desperate for a respectable image

I am not a particular follower of the show “Desperate Housewives” but if I am not mistaken, a Filipina was part of its cast about two weeks ago as shown on Studio 23. And guess what her role was: a maid.

And on its latest telecast in the US, the Philippine schooled doctors have now been ascribed to as mediocre by one of the desperate housewives, played by Teri Hatcher. I got to watch a a very short video of the show, thanks to You Tube and my hunch is that the specific episode could have been taped while the frenzy on the Nursing Board Exam was at its highest last year. Perhaps the writers heard about the scandal, and thought of innocently generalizing the whole medical profession having dirty rotten professionals, including doctors. In any case, we know it is not the fault of those who took the nursing exam, but heck the lazy and callous writers injected such “funny” details just to achieve some punch in their script lines.

But the reason could be worse. Maybe, despite our deep inclination to give a real good impression of how we are as a people, still the global perception is that we are a nation of cheats and liars. I am not about to rattle off a long laundry list of our mistakes, and the way we try to cover up such mistakes brought about by fraud, scams and deceit. You name the area, and I tell you a scandalous shenanigan in that area. Politics. Sports. Education. Entertainment.

Just the same, the comment is deplorable. Afterall, it is the desperate housewives' nation that has been counting on the Philippines to export its own medical laborers to their shores – from doctors, physical therapists to nurses - to the detriment of the health of our nation's very own citizens. Yet who knows - probably, it is the Pinoy hands that have made these desperate housewives’ boobs balloon and inflate. And because of the anasthesia, they were too groggy to have recognized the brown skinned Pinoy manhandling their worthy assets.

I agree as a nation, we need to assert ourselves and be indignant about this obvious booboo. Cheeky writers need not use that image of the country as full of charlatans and swindlers. Afterall, our very own desperate housewife, the figure of Imelda and her shoes has been more than enough.