That was how I felt some days ago, (15 March to be exact), while I was lining up at Cebu Pacific counter 21 (which had an "Open" sign) at the domestic airport. As instructed, I arrived two hours before boarding time, was armed with the proper IDs and had braced myself to go through rigorous security measures, which turned out to be disappointingly lax.

There were two ladies before me , one was already checking in when I arrived. Surely, she was an OFW as she had several cardboard boxes securely tied and properly labeled .It took some time for the Cebu Pacific agents (there were two of them, a young lady and a young man) to weigh all that stuff and the queue was getting longer. Suddenly, from the end of the line, a Korean-looking man with a bunch of passports went directly to the counter to check in and before addressing the male agent he half turned and said a blanket , "Sorry.." to all those patiently waiting in line; four other Koreanlooking males joined him as soon as they saw that the Cebu Pacific agent ignored all the Filipinos quietly and patiently waiting in line.

What was going on? Isn’t anyone going to call the attention of the Cebu Pacific agent and complain about such arbitrary goings- on? I approached the counter to politely ask, "Bakit nauuna sila (the Koreans)? Di ba, kanina pa kami nakapila rito? Bakit inuna mo sila?" I did not even rate an answer. The Cebu Pacific agent completely ignored me even as I told him (very calmly ) that I would have to report his behavior to the airline head office. Couldn’t he have told those Koreans to wait in line just like every body else?

Do you think a group of Filipino travelers could have pulled that stunt at any airport in Korea ? They would probably be shoved back to the end of the line and reprimanded publicly with ugly words. How could this young Filipino ticket agent be so spineless? It was depressing, to say the least.

I went back behind the yellow line and suggested to the lady passenger who was ahead of me to check in as it was rightfully her turn. At this point, the female Cebu Pacific agent motioned to me (rather feverishly) to approach the counter so she could check me in , ignoring the passenger who had come before me. Obviously she had missed the point; why should she attend to me first just because I was upset at her wimpy co-worker who all but groveled at the sight of those aggressive foreigners? I had to remind her: "Nauna siya [the lady passenger] sa akin, dapat siya ang asikasuhin mo." By this time, the wimp had whisked his impatient Koreans to counter 26, safely out of the firing line.

When it was my turn, I asked the female Cebu Pacific agent for the name of her co-worker who had treated Filipinos so shabbily but, she said she barely knew him. However, she did not realize that I was booked for Laoag the counter of which had opened in the meantime. It was precisely number 26, from where the spineless one had dispatched his dear Koreans. I had to check in there because passengers going to Laoag had to be weighed with their luggage. So, I caught up with the wimp after all and could ask for his name-- Jewish Romulo C. Batiduan. Yes, his first name is Jewish. I hope the Easter bunny brings him a set of sturdy vertebrae which he badly needs. (gemma601@yahoo.com)