I REFER to the unfortunate saga of Therese Necio-Ortega (South China Morning Post, August 5 and 8) in which it was reported that ''she believed she had been discriminated against by the police officers involved because she was a Filipina''. While it is easy for the Filipino community to lay all the blame on Hong Kong people for this discriminatory attitude, they only need to stroll around the MTR entrance by Statue Square on any day of the week to find out why this state of affairs has come about. It may be true that certain Hong Kong people may be ''coarse and vulgar'', but when abroad, either as immigrants or restaurant workers, we at least have the dignity not to set up shop in a public place to paint our hand-and toe-nails. Such activities, in Hong Kong Chinese society, should be confined to the privacy of a home (even if the home is just a bunk-bed) or a beauty salon. To conduct them on a busy street only attracts curious and sometimes disapproving glances. It is claimed that more than 50 per cent of Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong are university graduates and because of the trouble-plagued economy at home they have to seek menial jobs abroad. Let us hope that the coarse and vulgar behaviour of a selfish minority does not continue to tarnish the image of the Filipino community at large. ANN CHOW Mid-Levels
