Charles Teves
Filipinos felt disrespected after a Thai newspaper headline said that Filipino teachers had just arrived in Bangkok from “the land of COVID-19.”
The headline came about after the Philippines took over Indonesia as the Southeast Asian country with the most coronavirus cases, while Thailand is considered as one of the more successful nations in responding to the pandemic.
“The Philippine Embassy wishes to express its deep dissatisfaction over the characterization in the headline of the Philippines in relation to the return of the teachers,” Philippine Consul General to Bangkok Val Simon Roque said in an open letter to the newspaper’s editor in chief.
“The characterization is inappropriate, insensitive, and unhelpful at a time when all of us, brothers and sisters in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are closely cooperating to deal with the new and unforeseen challenges brought about by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic,” Consul General Roque added.
Thai Rath, the local newspaper had the attention of the Philippine embassy after publishing the headline.
A Thai journalist confirmed that the headline was talking about the 165 Filipino teachers who arrived in Bangkok from “the land of COVID-19.”
Richard Barrow, a British expat who has a verified Twitter account and has been living in Thailand for over two decades asked, “Why do they need to insinuate that they come from the ‘land of COVID-19’?”
However, it was actually Singapore that first tagged the Philippines as ‘the new COVID hot spot’.
Warnings of xenophobia and racial discrimination to people who belong to countries with surging COVID-19 cases have also been given by human rights advocates.
The Philippines has over 150,000 cases as of this writing.
Filipinos weren’t too happy with the headline.
Uhm this is wrong i mean not all thai community say that the Philippines is the land of covid-19 its the thai-rath publisher that's the one to blame i get it you're angry dahil sinabihan tayo ng ganon pero bakit dapat sabihin yung mga ganyang words — pic.twitter.com/IkSokd0wM3
— mc (@gayforgunAtp) August 10, 2020
a newspaper publication company in thailand just named philippines as the "land of covid-19"
me as a filipino: pic.twitter.com/cntDMKgEBn
— Yuan (@yuangonzalex) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/edssmiranda/status/1292807165166489600
https://twitter.com/SheisAengel/status/1292811028582076416
https://twitter.com/Cockshapedice/status/1292840659078901760
https://twitter.com/iwuvpancake_/status/1292818270588768256
https://twitter.com/kristian_alnas/status/1292853874181586945
From the “Land of Covid-19 Philippines”.
This is the result of an incompetent adminisration. No concrete plan, no proper action just waiting for the vaccine to come.
ctto. pic.twitter.com/2TlDKdcvrU— Pepc Paloma (@Pepsicollagen) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/rodmagaru/status/1293045970436075523
Japan –Land of the Rising Sun
South Korea –Land of the Morning Calm
Thailand –Land of Smiles
Bhutan –Land of the ThunderDragon
Mongolia –Land of the Blue Sky
Iceland –Land of Fire and Ice
Venezuela –Land of GracePHILIPPINES- LAND OF COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/9ANVRLokVb
— Jim,RN (@JimGumboc) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/agi_lliby/status/1292822663442788353
https://twitter.com/Trojeanwar/status/1292833633242198018
https://twitter.com/rayyysanchez/status/1292827894054412295
