An Open Letter to Alec Baldwin

Dear Mr. Baldwin,

I am not angry at you at all.  Your statement made on television might be true, depending on whose point of view it is.  But before you probably blurt out another degrading remark about Filipinos in the future, consider the following facts:

•    In 1898, Spain ceded all of its colonies in the amount of $ 20,000,000 to the U.S. Government.  Historically speaking, those countries bought by the U.S., including the Philippines, were treated like mail-order-brides at the turn of the century.  You see, Mr. Baldwin, your government made us what we are right now.  It is entirely not our fault.

•    Since 1898, the American government has been raping our natural resources, some of our women, and some of our children.  The American government’s treatment of our country as a political prostitute is well known through the decades.

•    The Philippines remains a poor country because a lot of American companies has profited doing business in this country while its workforce, the Filipino people, benefited less and sometimes not at all.  Your government, Mr. Baldwin, beguiled us with the promise of progress but instead buried us with millions of debts disguised as foreign economic aid.

•    Since the American government taught us English, they had also encouraged us to live and pursue the American Dream in the United States, and yet thousands of my countrymen has been offered demeaning work opportunities and are discriminated while pursuing those dreams.  

•    Since majority of the Filipino people has been continually neglected by its very own government because of greed and corruption that we have learned and copied from American friends, advisers, and capitalists for decades, the poorest of the poor have no choice but to PROSTITUTE ourselves in the hopes of improving our lives so that our families would have something to eat by dinner time.

So you see, Mr. Baldwin, what you - even Ms. Teri Hatcher and hundreds other American that have perceived our race and our country in a negative manner - it is actually the fault of your American government.  People like you, who have never set foot in our country, talk of us as low-esteemed citizens of this world for the very simple reason that your government has been treating us like pigs even here in our own country ever since the Americans fooled us with their mock battle with the Spaniards more than a hundred years ago.

And yes, we admit, we are sensitive.  Whatever negative comments we will hear from other people who do not know us, we will all take it personally as a proud race.  We never dreamed of becoming domestic helpers, prostitutes, beggars, and mail-order brides in the first place.  WHATEVER WE ARE RIGHT NOW HAS REFLECTED ON HOW OUR MASTER COLONIZERS HAVE TREATED US OVER THE DECADES.  As I have stated at the start, Mr. Baldwin, I am not angry at you.  Maybe next time when you answer Mr. Letterman or any pertinent questions asked to you, you can state a very precise answer like this:

“I’m thinking about getting a Filipina mail-order bride, after all, our American government taught them how to sell themselves…”