We Filipinos continuously pride ourselves on our so-called “Filipino world-class hospitality” — we like to say that we’re the most hospitable race ever, always so generous to each and every one of our guests! Hence, it isn’t such a no-brainer why we believe our country is suited for tourism, as we go to lengths to make our visitors welcome during their stay.
And then, there’s our humor. As well-meaning as we may be, we Pinoys have a lot of self-deprecation in our humor, and so “teasing” someone about their physical attributes or characteristics (“Balyena”, “Baluga”, “Intsik baho” come to mind) is pretty much harmless. What we seem to be unaware of, however, is our tendency to be unintentionally casually racist and discriminating.
So it’s not so hard to see, really, when someone outside our culture comes to visit and comes across this aspect of our culture, it can be jarring and offensive. Take Youtuber Elayne Peddy from the United Kingdom, for example, who recently visited the beautiful island of El Nido, Palawan — named as the best island in the world– and though she found the Philippines to be a “truly beautiful country” with our blue waters and pristine natural resources… it wasn’t enough for her to refrain from referring to her trip to the country as her “worst holiday ever”, being called by locals as a “fat ugly monkey”, “big black fat girl”, among other names.
Watch the video here:
The Youtuber teared up in her video as she recalled being asked to “pay twice because I was fat, fat” and that she’s never been so disrespected in her life. Elayne also said that her trips to Cebu and Manila were fine, but the four days she spent in El Nido were the worst.
Whether this was just all a case of cultural difference or not, I’d like to offer my sympathies to Elayne over the mere fact that she had experienced discomfort during her stay in the country, as Filipinos are truly kind at heart.
Still, respect for one another should resonate above all.
Thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments!
So sorry for ur experience in El Nido Elayne,sad that there are still people who are mean n still not open minded that we are all the same regardless of race,color n religion ,pls stay are u are n don’t let what had happen change u ,not all filipinos are bad as those people there,Iwish ur video will reach the people in Palawan n do something about this n educated those bad human there!
that is so sad… very bad behaviour and disrespectful
She should have just left the place and choose not to go through the humiliation she said have caused her emotional distress from those bunch of local losers. Such a pity she has to go through that. MOST FILIPINOS are not like that. If she said something bad about some thing or someone while she was in El Nido, she surely will get all effin’ name shaming directed to her. Locals in any province especially in a tourist-populated areas in the Philippines are not publicly impolite with tourists unless you have said or done them wrong. So, I guess there is another side of this story that needs to be heard of. Mind you, this experience also happen elsewhere even to a Filipino tourist abroad (geez, I get one like that here in Australia sometimes just because I am Asian). People would often judge by your skin color than know you. I’d like to be fair and also hear what the local tourism authority have to say on this. And man, she got the views she hoped with this video na. 🙂 I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone anymore anywhere. Cheers!
It’s a blatant rude insult in any culture. Trying to justify it as “cultural difference” is just ignorant.
I feel sorry for those people who has done hideous things at her, perhaps they aren’t people at all. I love Elayne and you’re not a fat ugly monkey. I’m really sorry in behalf of those uneducated creatures.