Distressed

FIRST PERSON

- ALEX MAGNO

There was distress in the Chinoy community even before that 14-year-old boy was kidnapped and mutilated.

Rumors circulated that a known Filipino-Chinese businessman was kidnapped and forced to pay ransom. This stoked fears the bad old days had returned—those days when members of the community became targets of organized crimes.

An epidemic of kidnappings happened during those years. The crime wave was suspected to have been perpetrated by criminal syndicates with links to the law enforcement agencies. A massive cleanup of the police was required to stop this wave of kidnappings.

Somehow the crime wave directed primarily at the Filipino-Chinese community subsided. Members of the Chinoy community felt safer.

These days, however, there seems to be a resurgence. As in the previous crime waves, this one is suspected to involve dirty law enforcers. A new element is the apparent involvement of ethnic Chinese criminals displaced by the closure of POGO operations.

The POGOs were unfortunate for us. They brought over a lot of unsavory characters from China. Those unsavory characters contribute to the caricature some have about Chinese residents here.

The POGO phenomenon fostered a sharp increase in anti-Chinese sentiment among ordinary Filipinos. A recent survey conducted by OCTA Research showed that nine of 10 Filipinos do not trust China. The sentiment inevitably spills over to attitudes toward Chinoys.

There is yet no indication that things have deteriorated into communal tensions. But it could go that way to everyone's peril.