'Filipinos' food label protested

'Filipinos' food label protested

MANILA (DPA): The Philippines formally protested on Friday the use of "Filipinos" as a brand of cookies and pretzels being sold in Europe, which has offended lawmakers and President Joseph Estrada, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

In a statement, the department said separate protests were filed by the Philippine Embassy in Madrid with the manufacturer of the food items, Nabisco Iberia S.L., a Barcelona-based subsidiary of the American RJR Nabisco Inc., and the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

The Philippine Embassy in Brussels also filed a protest with the European Union, the statement added.

In the complaint filed with Nabisco Iberia, the Philippines also "demanded the manufacturer desist from selling the said product until a new name is given to these biscuits", said Cora Patarata, a foreign affairs spokeswoman.

Estrada and legislators have criticized the use of Filipinos as a food label as an insult to the Filipino people. The Senate and the House of Representatives both passed resolutions demanding the Department of Foreign Affairs immediately protest what they called a "racial slur".

The cookies and pretzels are reportedly very small, "dark outside and white inside", which the lawmakers said appeared to be a jab at the Filipinos' physique -- short and brown-skinned -- and their reputed colonial mentality.

The food items have been sold in Spain, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe for the past 10 years, officials said.