Exactly nine days after the hostage-taking incident at the Quirino Grandstand, I dared to see for myself if indeed the Filipinos were not welcome in Hong Kong. Reports at home were not so rosy regarding the alleged cold-shoulder treatment, and sometimes allegedly rude handling, accorded Pinoys traveling to the former Crown Colony by its nationals.
You can just imagine a thousand and one nightmares flying in and out my mind as I lined up at the immigration counter the minute I disembarked my Cebu Pacific flight, which was full of passengers, mostly Filipinos seemingly trooping to Hong Kong for a weekday R&R.
Quietly I fell in line. Without a word, I gave my passport to Mr. K. F. Pau, an immigration officer. The minute Mr. Pau smiled at me as he handed me back my stamped passport was the moment the demons in my mind started to vanish in the warm Hong Kong air.
“Thank you,” I told him. The immigration officer managed to say “Welcome” replete with his smiling chinky eyes. My fears petered out that moment as I embraced Hong Kong the way I always do every time I step on its soil.
I looked around after I passed the immigration to see if untoward incidents would take place — say a passport-throwing drama, like the one that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada reported to have experienced when he went to Hong Kong a few days after the Aug. 23 bloodbath.
I was happily disappointed to have observed that everything at the immigration was handled professionally. I had requested my lady best friend Christine Dayrit to join me in Hong Kong overnight to celebrate our 15 years of friendship in Disneyland. Initially, she was hesitant to go but after a little prodding, I was able to convince her. She smiled in relief when without a hitch, too, she passed through the immigration. Truth is, from the time we boarded the plane in Manila, Christine was clutching on to her prayer book “A Pocketful of Promises for Women.” She incessantly meditated on Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” She quickly glanced at me and smiled. From the sparkle in her eye, I felt the dint of her inner calm and peace. Christine and I, personally speaking, declared: “No such thing as rude awakening in Hong Kong.”
Well, we passed the first test. No experience of animosity at the immigration. In my head, a thought bubble formed: “It may be an unforgettable experience once again in Hong Kong.”
“The reported fear is actually unfounded,” said a Filipino lady hotel PR we dined out with in the Kowloon area. “That the Chinese immigration officers are taking it out on Filipino tourists, or on Filipinos in general, is exaggerated.”
But what about the people on the street? Will they not throw paint at us when we cross Hong Kong’s perpetually busy streets?
“No, no,” said a taxi driver named Wong Siu Man. He was in short pants driving his cab. His knees did the jerky as he assured us that no untoward incident would likely to happen to Filipinos like us in Hong Kong.
“We no hate Philippines,” he said in broken English. “Haven’t been Philippines. I like go there. As tourist.”
“You’re not afraid?” I prodded deeper, referring to the recent hostage-taking incident that took the life of eight Hong Kong Chinese nationals.
“No.”
“God bless you,” Christine replied, more to reassure ourselves that indeed were safe.
“Thank you,” Mr. Wong said. We gave him more than what was the actual fare. He refused the tip.
“Thank you,” I said. Then off we went to Admiralty where, on the 14th floor of the United Centre building at 95 Queensway, the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong is located.
It was a Wednesday, the place was teeming with Filipinos renewing their documents, securing permits among other dealings at the consular office. There are 150,000 documented Filipinos in Hong Kong. Of this number, 130,000 are domestic helpers. The rest are either professionals or residents of Hong Kong.
We talked to a lot of domestic helpers at the consular office. None of them could really say that they experienced harassment from their Chinese employers as a result of the hostage caper in Manila. Well, there was hearsay, said Rowalinda Carrera, in her late twenties, from Manaoag, Pangasinan. She told of a story experienced by a friend of a friend who took the MRT and was allegedly humiliated by a group of adult Chinese. “You are a killer!” Carrera said of the alleged verbal assault. But she also said that it had never been confirmed.
Charito Melayo, from Quezon City, who has been working in Hong Kong for six years for a former high-ranking Chinese government official, said she has always felt safe in her present location. “At first I thought I would be sent home because of the incident in Manila. But my boss has never shown me any act of hostility. In fact, they continue to be kind to me and the other helpers in the house. They understand the situation,” Charito said in Filipino.
The authorities at the consular office earlier said that the few cases of job termination of Filipinos in Hong Kong were not an act of retaliation by the nationals regarding the bloody incident that took place in Manila. Those who were terminated had either finished their contracts or had been inept.
The Philippine consulate had also braced itself for the mounting indignation rallies as backlash of the hostage-taking incident. Sources at the consular office said that on Aug. 24, the day after the tragic incident in Manila, 11 rallies were held in front of the consular office in Hong Kong. On Aug. 25, nine rallies were staged. On Aug. 29, some 80,000 Chinese men and women, boys and girls, mothers and fathers mostly in black and white silently marched to the building where the consular office was to stage protest sans angry shouting.
But the Filipinos, particularly at the consular office, provided immaculately white condolence books at the lobby entrance — for guests to write words of comfort and sincere condolences for the hostage victims. Each of the eight victims had a condolence book on his or her name. Filipinos, mostly domestic helpers, solemnly wrote on these books their pleas and prayers for the victims and their families. They appealed for their understanding that what happened was an isolated case. They prayed that Hong Kong and the world would understand the situation in time.
Christine and I, before proceeding to Disneyland, signed the condolence books, too. In our dedication, we offered prayers. We also wrote healing words. We fervently hope and pray that in time, those words of loving kindness, together with the dedication of countless other Filipinos, would somehow aid in soothing wounds until healing would begin.
For Hong Kong national Gary Wong, 24, a ground agent for Cebu Pacific, the healing in his heart had begun. “I was sad about the incident but I also understood that it is an isolated case and Filipinos in general are very kind and hospitable and are not capable of doing such act. I still love the Philippines and I would love to see it one day,” Gary said as we checked in for our flight back to Manila.
“I think I was a Filipino in my past life,” he added, declaring further his love for the Philippines, a country he had fallen in love with even if he had not yet stepped on its soil.
“I have many nice Filipino friends. Enough reason for me to love the Philippines,” Gary said. Christine and I spontaneously replied, “We love Hong Kong, too.”
Tang Yu Wah, a Cartier sales lady at the Duty Free shop in the airport, also resonated Gary’s understanding of the situation. “I believe many more Filipinos are kind.”
And if the smile again of another immigration officer, Mr. T.Y. Chau, at me on my flight back to Manila was any indication, Filipinos, personally speaking, are very much welcome in Hong Kong.
Indeed, for me, I experienced no rude awakening in Hong Kong. Now, the demons in my mind had been eclipsed to oblivion. Let the real healing begin.
(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com or my.new.beginnings@gmail.com. You may want to follow me at www.twitter.com/bum_tenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)