Standing up in one’s backyard

The past few days have seen a lot of foreigners involved in one criminal case after another; an Australian accused of molesting minors, an American engaged in child pornography and a Japanese man involved in a robbery, among others.

Rounding up the weekend of foreigners behaving badly was last Saturday’s in-flight near-brawl between Eldon Cruz, brother-in-law of President Benigno Aquino III, and two Chinese online writers who were part of a contingent sent here to promote tourism relations between the Philippines and China.

The incident could not have come at a worse time, when China and the Philippines were engaged in a verbal tug-of-war over the Spratly Islands and the first year anniversary of the infamous bus hostage tragedy that claimed the lives of Hong Kong tourists looms next month.

The first account told of how Cruz tried to advise the Chinese writers named Han Yang and “XXX” Mailiyasi to take it easy after their video and photo coverage of Cebu Pacific’s in-flight games crowded the plane’s aisle.

Their unfriendly response was fortunately broken up by airline personnel and the two were promptly whisked to a room where they were investigated by airport security. The deportation order was a diplomatic, albeit clear signal that their actions were unwelcome and downright offensive, to say the least.

The Chinese embassy downplayed the incident, while the two Chinese claimed that they didn’t understand what Cruz was saying and saw him pointing a finger at them. For the tourism industry, the incident was unfortunate but not a total loss; at least 10 other Chinese writers managed to finish the tour and will head back to Beijing with their own account of their tour in the country.

Nevertheless, the on-flight altercation would serve as a painful reminder to Filipinos that not all foreigners can be expected to be at their best behavior. As in the cases of the Australian named Angelo Farina and American Robert Dean Lunsford showed, they can even be criminal.

The misfortune was magnified since the incident occurred during a goodwill promotional tour of the country. It is the last thing that Cebu, a prime tourist destination, needs at this point when it’s trying to draw in more arrivals from abroad.

There were no criminal charges filed and the deportation was a diplomatic solution to what amounted to a scandalous, backroom altercation that certainly won’t turn any more ugly owing to the presence of Filipino passengers who at that time were more than willing to testify against the two Chinese writers.

In that respect, the deportation of the two Chinese echoed yesterday’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) by President Aquino, who said the country won’t allow itself to be kicked around in its own backyard in reference to the ongoing dispute with China over the Spratly islands.

It’s time to stand up to abusive foreigners and tell them straight to their faces that their boorish behavior is unacceptable and will result to deportation, not to mention criminal charges.