X Factor
cobmerga@theguidon.com

It was in October of last year when Filipinos were offended by an episode of well-known American TV show Desperate Housewives. In one particular scene, Susan Mayer Delfino, played by actress Teri Hatcher, after being shocked about her physician’s diagnosis of menopause says, “OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines.”

This has elicited many reactions from our government, from respectable columnists, and from the Filipino-American community. This outrage over the dignity of our doctors is because we know that contrary to the given statement, our medical schools produce competent graduates.

All of these, however, were ridiculed when the video of the Cebu Canister Scandal was posted April of this year on YouTube. The video shows an operation which was conducted to extract a perfume canister stuck in the anus of a 39-year-old homosexual during a sexual act. The doctors and nurses who illegitimately recorded the very delicate surgical procedure clearly violated the ethico-moral and proper procedures and behaviour that should be followed inside an operating room.

This incident plus other factors, like the Nursing Board Exam leakage and production of fake diplomas from Recto, somehow justify why we cannot blame the foreigners for having a bad impression of our medical doctors and nurses. It is clear that we are the ones who create our own image. The foreigners may not have thought of saying these harsh comments if they had not seen or heard something bad about Filipinos.

According to the October 2007 discussion paper of the American Medical Association- International Medical Graduates (AMA_IMG), international graduates make up 25.3% of the Physicians in U.S., 8.7% of which are Filipinos. But despite having the 2nd highest percentage we still do not get the full trust of Americans when it comes to medical service. This is because the dishonesty and medical malpractices of some Filipinos unavoidably ruin the dignity of the whole country.

Looking at the other side of the coin, we may see that, like the foreigners, we also stereotype other races like the Indians and African Americans. Worse, we even joke among ourselves about our politicians, about our natives, and about disabled fellowmen. This is why it is really upsetting that once another race starts pointing things out about us, we cannot help but get offended. We often cry foul whenever we are faced with such insult, when, in fact, we are just as guilty. We have our own versions of TV shows where we insult people who have dark skin or are indigenous. We make fun of them and yet no one ever reacts and only a few of us have abandoned such practices. We are, in fact, more tactless in joking about our fellow Filipinos than the Americans on us.

This incident, rather than making us defensive, should be a reason for us to deeply evaluate ourselves. Instead of raising our eyebrows to the foreigners who insult our race, we should prove them wrong by producing quality graduates. Rather than making issues about racism, let’s focus on improving the deteriorating state of education in our country. This, instead of being defensive, would definitely be a more effective way to combat and kill stereotypes.