Ask ABC to put Pinoy doctors in its hit series

December 4, 2007  --  Got something to say?
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By Rodney J. Jaleco
WASHINGTON D.C. - A Filipino doctor or nurse in ABCs hit series Greys Anatomy”?
Filipino American community leaders told ABCs top executive that could be a way to mitigate the racial slur against Filipino doctors in another ABC show, Desperate Housewives.

Leaders of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) met with ABC Entertainment president Stephen Steve McPherson at the companys Burbank, California headquarters last week.

The fact that he met with us shows he respects the Filipino community, NaFFAA communications director Jon Melegrito pointed out.

McPherson, the genius behind such top-rating shows as Lost, Ugly Betty”, Dancing with the Stars, Pushing Daisies and many others, agreed to meet with the Fil Am leaders after an apparent insult against Filipino physicians in the Sept. 30 episode of Desperate Housewives.

When a gynecologist suggested Teri Hatchers character Susan might be reaching menopause, she said, Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure theyre not from some med school in the Philippines.”
The wayward script triggered an uproar in the Fil Am community, prompting ABC to issue an apology.

Mali talaga yung ginawa ng ABC (What ABC did was really wrong), Melegrito tells The Filipino Channels Balitang America. Even yung president ng ABC, Steve McPherson, siya mismo nagsabi (Even ABC president Steve McPherson admitted) it was a terrible mistake and it shouldnt have happened,” Melegrito recounts.

He said McPherson talked to everyone involved in the production of Desperate Housewives, including the shows scriptwriter Marc Cherry, and the networks standard practices board that was supposed to catch and prevent the airing of racist remarks.

We were assured na kinausap nila lahat (that they talked to everybody) and I think this gives us the confidence that this will not happen again,” Melegrito averred.

Melegrito was joined in the meeting by other top NaFFAA officials, including Vice-Chair Rozita Lee, Executive Director Amado Doy Heredia and Dr. Frank Quevedo.

Aside from apologizing and deleting the offensive scene in all Desperate Housewives platforms, ABC also offered to carry out an outreach program for Filipino talents in the U.S.

If we have more Filipinos in positions in front and behind the camera, this will reduce the likelihood of this type of stereotyping happening again,” he explained.

This is the kind of relationship we are building with ABC. This is not just a one-shot thing. There is going to be an ongoing conversation that hopefully will provide more benefits for the community in terms of job opportunities; in terms of being positioned in places where we could have more Filipino faces on the screen,” Melegrito said.

Since Filipino doctors were victims of the slur in Desperate Housewives”, the talk with McPherson veered towards Greys Anatomy and its hospital setting.

Theyre always looking for diverse talent kasi (because) as far the networks are concerned diversity is good business,” he explained.

Sa discussion namin (In our discussion) with Steve, we said, hey look the reality is that in all the nations hospitals, 80 percent are Filipino doctors and nurses. Theyre chief surgeons, head nurses but the reality is you dont see them on the screen.

In hospital shows like Greys Anatomy or ER we need to see more Filipino faces because in reality theyre the ones running the hospitals,” Melegrito said.

He believes the ABC executives emerged from the meeting more aware that they need to represent Filipinos in the show”.
The American Physicians Association put the number of Philippine-trained physicians in 2005 at 19,000. Another study by the American Medical Association showed the Philippines is a top source of doctors (about 9 percent of total foreign-trained physicians in the U.S.) and dentists (11 percent), next only to India. The Philippines outranks all other countries as a supplier of highly skilled nurses in the U.S. (43 percent in 2000).

They said, okay were committed to hiring more Filipino talent but you have to give us a data base. So thats what were going to do - build a data base of names, skills and contact numbers of Filipino talent that we could give them, because thats what they need.”

So the next time they need a show-runner or writer or director and they look at the Filipino data base, and they see that there are in fact qualified Filipino talent, then they may say yea we want this,” Melegrito says excitedly.

They will be running against the clock to build the data base. Melegrito said ABC will be staging auditions specially for Filipino and Fil Am talents in the West and East Coast from January to March next year.

LAS VEGAS The Summit Meeting of Fil-Am Leaders held recently at the Caesars Palace was hosted by the UST Medical Alumni Association of America (USTMAAA) and organized by a core group composed of Dr. Stella Evangelista, Dr. Eustaquio Abay, Dr. Joe Evangelista, Dr. Primo Andres and Dr. Dante Gapultos. About 98 delegates representing at least 12 medical associations and community groups who presented their position statements.

Dr. Nelson Bocar from Oklahoma City said that without a meaningful apology and the correction of a slur, what ABC is offering still reeks not so much of ignorance now but of arrogance still.

In her greetings to the delegates, Los Angeles Philippine Consul-General Mary Jo Aragon acknowledged that many Filipino-American associations remain unconvinced and unsatisfied with the steps taken by ABC/Walt Disney Co. to rectify the situation.

Rozita Lee, the Vice-Chair of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), expressed the NaFFAA view that ABC acted in good faith by issuing the networks apology immediately and promptly deleting the offensive remark and by committing to building a relationship with the Filipino American community that will open doors to Filipino talent.

In a position statement entitled Engaging Corporate Media which was distributed to all the delegates, NaFFAA spokesman Jon Melegrito described his meetings with ABC including the last one on November 6 in Burbank, California with Steve MacPherson, ABC President of Prime Time Entertainment, who admitted that the joke was a terrible mistake and who assured NaFFAA that such jokes would not happen again.

Despite the fact that no commitment was extracted nor offered by ABC about any on air apology, which Melegrito believes to be an unrealistic goal, he nonetheless urged the Filipino community to see the big picture” and accept what ABC has offered.

Dr. Lee Llacer from the Philippine Medical Association in Washington DC reported that he attended a meeting of NaFFAA officers with ABC Vice President for Diversity Robert Mendez on October 9 to discuss ABCs initiatives. I went to that meeting to talk about ABC kicking the dog,” Dr. Llacer said, and I felt that everybody left the meeting getting what they wanted except the dog.”

The position statement of the host organization presented 4 proposals to ABC-Disney: air a sincere, genuine apology as soon as possible; involve ABC personnel in sensitivity training and cultural awareness; present TV medical shows that depict a true representation of the medical personnel in most hospitals; and recognize and acknowledge the positive impact and huge contributions of Filipino medical practitioners in the US.

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Posted by News Team | Filed Under Around DC 

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