Philippines a beautiful woman
I REFER to the article P.I. Blues (South China Morning Post, October 16).
I would like to compliment Mr Michael Bociurkiw for his informative piece on the problems that plague the Philippines. However, I find his supposition about the jeepney revealing the lazy character of the Filipinos to be inappropriate.
The average Filipino commuter dislikes the jeepneys in the same manner that Hong Kong people feel about the local taxi service. In the past, there have been calls from the public to phase out these dinosaurs or at least scale down their numbers.
Unfortunately, the Government lacks the political will and resources to provide commuters with a better alternative. I cannot comprehend how in the same article Mr Bociurkiw acknowledges the hardships, family separation and sometimes ill-treatment that thousands of Filipino workers endure for an overseas job, yet also imply that these same people are lazy.
I prefer to believe that this was merely an oversight on the part of the author. I am also confident that your readers, to paraphrase Mr Bociurkiw, will choose not to focus on the pimple that is the jeepney but rather appreciate the beautiful woman that is the Philippines.
P. MEDRERO To Kwa Wan
