Not three nights ago I had to pay a visit to some far off police station. No, don't get any ideas. I wasn't under arrest. One of my dearest friends had fallen victim to a 25,000-peso worth theft and had requested me to drop by the police station with him. The cops had already nabbed the suspect, and the complaint had been lodged.
It was around 11 o'clock in the evening, and we strode into the dingy looking police station not having the least idea of what to do. My friend was holding two sheets of paper with print on it--his copy of the complaint. He was intending to communicate with one particular cop, the officer who had helped him file this same complaint, simply to ask whether the suspect had already posted bail or was still being held at the police station's detention cell. It was a sweltering night, and the foyer was populated with visitors like us and a sprinkling of officers in blue uniforms. My friend and I being the most recent newcomers, one of the officers approached us and asked us what we needed.
I have an uncle who used to be a cop, and I tend to think of him as my second father. Back when he was still in the force, he would sometimes take me along with him to headquarters, just for fun. I was a kid back then, and I never really took deep notice of how my uncle's fellow cops talked to visitors walking in. For the most part, however, I kind of enjoyed how police officers would often engage in rowdy behavior at headquarters--this would include feeling their egos just palpably bulge out at you with their strong, booming voices and the particular machismo in their stare, as if they were measuring you up as an opponent.
But I'm not a curious kid anymore, and my friend and I were now in unfamiliar territory, and we needed help from these cops. This particular officer who approached us asked the right questions, and yet displayed an attitude of dismissiveness, and outright roughness, as if we weren't civilians seeking help from the law but were rather unwanted reprobates. You notice the difference between asking a flight stewardess to guide you towards your seat and asking a surly security guard to allow you into a restricted area. Man, oh man, this cop wanted us off his back, as if we were bothering him in the middle of hectic work. You could tell it in his voice and his repellant stare.
Of course we generally think low of Pinoy cops. At certain times I tend to disagree with this opinion, since I've known many officers and I am very much aware of the real reasons behind their apparent--let's just say--unsaintliness. And yet, in this instance, this display of attitude was uncalled for. After all, a bit of courtesy would have certainly made a big difference.
Okay, let's just assume that the cop we were talking to was in fact simply the typical gruff fellow with the inflated ego. There are many people like this at the office, too. However, reflecting back on it later, I envisioned a scenario if foreigners came into the station, and this same officer encountered them instead of us.
Go ahead, try to imagine the situation for yourself. In all probability this otherwise crude guy would perhaps be meek, deferent, more courteous, and accommodating towards them. I've been witness to similar circumstances before, and don't tell me it doesn't happen.
It's an attitude which I myself have been guilty of in many other instances before. Quite simply, it is this--we Pinoys, proud of ourselves as being one of the most hospitable of races in the world, well...we treat foreigners differently. We treat them better than we would treat a fellow Filipino.
Okay, I admit, this is not the kind of insight one would normally derive from an experience like the one my friend and I had with that erring cop. Quite usually you, as a Pinoy having dealt with cops, too, would pronounce this one officer a bad egg, and would say "off to the frying pan with him!". And that would be the end of that.
Then again, maybe such a swishing dismissal of the matter would not cover all significant angles. True, it could be said that the situation might merely reflect a failure of that cop to follow very basic rules of politeness and courtesy. And yet, how glaringly apparent it is that most of us Pinoys somehow share the same fault too, and commit it the most often, when interacting with fellow countrymen. I mean, of course, this was a Pinoy cop with crude manners. But, I repeat, would he have been as asinine if it were a foreigner he was addressing?
Admit it. We Pinoys are aware of and a witness to this dichotomy in our attitude towards other people all the time. We treat foreigners kinder than we do fellow Pinoys. We give them more slack, so to speak. Say you put an American maid in front of you and a Filipina maid side by side. We would refer to the American as a "maid" and the Filipina as "longkatut". We would probably never see them on the same plane, with the same essential humanity. Would you refer to an American maid as an American "longkatut"? Many Korean factory workers tour around our country. They work the same hours and punishing tasks as Filipino factory workers. And yet, we have this perception that Filipino factory workers are...well, factory workers. Korean factory workers are "tourists". But look beyond the flashy cameras and baggage all those Korean tourists bring with them, and what is left is quite simply...a group of factory workers.
Now, imagine yourself a Pinoy in Saudi Arabia, or in New York, going to a police station over there to report yourself as a victim of a crime. Do you think that cops over there will treat their fellow countrymen with disdain, and then leave them behind to attend to you? Will the cops over there prioritize you? I would think not. I think it would be more apparent that they would treat everybody with the same deference and cordiality, if the situation were ideal. If the situation were less than ideal, then most probably it would be the Pinoy who would suffer the indignity of being rudely addressed to. I hope it doesn't happen often.
I am not saying that Pinoys should be rude to foreigners. I am simply of the mind that, if we treat foreign visitors delicately and with care, what is it that keeps us from treating each other in the same way? Hasn't it been said that the Japanese are one of the most polite people in the world? Would they reserve that politeness only to foreigners? Don't they treat fellow Japanese the same way? Even better, at some instances?
Maybe it's harder for us Pinoys to elevate our fellow countrymen to the same status we give foreigners because it is so imbedded in our own culture the attitude of self-deprecation. It is as if we have this instinctive trait of always perceiving fellow Pinoys as persons less deserving of our best efforts at social graces. This only brings to light an even deeper, and more frightening, implication--that we in fact think that the Pinoy is a lesser form of human.
My oh my. The things that a police officer taught me. I hope it's something all of us should think about.
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