January 23, 2003

     A lot of columns for the price of one? Actually, I'm having a hard time this week expanding a topic to more than a few paragraphs so I decided to write bits and pieces of e-mails I received last week and other things I remembered while walking from the lunch room to my desk.

     Dr. Noel Binayas (1979) reacting to recent columns, "What did I miss?" and the medical malpractice bill, started his e-mail with "I must apologize for not having communicated this long." Although any news from Iloilo regarding the Alumni Homecoming, or any news from Iloilo for that matter, is very much welcome, I completely understand Dr. Binayas and there's really nothing to apologize for. A lot of our co-alumni and readers are so used to updates on this site, a few have already e-mailed if they missed the news about the Alumni Homecoming last November 29, 2002. No, you did not miss anything. Let's wait until Dr. Binayas or anybody sends us some news when he gets a little room to breathe. He is a busy (single) man, you know.

     "Anyway," continued Dr. Binayas in his e-mail, "I'm not going to start a lengthy, catch-up letter either...as much as I would like to. Just busy with conferences, the PBL in school. In fact, I simply have too much to say about that no-brainer of a bill, my fingers have gone frozen stiff of rage! I hope to print the PCS's (Phil. College of Surgeon) stand on that stupid and (now) mothballed bill. That too should reflect my and most of our local surgeons' stand on the matter."

     Dr. Binayas also mentioned that the views of this writer had been cited by Atty. "Boy" Cabado in his lecture on Medical Malpractice during the Alumni Homecoming. How about that for some ego-booster, huh? Anyway, Dr. Binayas promised to send more details soon.

     I also received an unexpected e-mail from an old friend, and I don't mean age. I was so glad to hear from Dr. Galileo Pabalinas, who I have mentioned in my previous columns on Manapla and the former St. Joseph Hospital. Dr. Pabalinas was a consultant for Surgery then and I was with Internal Medicine but the camaraderie among doctors during our time was really extraordinary. Doc Pabs could not have said it better in his e-mail, "I had the best time of my life, of course with you guys. Spending the afternoon with bottles of San Mig. You enjoyed it the way I did." I have to add that when the tyangge ran out of San Mig, we had to settle for Beer na Beer.

     Anyway, Doc Pabs is still a part of Victorias Milling Company. "I'm the medical director of the clinic at Victorias mill site," he wrote. "Not much work though and all administrative. I have only three company doctors working on contract for a year renewable. I am connected with all hospitals in Bacolod having active status at Riverside and Corazon Locsin Regional Hospital. It is not the same as when you were all here, when money was quite easy and San Mig was free flowing!"

     I could not agree more, Doc.

     One of my regular e-mailers, Dr. Rey Pineda wrote, "I beg to disagree with your Anonymous critic. How could the politicians find (your writings) offensive when aside from Velveeta for brains - as you put it, they have Armadillo hide for skin. That's why this country is going nowhere because of their endless politicking, infighting and endless thirst for power and more power."

     "Although nothing has been heard of the medical malpractice bill lately, it might resurrect in the near future and just jolt us all again. Another whammy coming the doctors way is the implementation of the VAT (Value Added Tax) to be levied on professionals and skilled workers. The artists are up in arms already. What about us?"

     Please don't take this like I'm discrediting Filipinos because even though I now live in the U.S., I am still a Filipino at heart. I watch TV Patrol and Headlines everyday on ABS-CBN as well as read the online versions of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Star daily without fail. Issues like the VAT and the Cha-cha make my stomach turn each time and I regret to say this to my countrymen, with all due respect - the people you have elected into office are all clueless, hopeless, bumbling idiots!

     I do appreciate all the e-mails asking questions regarding Medical Malpractice, but, please, whether you are a high school student or finishing law school, please include your name and if possible, your school. I know your inquiries are well-intended but if you only include your e-mail, I may not be able to answer you.

     If you want my views, I could not possibly add more to what I have already written. Feel free to quote anything from my columns as long as you acknowledge your source, if not me, at least this site. If you write in your term paper, thesis, or whatever, that politicians are clueless, hopeless, bumbling idiots! and pass it as yours, I assure you, you will fail.

     I talked over the phone recently to Dr. Victorino Salcedo, a classmate and a good buddy from medical school, and, of course, he had always some interesting things to share. Dr. Salcedo, based in Iloilo City, is now a general surgeon connected with the hospital and the College of Medicine. We talked about basketball, medical malpractice, among other things. And then he mentioned about "Reebok" getting married.

     "Reebok" who?

     When we were still students and single (and please don't take this against us), we used to give nicknames to other students whose names we didn't know. We used to help the Registrar's office during enrolment time, and sometimes, we couldn't help (especially if you were Dr. Salcedo) if somebody demanded a lot of attention. We were too scared to ask for names, I guess, so when we talked, we used nicknames. Please take note that I'm using all past tense here, so no malice please, just plain, old storytelling.

     There was this student who was wearing pink "Reebok" shoes. She was, dare I say it, cute, nice, shy, and above all, caught our roving eyes. Of course, this was before Dr. Salcedo met a classmate who was from U.P. and before I met a nurse from IDC. Although we came to know this student and her name years later, the nickname "Reebok" stuck.

     Speaking of nicknames, there were other interesting nicknames. There was "The Crying Lady", and her boyfriend automatically was called "The Crying Man". There's "Miss Harmful", and of course, "Mr. Harmless". There were other nicknames, some of which I can't possibly share. Who knows, you had a nickname, too.

     I should put this in Milestones, but I'll let her batchmates do that. A clue - she's now a pediatrician. Congratulations to "Reebok" on her recent wedding.

     Am I alone here when I say I easily get offended when somebody (especially another nationality) makes fun of my language or the way I speak English? Probably not. It's probably less offensive or not at all when an Ilonggo or a Tagalog makes fun of my Karay-a but it's totally different when an American makes fun of it, isn't it?

     That is why I was not surprised at the reaction of the Chinese-American community when basketball player Shaquille O'Neal jokingly mocked the Chinese language when asked to say something about Chinese player Yao Ming. I have listened to the Shaq interview and I don't really consider it offensive or a racial slur for that matter, considering it was a light-hearted interview and Shaq is a funny man. O'Neal said, "Tell Yao Ming, 'Ching chong yang wah ah soh." Many in the Chinese community have wondered why O'Neal was so insensitive and also why his remarks haven't dominated the mainstream media. "If a white player had ... made monkey sounds to taunt a black player, it would have been a national controversy," Irwin Tang wrote in AsianWeek, as quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times. O'Neal subsequently apologized for the remarks.

     If somebody makes fun of me by mocking my language and laughing at the way I pronounce a few English words, will I be offended? Of course, I will. In fact, it happened to me personally and I nearly got an officemate in trouble.

     No offense to Mrs. de la Llana who was my speech professor in College but I am not that good in speaking the language when I first stepped on American soil (I'm not good until now but I'm improving). I wish I could only write everything I say. This officemate, who was born speaking English (that's why I don't understand why he couldn't get his subject and verb to agree when writing a memo), would often laugh with matching "what? what? what? followed by an equally annoying look. Then he would go on and mock what he thought was Filipino language. Offensive? You bet.

     Of course, he would say sorry at the end and add he was only joking, etc. But I did not think they were funny so I talked to my Manager, and the moron stopped the "jokes" after that.

     Here's the moral of the story, boys and girls - never make a joke with references to one person's ethnicity or race. America is home to a lot of races and ethnicities, consider the sensitivities of each one. A lot of people had to learn this the hard way. Many have been fired from work. A lot of athletes have lost sponsorships or advertising deals just because of such "stupid" remarks.

     Jay Coakley, a sports sociologist at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, told the Chicago Sun-Times O'Neal's remarks were not trivial. "There is a long history in this country of marginalizing Chinese and Japanese people by making fun of their language," he said. "They have felt this history on a very personal level and are tremendously sensitive to anyone who mimics their language in a nonsensical way. When Shaq gets away with this, it opens the door for people who don't understand the history. What if people start coming up with a language-mimicking chant to bug Yao to keep him from making free throws? There are a lot of difficulties in two different cultures understanding each other. But I think a lot of Asian people don't understand this kind of joke." By the way, Yao Ming has not shown anger. He even invited Shaq to dinner when the Lakers played at Houston.

     Some will say this is just a case of overreaction. Maybe. But in this era of political correctness, you'd rather be safe. Besides, racial jokes are never funny.

     When a friend who was on vacation here from the Philippines several months ago confided to me that he was scolded by his hosts because he made a joke about monkeys when they visited the zoo, I just shrugged and told him, "Yes, that's a racist joke." For those who are planning a vacation to the U.S., never stereotype individuals, never look at a person differently just because his or her skin is of a different color. Just imagine if people look at you the same way.

     Since I am the only Shaq fan at the company I work for and probably in the whole state of Illinois, that officemate (who, by the way, is still a friend) tried one over me. "Hey, did you hear Shaq's comment about Yao Ming? That's why I'll never be a fan of Shaq. He is a racist." To which I replied, "Shaq's remarks may be stupid but I'll stop short of calling him a racist. Because if I do that, I'd call you a racist, too. What's the difference between Shaq making fun of Yao Ming's language and you making fun of mine?"

     End of discussion.

     This week's FINAL WORD comes from Dr. Noel Binayas:

     "I did not sing "La Bamba" but was voted "Darling of the Crowd!"

     Was it because you did not sing "La Bamba" (again)?

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     The author's e-mail address is at drgarcia@wvsumedaa.com

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