From: fcfeliza@athena.mit.edu (Francis C Felizardo)
Subject: Chinese Filipino kidnappings
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 19:46:16 GMT

Anyone reading SCF in the last few weeks would not have missed the 
discussion on Chinese Filipino kidnappings. Within the last week, people 
have complained that the nickel and dime-ing between Lew and me has made 
the articles unbearably long. I think their point is valid. So instead of 
responding to each and every point in Lew's last article that I disagree 
with, I have decided to summarize my views in an effort to refocus the 
discussion and keep the articles short.

My main points on the kidnapping issue.

1. I do not believe that racism is the motivation the behind well publicized 
kidnapping cases. The kidnappers are targetting the CFs they believe are 
rich because as Toots' put it so famously:

>Any form of organized 
>crime (which the FC kidnapping syndicate is certainly a part of) operates 
>on the basis of optimal policy -- maximum profit at minimum risk.  
>Rich FC families are the most lucrative targets for kidnappings in 
>the Philippines -- because of the impression that they pay up and they 
>do not file police reports.  Their ethnicity (and the consequent
>stereotype of paying up without cooperating with the police) 
>is merely incidental to the crimes. 

2. I do not think Ramos is ignoring the CF kidnapping problem. I do not 
think he is trying to punish the CF or trying to get them in line. 
He knows that law and order is important to the success of his 
administration. Since the kidnappers are targetting the children of 
the CF businessmen, an important force in the economy, and because 
the perception of social instability fostered by the kidnappings is 
driving investors away, Ramos has made solving this problem a top priority. 

3. The Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) headed by crime czar 
Joseph Estrada was created to supervise and coordinate the anti-crime 
effort. I think Ramos honestly believes that Estrada was the best person 
for the job. I also think the PACC has had successes. They have arrested 
at least 58 kidnapping suspects (UPI Oct 15 posted in SCF), killed 14 (AP 
Nov 11, published in the Nov 11-17 issue of Philippine News) and broken 
several crime rings. However, the true measure of success is in making it 
impossible for the criminals to pursue their crimes further. By this 
measure, Ramos' crime program is not successful. I do however think 
that the assessment that 'the crime program is so ineffective that it 
is practically nonexistent' is incorrect.

4. I also tried to put the CF kidnapping problem in perspective. While I 
agree that CFs are the main targets of kidnappers, one also has to see 
this as part of a larger Philippine society where crime is a problem. While 
the CF kidnapping issue has been getting a lot of publicity, there are 
other crime problems not specifically targetted against CFs, e.g., drugs, 
bank robberies, car thefts, extortions, police corruption, etc. which 
although do not get as much media space, are important problems. The crime 
problem is a threat to both CFs and nonCFs alike.

Collateral issues that came up:

1. Unfortunately, most people outside the Philippines have no other source 
of info except news reports reporting crimes and instability in the 
Philippines. Although the reports are accurate, it is hard to put them 
in perspective because we read about little else. 

Lew was right in pointing out that Miami Vice is fiction. However, the 
drug gangs, police corruption, violence, etc. portrayed in Miami Vice  
do exist in Miami. South Florida is/was an important entry point for drugs 
and drug gangs in the US. And if a person has no other access to US life 
and culture other than that program, he is likely to have a wrong opinion 
about the situation in the US. And to that extent, the analogy is valid.

I am not criticizing the media. I am just making a comment that one must be 
careful about drawing broad conclusions about how things are in the 
Philippines based on the little info that we get. I have always found that 
whenever I go home or whenever I talk to my folks back home, the reality is 
not as bad as the news makes it appear.

2. If anyone has election returns showing how the Chinatown district voted, 
then the debate between Lew and myself on whether or not CFs vote as a 
block can be settled. He claims they do. I claim that they don't. He has 
explained his reason. Mine is that the diversity of views that I have heard 
from CFs I have talked to leads me to believe that they do not. I am willing 
to change my mind if I can see stats that show me that I am wrong. 
Otherwise, there is no point in comparing the quality of the impressions 
he can get and the ones I get.

3. There was also a discussion on what a CF or Filipino-Chinese is. I define 
a CF as a Filipino with Chinese roots. If you are Filipino, you have Chinese 
roots, and if you feel that your Chinese roots is important in defining 
your character as a person, then you are CF. By my definition, Corazon 
Aquino is CF. She certainly considers herself one. I apologize to Lew for 
inadvertantly calling him a racist. I did not mean to. 

I do agree with him that the most important part of that label is 'Filipino' 
which is, first and foremost, what CFs and nonCFs are.

4. I also disagree with him that CFs as a community are easy to subjugate 
because they have no advocates. I do not think this is true. For example, 
the Federation of Fil-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and its member groups 
have been active in advocating the interests of the CF community. If 
anything else, they have one thing many advocacy groups do not have - 
financial/economic clout. 

So there! I think that pretty much covers much of our differences. I did 
not mention Estrada anymore because I think we both pretty much see eye 
to eye on him already. I think the rest of our differences are pretty much 
nickle and dime-ing between Lew and me. Hey! I'm just two lines over 100.

Comments welcome.

   - Francis


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