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Following the uproar over the racial punchline about Philippine medical schools in the latest episode of Desperate Housewives, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and the producers of Desperate Housewives series finally apologised a day after Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said that that dialogue is considered a racial slur. The apology was sent through ABS-CBN’s bureau in the United States and aired Thursday by its cable news channel, ANC.

As I have said earlier in my previous blog, for sure this issue would certainly create a stir. Actually stir is a subdued word for that, a storm should be the word. We cannot really downplay the power of the internet, and the power of blogging! Lots of fellow pinoy bloggers poured out their disgusto over the slur. The ABS station was flooded by calls from angry viewers and an online petition by a fellow pinoy blogger in New York, which raised more than 30,000 names, threatened to boycott the show.

After the DH apologized over their own brouhaha, they are now considering editing that controversial portion for future airing and DVD release - certainly the next best thing they should do! Damage control. Anyways, we can still watch that portion in Youtube, so I hope they will also do something about it, too.

I am not a medical professional. I would have been, if I didn’t change my course upon enrolment in college. I was about to enrol nursing in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), but I changed my mind before I filled out the form and immediately changed course to BS Chemical Engineering. I chickened out, because I heard the kick-out rate for nursing in PLM is high and chemistry was my most fave subject in highschool! Anyways, up to now I am still thinking if I made the right choice then. Well, maybe because I just realized since my family is planning to migrate in the next year or two, had I become a nurse I could still work there as a nurse. But since I am an engineer and though I finished my masters in the University of Melbourne, I am not so sure if I can get a job there based on what I have studied.

You see, when I was still in Melbourne and finishing my Master of Environment coursework, I tried applying for some jobs related to my course but no one got me, of course! Thanks to one Filipina who’s an engineer from Mapua, she recommended me to the hotel she’s been working for so I was able to work - as a housekeeper. She was the assistant manager of a hotel’s branch, but she got that position merely because the hotel owners usually hire husband-and-wife teams to manage a branch and her German husband is the general manager. Before that, she was also a housekeeper until she became a supervisor and eventually got married. On the other hand, a fellow Filipino scholar was able to work as a nurse in the Melbourne Royal Women’s Hospital while also finishing her masters in nursing. After she finished her studies, she came back to the Philippines and after a week here, flew immediately to the US to work.

I just wish to point out that our medical professionals, for example our nurses, when they go abroad they still get the decency to work as a nurse and have a very good pay, unlike those who come from other professions who have no choice but to have decent odd jobs! A good reason why there are thousands of nursing students now. Thinking of finally studying nursing also crossed my mind.

Anyways, maybe the producers/writers are not aware of the contribution that Filipino health practitioners have to the US. They should be! Just ironic because a day before the DH slur was flashed in news here in the Philippines, a Filipino nurse made to the headlines - Lily Maniquiz Lara was awarded as best nurse in the US by Advance for Nurses Journal in 2006. And I know there are still lots of amazing stories of Filipino professionals who made a name not just in the US but also in other parts of the world because of their intelligence and professionalism. Just a proof that our medical professionals are one of the best in the whole world.

I wish everything would be water under the bridge now.

Ooops, just one more thing, I just finished watching the whole season 3 of Desperate Housewives, and despite the recent hubbub, I will wait for its Season 4 - edited version, of course! Have a nice day everyone!!! Don’t worry, be happy!