Filipinos in HK fear job loss with new POEA rules--OFW group

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:13:00 02/01/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong might lose their jobs over new rules by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration which, among other things, require prospective employers to post some $8,000 worth of bonds before being allowed to hire OFWs, an official of a group of Filipino workers in Hong Kong said.

Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK), said POEA Memorandum Circular 04, or the Guidelines on the Direct Hiring of Filipino Workers which took affect January this year, was “a grave threat to our employment.”

The POEA circular also requires all employment contracts for direct hires to be approved by the labor secretary.

Balladares said OFWs who would be particularly hit would be household service workers who were either renewing their contracts with the same employer or were transferring due to finished or pre-terminated contract.

According to POEA MC-04, employers who want to directly hire OFWs have to put up a repatriation bond of $5,000 and a performance bond equivalent to three months’ salary of the worker.

“It has no distinction between new and current OFWs,” Balladares complained.

“For an employer of a domestic helper in Hong Kong, this translates to almost HK$50,000. Practical and financial reasons alone will inhibit prospective employers from shelling out the amount,” she said.

Many Hong Kong-based OFWs either renew their contracts or transfer employment within the former British colony. The practice, Balladares said, was very convenient for them.

Balladares also said that even if the prospective employer would decide not to directly hire an OFW and simply go through recruitment agencies, the resulting situation would still be bad for the OFW.

“Due to the high fees that recruitment agencies charge, many OFWs will be forced to borrow money from financing agencies. In our experience, the serious debt situation of Filipino migrants also oftentimes leads to their termination from their jobs,” she relayed.

“Thus, either which way is taken, it is us OFWs who will ultimately suffer the consequences,” she said.

Balladares thus called for the scrapping of the new POEA guidelines.

Government statistics estimate that as of December 2006, there are 136,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong -- 11,500 permanent, 122,000 temporary, and 3,000 irregular.