our kababayans stuck in Frankfurt International Airport? UFO’s?!
Twelve Filipinos traveling to the United Kingdom on a Cathay Pacific Airways flight (CX275 from Hong Kong to London) have been refused entry into Germany and were held Thursday night at Frankfurt International Airport. The Filipinos, all holders of UK visas, were en route to London when their flight was diverted to Frankfurt because of the volcanic eruption in Iceland on Wednesday. They landed in Frankfurt at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday (1:30 a.m. Friday in Manila).
Other passengers on the flight were accommodated in hotels by the airline but the Filipinos were kept in the airline lounge and had to sleep on floors and cushions because they lacked Schengen visas, according to passenger Kimberly Lim, 20.
“We had to wait for four hours with no food or water and were then told we could not enter Germany,” Lim said by phone. “We saw other Asian passengers from Taiwan and China—who also lacked visas—being allowed to enter. But the Filipino passengers were told they had to stay. We felt totally discriminated against.”
3-day visas
Lim said the German authorities were issuing temporary 3-day Schengen visas that were going to be paid for by Cathay Pacific. She added: “[The authorities] took all the passports of our group, which consisted of Chinese, Taiwanese and Filipino passengers. The Chinese and Taiwanese passengers managed to get visas after a long while, and could leave the airport to travel within Germany.
“Then [the authorities] came out with our passports, handed these back and said they have decided that anybody with a Filipino passport wouldn’t be issued a visa.
“They didn’t say why; they just gave us our passports back…”
Another passenger, Jay Madronero, 37, said: “It was poor decision-making on the part of the German immigration officials with regard to issuance of visas in an emergency situation.”
Out of their hands
Local representatives seemed powerless to help.
In an e-mail, Klaus Muller, first secretary of the German Embassy in Manila, said: “The embassy has no influence at all [over] the decisions of the German Border Control Police.”
Cathay Pacific also said in a phone interview from Hong Kong that the situation was “out of [their] hands.”
The Filipinos are facing an indefinite period of being trapped with no bedding, luggage or proper meals in the small airport lounge.
Authorities have said the disruption in air travel could continue past the weekend, until the ash clouds from the volcanic eruption clear up.
See photos here: CNN
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reynz is one Uragon and a Filipino-American, has many years of public accounting & auditing, broadcast investments, housing tax credits and equity investments as his background. Based in the US, he maintains his personal and humor blog at reyna elena dot com. A graduate of Aquinas U, he went to GWU and Temple U in the United States.
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to gain respect, know yourself, know your human rights, be reasonable and stick it to them! i have been here in america for twenty years. i have had my share of unfair treatment which ended up with shouting matches in public: airport, work place, restaurants. in all cases, i have never been hauled to a police station or court. it may have cost a little more money like undue payment of excess baggage in the airport case; finding my way home on my own from the boondocks of western new york back to norfolk, va in the fight with a crew supervisor; and ending up paying more in an upscale eating place in a restaurant incident. but in all these instances i felt proud not for myself alone but all minorities in general as the witnesses of every incident came to my side or stayed silent as they came to realize i was only exercising my basic human right of speech and freedom of expression. this was more telling when the police officers who came in the case in new york called by my supervissor which ended up taking him to the police station instead as it was determined he started the fracas in the work place.
We should do the same to them, tama na colonial mentality. Whites bleed like us, any color for that matter. Vietnam showed the world, non-whites, small guys can kick ass too. Stop being nice with these jerks just because they got a different skin color.
Hay naku Reyz, sa tingin ko, tama ang hinala mo. So sad di ba? D2 sa Qatar, they plan to Stop issuing visa on arrivals to countries like US and EUR kasi daw di naman visa on arrival ang mga Qatar citizens sa kanila.
for as long as hindi nag-babago sa loob nang Pilipinas, this treatment will persist.
I totally agree with caloy.
I traveled a lot of places and never ever feel such discrimination. I stand with my principles that we all have our feet to the ground and we all have our heads atop.
All things have its reason. Every day life decision is a risk to overcome and we should not be afraid of it nor avoid it. We only need to learn how to handle the risk it partakes. Whining can’t change our destined hours. We are full responsible to WHERE our selves wants to be and WHAT we want to be.
hey, I emailed my German policewoman friend in Munich she said that the Immigration must have judged the Filipinos as a risk. She also mentioned that immigration is strikto daw sa manga Turkiz.
This is a really old article but I feel like I should say this:
Filipino citizens really have it bad in the world. For example, most Filipino citizens are denied entry in many countries if they don’t hold visas. Its even worse in Europe where you need to specifically apply for a Schengen visa. But this all boils down to the Philippines, its unstable government, poverty, violence (i.e. that Manila Hostage crisis damaged the ties with China, Taiwan and Hong Kong) etc. that reflects to how other countries percieve its citizens. If Filipinos want better international treatment, they need to improve their country and show to the world we they are just as civilized as everyone else. But with the way things are going in that country, I think its going to get worse, and the treatment of OFW’s who do not hold foreign citizenship already will get worse.
Filipino citizens, wake up, open your eyes. The Philippines has such a huge potential to be a developed economic powerhouse country. Change must start within yourselves. Don’t be reluctant to change. The Philippines has been doing the same thing for decades now, don’t you guys think the way they are doing things there is not working? Don’t you think you should change how things are done there? Everything from the government, education, economy, infrastructure, etc. it needs one big overhaul.
Right now I don’t see any progress in all of these sectors, in fact the Philippines just keeps going backwards.