Press Release
March 31, 2009

Zubiri condemns Chip Tsao, asks POEA to look into the plight
of Pinoy workers

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri today filed a resolution condemning Chinese national Chip Tsao for his article entitled "The War At Home" and which called the Philippines a "nation of servants" despite an apology issued by the publisher and editors of Asia City Publishing Group (ACPG) to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Zubiri, through Senate Resolution No. 955, also asked the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POE) to look into the plight of Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

The Majority Leader filed the resolution after Tsao claimed that although Philippines is allied with the United States, Hong Kong, however, is holding hostage 130,000 Filipina workers into their homes.

He asked the POEA to look into the mistreatment and sufferings of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that are not only confined to physical abuse but also emotional abuse like public humiliation and verbal harassment.

The senator said "any patriotic Chinese man should not be giving derogatory remark against any nationality including Filipinos in particular" noting "China's economy was built on the remittances of their overseas contract workers and from the China Towns all over the world."

He likewise stated that for the record "China was once the largest producer of overseas contract workers (OCWs) who constructed the train stations in the US, who worked in the mines of Central Asia and the country that established the most number of so-called China Town in the world."

"The 21st century should be an era of tolerance and diplomacy. Gone are the days that we threaten each other by military might. Globalization is the by-word, so, if this writer (Chip Tsao) feels that the OFWs of Hong Kong should be all kicked out, then there should be reciprocity by banning all Chinese-made products in the Philippines," he said.

He also challenged Tsao and other Chinese national of his kind to look into their past and see there is no shame being OFWs. "He should do his research and he might find that his ancestors were OCWs, as well.

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