Senator files resolution condemning Tsao's racial slur

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday filed a resolution condemning Chinese writer Chip Tsao for his article “The War at Home" and urging the Department of Foreign Affairs to lodge a diplomatic protest against HK Magazine, which published the "racist" article. In Senate Resolution 955, Zubiri also asked the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) to look into the working condition of the overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong. The senator said the article contained derogatory remarks and racial slur against Filipinos in general and domestic helpers in particular in relation to the territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands. He said Tsao’s column belittled the government’s sovereignty over the disputed islands stating that the issue is beyond reproach. "For the protection of migrant workers, the POEA should look into the said allegations, not only confined to forms of physical abuse but also emotional abuse such as public humiliation and verbal harassment," Zubiri said. The article said that there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as HK$3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. "(And) as a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter." Zubiri noted that in the article, Tsao said he employs a domestic assistant named “Louisa" who was verbally abused and threatened. "That if a war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the State by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day," Tsao wrote in his column. Tsao also wrote in his article that some of his friends started indoctrinating their Filipino domestic helpers, making them shout “China, Madam/Sir" loudly whenever they hear the word "Spratly." On Monday, the publisher and editors of HK Magazine apologized "unreservedly for any offense that may have been caused" by Tsao’s column dated March 27. Despite this, they said that column was satirical and could be read in different ways. Tsao has yet to apologize. - GMANews.TV