That recent incident at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport where Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah berated a flight attendant in front of other passengers, made him kneel before her and ordered the pilot to take the plane back to the gate to let him off, reminds us of some abusive Koreans in the Philippines.
Reports of Korean nationals abusing Filipinos right in their own country have become too many to ignore.
For example, before President Noy imposed a ban on the use of “wang wang” or sirens for private vehicles, many Koreans had been caught the device to overtake other cars on the road.
A friend who was driving her car was once flagged down by Korean teenagers in another car and verbally abused for “driving too slow” as they wagged their fingers in her face.
Four years ago, I requested immigration officials to deport a Korean storekeeper for shoving a Filipino female customer who went to his computer store at Star Mall in Mandaluyong City.
The incident was caught on the mall’s closed-circuit television camera and reported on my program, “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo.”
But the worst case of abuse of Filipino hospitality by a Korean happened in 1998 when an “umbrella girl” suffered a broken hip bone after a Korean golfer struck her with a putting club at Subic Freeport in Olongapo City.
Barely able to walk, the girl who came all the way from Olongapo to report the incident to our office in Pasig City.
The Korean left before a criminal case could be filed against him.
Of course, there are exceptions. One is Richard Moon, who co-owns a ship manning agency with his Filipino wife Ethel.
Moon is soft-spoken, very courteous and kind to his employees.
Koreans arriving at the airport should be told by immigration agents to behave and be courteous to Filipinos.
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There was a happy ending to the story of the hapless Korean Air flight attendant.
Cho resigned from her post because of the public outrage.
Her father, the owner and chair of the airline company, apologized in public and called her “foolish.”
One wonders if there will be public outrage should a scion of a prominent Filipino be found guilty of such a blatant display of abuse of power.
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On Nov. 30, 2013, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, together with his sister, Senator Nancy, tried to make an exit through a gate at the posh Dasmariñas Village in Makati City but were prevented by security guards who said the gate was already closed.
Instead of just using another exit, the Binay siblings, together with their security escorts who were brandishing several firearms, got down from their vehicles while Junjun berated the guards.
Not content with scolding and scaring the poor guards, the mayor called up members of the Makati police who detained them for hours.
Instead of apologizing for his children’s misdeeds, Vice President Jojo Binay came to their defense in the wake of public furor over the incident.
“A little courtesy for the mayor, please,” the Vice President said.
That incident, which was an example of blatant oppression of the poor by the powerful, has been forgotten by the masses.
Vice President Binay continues to get high ratings from the poor in the surveys for possible presidential candidates.