American National Killed in the Philippines for Refusing to Buy Filipinos Drinks

Disturbing news concerning a murdered American in Negros Occidental, the province just north of own Negros Oriental.  According to all reporting outlets (few and far between as always here), a 57 year old American who was in the process of adopting a Filipino child was summarily shot in the head after refusing to buy beers for two Filipinos. 

Shortly after 10 PM on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, the American, Eric Hendrickson was having a drink in a restobar in Silay City.  Two Filipinos who were strangers to Mr. Hendrickson approached the American and asked him to buy them beers.  According to witnesses, Mr. Hendrickson refused their request politely, but despite this, the two Filipinos commenced to insult him in Illongo, a local dialect that the American apparently understood. Mr. Hendrickson then allegedly exchanged heated words with the two Filipinos.  The American started to walk away from the argument when one of the locals – seeming to take offense – decided to pull out a pistol and shoot the American in the head three times.  Mr. Hendrickson was then taken to a local hospital where he was (not surprisingly) declared dead on arrival.

The two shooters, 18 year old Neil Brian Corseno and his 40-year-old uncle Gilbert Apellido fled the murder scene but were captured within minutes by Silay City PNP.  Both Filipinos were noticeably intoxicated.  Recovered also was a .38 caliber revolver and five spent shell casings.

The family of Mr. Hendrickson reports that he was in the city while processing adoption paperwork for an orphan child, Jeremiah, in order to bring him to the United States. 

Since the brutal shooting, the family has launched an appeal to repatriate Mr. Hendrickson’s body to the United States and complete the adoption process.  A link to the GoFundMe page can be found down below in the video description box.  The couple’s niece, Heather Nemec, who set up the GoFundMe, stated “My aunt and uncle had always wanted children but due to issues beyond their control they were unable to conceive. So they turned towards adoption in my aunt’s birthplace in the Philippines where they fell in love with a little boy [named Jeremiah] who was given up at birth.  Erik and Vicky loved Jeremiah so much but to get him here they needed one of them to stay behind to be able to do the legal adoption via Philippines’ adoption processes. Now Jeremiah’s adoptive mother is scrambling to get him adopted by herself and left having to deal with the unexpected murder of her husband half way across the world. I am asking for help for my aunt and for Jeremiah who is in the middle of the adoption process. Bringing Erik home will cost almost $8,000, paying for a funeral will be thousands more.  Thank you for anything you can spare. Any money raised will go towards funeral expenses, bringing Erik home, legal fees incurred by the murder, full adoption of Jeremiah and help for Erik’s widowed wife.”

You can find Heather’s GoFundMe page HERE.  

My Take/ Two Centavos

OK, keep in mind that what follows is simply my own personal observations and opinions.  There are sometimes patterns to such incidents, so let’s try to break them down a bit.

Balat Sibuyas – “Onion skin.”  Filipinos can be notoriously thin skinned when it comes to confrontation or insults, whether they be real or simply perceived.

Amor Propio – This term is basically “love/respect for self” but can also be seen as an amalgamation of Asian “face” and Spanish machismo. 

Hiya – Hiya is shame brought about by a violation of one’s amor propio.

So basically, the insulted American returned them in kind which violated the Filipino’s amor propio (face), bringing on hiya (shame). The overly sensitive Filipino, having had his onion skin (balat sibuyas) peeled away, then saw no alternative but to kill the offensive foreigner.

Odd, right?  Well, also keep in mind the following:

Emotional Hemophilia:  Filipinos sometimes have a tendency to overreact to certain situations, especially in the heat of the moment.  In short, their response to a scenario might be a lot more emotional or forcible than is actually justified considering the circumstances.  The murder of Mr. Hendrickson is a good example of this:  Words are exchanged and the offended Filipino overreacts, pulls out a pistol and shoots the American in the head. 

Asian Flush:  A good number of Asians lack the enzyme necessary to efficiently break down alcohol.  When they drink, the get drunk extremely fast, experience hot flashes/hot skin (hence Asian Flush) and usually end up getting sick. In short, some Asians simply can’t handle their alcohol well.  Add in a propensity for high alcohol content drinks (Red Horse, rhum, etc.), and this can make for a volatile mix.  Read more about Asian flush HERE.  

Foreigner Resentment:  This is something that is not discussed all that often but it is something to keep in mind.  Whether you want to believe it or not, some Filipinos actually resent foreigners coming to live or reside long term in their home country.  Look at it this way and simply reverse the roles:  If the US was a Third World/poor country and a bunch of ‘wealthy’ Filipinos were coming there, throwing their money around, corralling up all our beautiful women, and seeming to live without consequence, I’m sure there would be a wee bit of resentment against them as well.  Again, this is not something that is often talked about, but it is something to always keep in mind – especially around Filipinos who have been drinking.

Guns:  There are a LOT of guns in the Philippines.  A good number of them are illegally sourced and the city of Danao on Cebu Island is famous for producing these paltik (counterfeit) guns. They are cheap and the police confiscate thousands of them every year.  Unfortunately though, their efforts do little to curtail the availability of concealable firearms.  If you want to read an interesting article on the illegal gun trade in the Philippines, please click HERE.  

OK, that’s enough on this.  Condolences to Mr. Hendrickson’s family and our sincere hope that they can repatriate the body and complete the adoption process on young Jeremiah.  This is a horrible situation, but maybe the completed adoption can be the one good thing that comes of this.  

Just Three Days Earlier

Meanwhile, police from the nearby town of Sipalay City are investigating the murder of a 79-year-old Australian national just three days earlier on May 12.  The foreign pensioner, Teunis Van Dalen, had been living in Sipalay for twenty years. According to reports, an unknown individual forcibly entered his residence and stabbed him to death.  A robbery motive is suspected but has not been confirmed.

 

Your thought? Experiences?  Leave them down in the comment section. 

From the web:

Thom Morkin says

Our Dear friend Erik was in the process of adopting Jeremiah (JJ), and fulfilling a two year obligation of staying with JJ. I believe Erik had only six months left before he could bring JJ to the US. We are deeply saddened at the loss of our friend, and the loss of a father of a boy who was already given up for adoption. We know God will help Vickie raise JJ and be both Mother, and Father- that is how we are in America,

Senseless acts like this if from hatred, or drunken stupidity have no place in this world.