Alireza Rahimbaglou, 27, a native of Tabriz, has led the filing of a formal complaint with the Commission on Higher Education against officials of Manila
Central University for alleged discriminatory practices.
“Professors and staff of the university insult our families, race and culture. We have been called terrorists and terrorist supporters,” said a copy of the letter of complaint, signed by Rahimbaglou and 114 other Iranian students at Manila Central University.
“Of course, it is painful for us because we are not [terrorists],” Rahimbaglou, a dentistry student at university, said after filing the complaint.
Ali Rezaei Harzandi, 35, a native of Tehran who began studying dentistry at the university in 2007, said just because they have Middle Eastern features, university faculty members, including security guards, treat him and his fellow Iranians as if they are members of the Taliban.
“When you go inside the school, the guards of the school search so much more [inside our bags],” he said.
The Iranian students also complained against the univer-sity’s policy of forcing Iranian students to pay their tuition fees in full and in cash, a practice they say is not enforced on students from other foreign countries.
Immigration records show that Iranians ranked second after South Koreans and accounted for nearly 19 percent of the 12,657 foreign students in the Philippines in 2010.
Rahimbaglou said there are around 400 Iranian students at Manila Central University, with most of them enrolled in the dentistry department.
A Manila Central University official told Kyodo News that the allegations are under internal investigation by the university administration. MCU is a private university founded in 1904.