Are we a country of xenophobes?

Elayda Culminas, an elderly lady, bought an Innova  from the Toyota dealer on Shaw Blvd. in Mandaluyong City late last year.

It turned out she bought the car from a salesman who didn’t turn over the money to the dealer’s cashier.

Culminas paid P20,000 as reservation fee on Nov. 28, 2015, and then a down payment of P150,000 on Dec. 7, 2015.

The two transactions took place inside the lounge of the Toyota-Shaw dealer shop.

Toyota-Shaw told Culminas she was issued a fake receipt for the car which was given to her  by a salesman, Jerome Dy, who had been dismissed earlier.

Then why, for crying out loud, was Dy allowed to transact business with prospective customers right inside the office lounge if he had been kicked out?

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Torgeir Hoverstad, 63, a Norwegian photographer and camera man who made documentary films about the beauty of the Philippines in Europe, is languishing at the Olongapo City jail for crimes he claims he hasn’t committed.

All the charges against him—child abuse, child pornography and human trafficking—are all trumped up, according to Hoverstad.

A 17-year-old girl, who was 15 when the alleged crime was committed and who was the subject of nude photos supposedly  taken by the Norwegian, has declared in open court that she does not know Hoverstad.

She said the photos  were not taken by Hoverstad, but by a syndicate which transferred the photos to the Norwegian’s cellular phone.

The girl said she only met Hoverstad at the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office where the Norwegian was brought after his apartment was raided.

She said she was coached and paid by the syndicate about  what to say against Hoverstad.

The girl came to my office at “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo” and told me her conscience had bothered her.

Despite her admission that  she  had given a false testimony, Olongapo Regional Trial Court Judge Jose Bautista Jr. didn’t acquit Hoverstad of the charges.

The Norwegian embassy in Manila is monitoring  Hoverstad’s trial. Like this columnist, it is puzzled why Hoverstad was not released after the girl’s retraction .

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One of those who raided and allegedly ransacked Hoverstad’s apartment was Chief Insp. Alexie Desamit.

The National Bureau of Investigation  claims that Desamito, a graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy, robbed two Koreans of their Rolex watches, laptops, cell phones, TV sets and cash during a raid at their office suspected to be a base for online gambling operations.

Hoverstad claims his apartment was also emptied of all its contents by the raiders.

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Are we a country of xenophobes, or people who hate strangers or foreigners?

If we’re not, then why do we invite foreigners to come to our shores as investors or tourists, yet do everything to make their lives difficult when they’re already here?

No wonder many Filipino contract workers are oppressed in their host countries because of karma. What you do to another comes back to you.