Discrimination today

Nothing gets me more than being discriminated on. At this day and age, there really is no place for such attitude and treatment of other people, no matter what their race, color or creed is.

It is one thing to not agree with someone, whether private or out in the open, it is another to treat one badly because of it. And I will be the first to stand up when a Filipino is discriminated upon.

Because of the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland, where millions of cubic feet of ash has been thrown into the atmosphere, a ban on flying over the affected area has been enforced, covering the Scandinavian countries and much of Northern Europe. This includes all commercial aircraft, meant as a precaution since volcanic ash has been proven to wreck havoc on an airplane’s engine and fuselage. It would be like flying through a sandstorm.

Naturally, this has created chaos for many passengers, who suddenly could not get to their destinations. It is the practice of commercial airlines to book their passengers in suitable hotels because of such delays. A service rendered to make up for the inconvenience. But apparently, as we have found out, German airport officials had other plans.

Twelve Filipinos en route to the United Kingdom with appropriate UK visas were held at a Frankfurt airport, while other passengers including other Asians from the same Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong were given three-day Schengen visas and booked into hotels for the duration of the flight ban.

All of the passengers’ passports were taken by the German airport officials, and upon returning them, the Filipinos were told that they could not leave the airport. No explanations were given. They had to sleep on cushions in the airport, and use the public toilets for their personal needs!

What is this? Has World War II Germany returned? Is the SS in charge of the airport? Have Filipinos become the new “Juden” in the eyes of German airport officials? Why wasn’t an explanation given? Don’t Filipinos deserve one? They might as well put Stars of David on their clothes and herded them into the bathrooms! This treatment is appalling and unacceptable! The German embassy should have an explanation for such shabby treatment aimed specifically at Filipinos. A clear case of discrimination from the country that should not be doing it.

As I’ve said, such a practice has no place in society. Why they were treated that way is beyond me. I learned that Cathay Pacific has washed their hands of the incident, same thing with the German embassy here in the Philippines.

Perhaps it is time we had local carriers fly back into Europe, if only to ensure acceptable treatment for our citizens. Because obviously, discrimination is alive and well in post-war Germany.