Proceso Flordeliz Jr., a citizen of the Philippines living in Edmonton, needed to renew his passport. He went to a special consular outreach event in Red Deer, Alberta. There he had some unhappy exchanges with Consul General to Vancouver Jose Ampeso. Unhappy enough that he finally began shooting video. That’s often a sign of customer dissatisfaction.

Flordeliz felt that Ampeso was trying to bully him into making a donation for typhoon relief, and even suggest that his visa renewal was conditional on the donation. That would be Typhoon Bopha, which killed hundreds of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. (Let me just say: deforestation and climate change.) Things escalated when Flordeliz jokingly offered to give a dollar to the fund. The word “cheap” was uttered.

Discontented with his consular experience, he posted about it on Tsikot (a not-exclusively-automotive online forum).

Flordeliz recounted the dialog he had with Ampeso, which included shouted phrases like “WAG KA NA PAG RENEW-HIN?” I gather this means something like “DO YOU REALLY WANT TO RENEW [your passport]?”

“Here I am just wanting my passport renewed and I have to deal with this arrogant, rude and drunk old man!” wrote Flordeliz. “Being berated as cheap by not giving ‘donation’ which God knows what will become of it. Being threatened of not having my passport renewed, which I most certainly know that I didn’t violate any laws to be denied of such. And being shouted at like a little kid in front of a crowd just smacks my morale to the g[r]ound.”

He put a link to the 28-second video, showing an agitated Ampeso. Here’s where I regret not knowing the language.

According to Filipino news sources, the video went viral. The last time I looked, that meant 21,647 views. The Foreign Affairs Secretary, Albert del Rosario, took note, saying Ampeso’s behavior on the tape looked “questionable.”

Ampeso issued a statement. He said he wasn’t drunk. Or nasty. “The 27-second video showing me talking in a loud voice to a passport applicant, which made some people conclude that I was rude and arrogant, does not tell the whole story,” it says. “[T]he video alone is not sufficient to draw any unreasonable conclusions, one way or the other; hence, it is unfair and unjust to use it to malign my character.” (How much information does one need to draw unreasonable conclusions? And the video is 28 seconds, not 27.)

Flordeliz “insulted me and poked fun at being requested to make a donation to the Philippine National Red Cross by offering to give a measly one dollar for this charitable cause.” That’s why Ampeso raised his voice.

He got upset while simply trying to explain to Flordeliz that he was asking him to make a donation to typhoon relief from the heart.

“It was purely voluntary,” Ampeso said. “It was not a requirement for passport application or rendition of any other consular services, contrary to what some allege. Thus, any allegation or insinuation that we were forcing people to give is entirely untrue.”

He pointed out that the this happened late in the day. “I was visibly tired after continuously assisting hundreds of passport applicants in the front line that afternoon, ending in fact at 10:30 p.m….”

“Be that as it may, I apologize to anyone who I may have offended. I assure you that I had only the best intentions in reacting in that manner.”

That’s a terrible apology.

He blames Flordeliz for being insulting, rude, heartless and cheeseparing. He pities himself for working so hard, and being misunderstood. And you know, who are you going to believe – good-hearted me or some lying videotape?

Then we come to the horrible old standby phrase, the one that apparently spontaneously appears on the tongues of people feeling defensive, “anyone who I may have offended.” Gee, if he did offend anyone, do we know the names of any of them? Like Proceso Flordeliz Jr., is it possible he was offended? Just in case, why not apologize to him?

Although I’m not thrilled with Flordeliz’s comments, either. Drunk old man? Hey, I resent that, and I’m not even a drunk old man. (Hey, is this the same Proceso Flordeliz Jr. who has competed in Rubik’s Cube events? Search engines are such tar babies.)

But indeed, no one should be pressured to give a donation that appears to be in any way linked to whether or not they get a government service like passport renewal.

Ampeso hasn’t been fired. He is being recalled to the Philippines to explain himself.

Interestingly, it turns out that Ampeso has another claim to fame. (Tar-babies, am I right?) This is his connection to Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., martyred Philippine national hero (and father of current president Benigno Aquino III). In 1983 Aquino had been in exile from the Philippines for three years. When in the Philippines, he had spent 7 years imprisoned, most of it in solitary, and then left to get cardiac bypass surgery. He had been unable to return because the Marcos government wouldn’t issue him a new passport.

A consular employee in New Orleans gave him a passport under a different name, and he flew back to the Philippines. He knew this was dangerous. “I return voluntarily armed only with a clear conscience and fortified in the faith that in the end, justice will emerge triumphant. According to Gandhi, the willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful answer to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God and man.” When he arrived in Manila, he was seized, marched off the plane, and shot.

Ampeso says he was the Vice-Consul who got Aquino the passport. An interesting claim. Aquino very much wanted the passport. The result was his martyrdom.

In his reminiscences, Ampeso describes his first meeting with Aquino. In which he hit Aquino up for a donation. Without yelling.