We don’t think much about foreigners among us unless we are married to one, related to one, are best friends or work closely with them. The general presumption is that all foreigners living in the Philippines are well off, living the life and have better access to whatever needs most people have. That is not always so. Many of them are regular everyday people who happen to discover the Philippines, love being in the Philippines or fell in love with someone in the Philippines. I for one am in the category having met my Dutch wife in the Philippines. This has made me more aware and sensitive to concerns of foreigners, not to mention the fact that as a Christian and Bible reader I know that God is equally concerned with “Sojourners,” “Strangers” or Foreigners. Recently I received a couple of email from foreigners living in the Philippines as Permanent Residents and one concern they expressed was about being included in the upcoming national vaccination efforts for COVID-19:
From Mr. Mark – “I hope you can help me as no one I ask can do so. I signed up for the Quezon City vaccine list and a week later was informed that although I qualified as a senior citizen I am not a Filipino citizen, (thus) I am not able to receive a shot. I am a permanent resident visa holder, married to a Filipina and have three children, who are all eligible but I do not qualify for any group in the list of twelve. I do not work for a company so no luck there getting a shot either, and I am sure that I am not the only non-Filipino who resides here who needs the vaccine. Is there any category of people they left off the list that I am not aware of?”
From RL – “In the issue of the access by foreigners here to COVID vaccine, as a long-time permanent resident and a senior I’m deeply concerned about this question. And I have no idea where to turn for an answer. Further, I think that there are not just hundreds but rather thousands of us aliens throughout the Philippines who have a stake in the matter. It’s hard to consider that we have been left out in the cold.”
Many foreigners have also availed themselves of the Special Resident Retirement Visa which requires them to keep $10,000-$50,000 in a bank deposit or invested in the Philippines and many will have paid or will still be paying PhilHealth contributions.
Having moved to the Philippines on a “permanent” basis, these folks have dislocated themselves from their registry back home or won’t be able to travel just to get vaccinated against COVID-19. In response to these queries, we reached out to the Department of Health and was told by no less than Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire, who is also the DOH spokesperson, that the inclusion of foreigners in the COVID vaccine program was just recently being taken up as of last week. During that interview on our program AGENDA on Cignal TV & Facebook, Usec Vergeire reassured all permanent residents that their concern would be seriously addressed, particularly since the World Health Organization has stressed that “no one should be left out.” The vaccination of “Foreigners” as a whole is outside the norm and requires clearance not just from the DOH and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) but also from the Department of Foreign Affairs or DFA.
While on the subject of foreign permanent residents and senior citizens, it has become apparent that an amendment or special order of some sort is needed to address the concern of foreign permanent residents who are not covered by the provisions for the “Senior Citizen card”. Most of them would like to have the card primarily for identification and verification requested by guards, banks, etc. Of course the small privileges such as discount on medicines for the elderly and for parking or essential trips definitely helps a lot. Since permanent residents are not and cannot be registered voters, they would automatically not be entitled to receive any cash gift or assistance, which is actually fine with most foreigners I speak with. God willing some of our hard working legislators who get to read this article would consider making the necessary insertion so that the elderly foreigners among us won’t be left out and so that LGUs won’t have to make up rules or scratch their heads not knowing what to do or what can be done. It’s a very small courtesy for a small population, especially for several who sent Filipinos to school, helped their communities and some who loved the country more than some Pinoys do.
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While working on this particular topic, I was intending to use the only Bible verse I remember where God had direct instructions on the treatment of foreigners, which is from the book of Exodus 23:9: “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger (foreigner): for you know the heart of a stranger, seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
As I reread the verse, I realized that perhaps one reason Filipinos are “hospitable” or have a reputation among foreigners as “warm” and “kind” is because much like the Jews who were slaves in Egypt for 430 years, the Filipinos were under Spanish colonization for 333 years, aside from the US and Japanese takeover.
Another thing I discovered is that at least 23 to 25 books of the Bible specifically address how we should treat foreigners with fairness, kindness and the same way we treat ourselves. That repetition is an act of emphasis and statement of how important the matter is.
One verse I particularly like is from Hebrews 13:2: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
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E-mail: utalk2ctalk@gmail.com