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| Photo courtesy of Twitter and ABS-CBN |
Manila, Philippines - British national and self-proclaimed Filipino-at-heart Malcolm Conlan, in a Facebook post gave top five reasons why he believes that the world needs Filipinos.
Conlan, a proud supporter of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, is widely known among the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) especially in the United Kingdom (UK).
In his recent social media post, Conlan aired his opinion on the altercation between a Makati Police officer and a high-end Makati village resident named Javier Salvador Parra after the police officer warned the latter's housemaid for not wearing a mask while outside their house which led to a heated argument between the two.
In a captured video that went viral on social media, the cop is seen arresting Parra by tackling him to the ground. It is unclear if the policeman read Parra his rights before attempting to make the arrest.
So here is Conlan's advice to Mr. Parra regarding his uncalled for attitude towards a police officer as a person in authority and that for not minding the ECQ rules. Read Conlan’s Open letter below:
An Open Letter to Mr Parra, (the foreigner who was being disrespectful to the Philippine National Police)
Dear Mr Parra,
I hope you don’t mind, but following the recent incident where you were captured on video arguing with the police outside your residence, which has since been incorrectly reported by Rappler (they only reported some of the story and left out key facts as the video which had been circulating makes clear) I thought I would write to you with my opinion on the said matter.
1. I appreciate that you employ some Filipinos in the country through your business. This is good and I have no doubt those Filipinos are grateful and your efforts are helpful to the country. I am sure though that you are also benefiting from locating your business in the Philippines otherwise, you wouldn’t be there.
2. I have always taken the view, using the old expression ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’. Meaning to say, when you are visiting or in your case living in a foreign country, please respect the laws, traditions and norms of that country, or else go back to your own country.
3. The PNP have a job to do, which is to enforce and uphold the law. The ECQ or ‘Enhanced community quarantine’ has been put in place for the protection of ALL people in the Philippines, yes that includes you, your family and your employees. The reason why the Philippines has such a low death rate as compared to other countries is because of these, some would say draconian, but I believe entirely necessary measures to help spread the COVID19 virus infecting more people.
4. The PNP also have a very difficult job to do in relation to enforcing the requirement for people to wear masks outside their homes or in public. Please don’t make their job even harder. As an employer in the Philippines, particularly as a foreigner, I would have expected you to encourage all your staff to respect local laws and customs, after all, the only way your business as well as the businesses of others can return to normal, is to respect these emergency measures to ensure we can flatten the curve and thus help to prevent further deaths and an eventual return to normality.
5. I have studied your actions very carefully and I strongly believe that the officers involved exercised maximum restraint, I am quite sure that they gave you an even bigger rope or space to vent your frustrations and have your say, BUT I believe you took advantage of that and eventually hanged yourself.
I counted at least 10 occasions where you used very abusive language to the officers concerned, on the one hand, you kept on calling the officers ‘kuya’ when in fact you appear older than them, I know why you were using it, you were hoping to appear to show some respect by using those words. But your disgusting language, cancelled out that incorrect terminology you used. Sir would have been much more appropriate.
6. I firmly believe that your actions were irresponsible and your behaviour was rude and deserves appropriate sanctions. Rappler seem to have only reported half the story, they didn’t state in their report that you had been so abusive to the officers who had just been doing their jobs.
Finally sir, I understand that you have launched an action against the PNP, well I hope you drop that action and apologise for your rudeness and disrespectful manner you handled the situation, particularly in front of your wife too, I have no doubt in my mind that she was probably embarrassed by your actions.
As a foreigner myself, who visits the country often, I am of the view that it is a privilege to visit the Philippines and be allowed into the country. This is something I respect and am grateful for. I believe you should be too.
Thanks sir,
Kind regards
Malcolm Conlan
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