DFA on Pinay-Thai transgender brawl: Situation has cooled down

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday said Filipino tourists need not fret about visiting Thailand as the situation has cooled down a bit since the viral clash between a Filipino and Thai transgender group in Bangkok this week.

“If you’re just a normal tourist, it’s safe,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose De Vega said in an interview.

But for good measure, he said it might be best to avoid traveling to Soi Sukhumvit 11 in the meantime, the place where the actual brawl took place on March 4.

“My advice to our Filipinos, (is) just follow the law, if you’re a tourist be a tourist, and simply don’t pick fights with locals,” he said.

De Vega said the bystander Filipino who was badly hurt when she was attacked by a mob of Thai transwomen has already received an apology from one of them and a compensation of 10,000 baht.

The victim, identified by De Vega as Ivy, has accepted the apology and has decided to return home to the Philippines.

De Vega said the three others who were allegedly the ones involved in the argument are also set to fly home by Friday.

The two of them were charged with assault but were allowed to pay the fine of 5,000 baht, which the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok has already shouldered. One of the two also offered his apologies to her Thai peers.

“The situation has really cooled down. We’re considering it case closed in the sense that there are no more cases being filed, no more investigations,” De Vega said.

“As for the tension, we just hope that in Bangkok, walang (there will no longer be) more skirmishes and dapat matuto na rin ang ating mga kababayan (and I hope our fellow nationals learn from this),” he added.

De Vega said the four will be flying back to Manila this week. — Joyce Ann L. Rocamora  (PNA)