Fil-Ams plan picket vs 'Desperate Housewives'

Branding the apology of American Broadcasting Co. (ABC) for a racial slur in its show “Desperate Housewives" as “insufficient and pathetic," militant Filipino Americans are planning to picket ABC studios in New York this weekend. The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (Nafcon) slammed the “paragraph-sized apology" from ABC for the slur delivered by actress Teri Hatcher’s character Susan in the show. In a statement on the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) website Thursday night, Nafcon said a community picket will be held in front of Manhattan’s ABC Studios on 77 West 66th Street at 6 p.m. Friday (Saturday morning Manila time). “The simplistic nature of ABC’s apology only insults our community even more. It is not proportionate to the damage it has caused. It is basically just a one-paragraph response, not just to the second largest immigrant group in the US, or a third world country, but all foreign-trained medical practitioners in this country. This country thrives on the quality skills of foreign-trained doctors and nurses, and Filipino nurses are among the cream of the crop. We all deserve a decent, sincere, and proper apology," Nafcon spokesman Rico Foz said. Nafcon said the slur is no joking matter for the Sentosa 27 nurses, Filipino healthcare professionals trafficked from Manila to the US to work under false contracts by American employer SentosaCare LLC. The workplace discrimination case of the Sentosa 27 nurses, now amidst court trials in Long Island, also found linkage to the network’s discriminatory slur, which insinuated the inferior skills of Philippine-trained health workers. “This is a clear manifestation that the claims of discrimination and prejudice is alive and present in society. Our current plight against the Sentosa Recruitment Agency is the fruit of prejudiced and biased minds as those connected with ABC Inc. and SentosaCare LLC," said Mark Dela Cruz of the Sentosa 27. Nafcon leaders and Sentosa 27 nurses also agreed on proper terms for an official network apology that included at least one broadcast apology before the show’s next episode. They also sought a thorough investigation of the show’s writers and producers to track down the origins of the line and mete out appropriate disciplinary action on those responsible. A third condition was cutting the scene from the episode permanently and never airing it again, including in all productions of DVD’s and boxed sets of the series. The group also threatened to call for a boycott of the series if the network did not issue “an appropriate and timely apology." “I not only resent [the Desperate Housewives quote], but I am mad. An apology is not enough; they should acknowledge the role of foreign medical graduates particularly Filipino doctors from the early 1960s. For three decades as doctors, we have been serving America," said Filipino Long Island cardiologist Orlando Apiado. Apiado went to the US in 1963, after obtaining his medical degree at the University of the Philippines in 1962. For his part, New York anesthesiologist Dr. Benjamin Ileto said that after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the most awarded healthcare providers were Filipinos from the Beekman Downtown Hospital near Wall Street. - GMANews.TV