News Release
October 2, 2007
Reference: Rico Foz, Executive Vice President, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, email: nafconusa@yahoo.com
The national alliance of Filipino-American groups known as the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, or NAFCON, expressed outrage and offense over racist comments uttered by actress Teri Hatcher in the ABC primetime series “Desperate Housewives”.
In a recent episode, Susan (Hatcher) exaggerates after her gynecologist suggests she is nearing menopause by saying, “Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines.” A video clip can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
“These types of derogatory remarks are obviously upsetting because Filipino nurses and doctors are imported to the US out of this country’s grave need for quality healthcare professionals. Our community is at the backbone of the US healthcare system,” states NAFCON spokesperson Rico Foz.
NAFCON have been actively spearheading for the past 6 months a heated international campaign for the Sentosa 27++ nurses, healthcare professionals from the Philippines recruited by the fraudulent Sentosa Recruitment Agency under false contracts. The nurses also suffered backwages and other exploitative measures by the Sentosa management.
“We are proud of our Filipino nurses and other healthcare professionals. It is no secret that our country’s healthcare professionals are the best in the world. Often times, it is their employers here in the US, not foreign nurses, that bring down the quality of healthcare in this country,” Foz added, citing Sentosa’s imposition of a steep 60:1 patient to nurse ratio in Sentosa facilities.
“We demand an apology from ABC, the producers and writers of Desperate Housewives, whom we are certain have been serviced by quality Filipino nurses and doctors,” Foz ended.
