ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the politics of perception is constituted, how it can grow from a simple misconception into violent actions taken against a community. It deals with the effects of the politics of perception on a minority community — the Chinese Filipinos — especially in light of this community’s social significance as an economic force in Philippine national life. Specifically, the chapter deals with the recent phenomenon of the kidnapping of Chinese Filipinos as a result of the politics of perception. Perceptions are part of our quotidian life and most of them are dictated not only by our overt preferences but also by our unintentional and often hidden biases. They are responses to things that immediately affect us. Since the Chinese owned a huge number of businesses, they came to be seen as ‘The Capitalists’. In fact, one the strongest stereotypes of the Chinese Filipino is that of the unscrupulous, ruthless factory-owner.
