Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Hong Kong has highest overseas absentee voting registrants
MANILA, Philippines - A total of 17,486 Filipinos in Hong Kong have registered to vote in next year’s elections as of Aug. 5, the highest turnout worldwide, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Quoting a report from the Philippine Consulate General, the DFA said the overseas voter registration in Hong Kong was conducted in several banks and remittance companies since July this year.
Last July 30, the DFA’s Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat reported that Los Angeles registered a total of 8,884 voters; Dubai 8,542; and Singapore 6,926.
This year, the number of registered overseas voters worldwide has reached 157,398, surpassing the 2005/2006 figure of 142,667, the report added.
The DFA said the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong will conduct more field registrations at the Epiphany Parish Mass Centre and the St. Matthew’s Church in Tuen Mun.
Previous field registrations were held in Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Ma On Shan, Sai Kung, Tai Po, Shatin, and Tsing Yi in the New Territories; DPCF and St. Joseph’s Church in Central; Chai Wan and Sheung Wan in Hong Kong Island; Hung Hom, Hang Hau, Kowloon Tong, Prince Edward and Choi Hung Estate in Kowloon; and Cheung Chau Island and Discovery Bay in Lantau Island.
Filipinos in Hong Kong have until Aug. 31 to register to vote in next year’s elections, the DFA said.
The Blas Ople Center has reported that the number of registered absentee voters has exceeded 170,000 worldwide.
Susan Ople, center head, said their goal is to boost the number of registered overseas voters.
They have organized a forum that would enable OFWs to get to know presidential candidates up close and personal, she added.
OFWs and their families will meet online five presidentiables in a two-hour forum, “Usapan OFW: A Leader Forum” tonight, Ople said.
Ople said Senators Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Jamby Madrigal and Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio are set to join the forum from 4 to 6 p.m. at ABS-CBN in Quezon City, she said.
Ople said the program will be aired live on dzMM Teleradyo (Channel 26 on SkyCable) with replays on The Filipino Channel, she added. – Pia Lee-Brago, Mayen Jaymalin, philstar., August 15, 2009
Sunday, November 21, 2010
S. Korea, Japan have world's fastest Internet links
February 02, 2010: TOKYO—East Asian countries led by South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan are the best wired in the world with the highest number of fast broadband connections to the Internet, a recent report has found.
South Korea boasts the world's highest average connection speed at 14.6 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and also has six of Asia's ten cities with the fastest link-ups, all with average speeds above 15 Mbps.
Japan had the second highest average connection speed of 7.9 Mbps, followed by the Chinese territory of Hong Kong with 7.6 Mbps, said the report by US-based network provider Akamai Technologies.
The other countries in the top ten are Romania, followed by Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, with the United States at 18th place, with an average speed of 3.9 Mbps.
The survey classifies "broadband" connections as those of 2 Mbps or more, and "high broadband" as 5 Mbps or over, while link-ups at 20 Mbps and better were categorized as "extremely high speed connectivity."
In South Korea, 74 percent of connections were "high broadband," the world's top rate, while the figure was 60 percent in Japan, followed by Hong Kong with 46 percent, said the report.
The United States came twelfth, with just 24 percent of its connections at 5 Mbps or more. Worldwide, the high broadband percentage was 19 percent.
Growing demand for online high-definition video content is driving demand for faster connections, said Akamai's 'State of the Internet' report for the third quarter of 2009.
"As the quantity of HD-quality media increases over time and the consumption of that media increases, end users are likely to require ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth," the report said. - Agence France-Presse/INQUIRER.net
South Korea boasts the world's highest average connection speed at 14.6 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and also has six of Asia's ten cities with the fastest link-ups, all with average speeds above 15 Mbps.
Japan had the second highest average connection speed of 7.9 Mbps, followed by the Chinese territory of Hong Kong with 7.6 Mbps, said the report by US-based network provider Akamai Technologies.
The other countries in the top ten are Romania, followed by Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, with the United States at 18th place, with an average speed of 3.9 Mbps.
The survey classifies "broadband" connections as those of 2 Mbps or more, and "high broadband" as 5 Mbps or over, while link-ups at 20 Mbps and better were categorized as "extremely high speed connectivity."
In South Korea, 74 percent of connections were "high broadband," the world's top rate, while the figure was 60 percent in Japan, followed by Hong Kong with 46 percent, said the report.
The United States came twelfth, with just 24 percent of its connections at 5 Mbps or more. Worldwide, the high broadband percentage was 19 percent.
Growing demand for online high-definition video content is driving demand for faster connections, said Akamai's 'State of the Internet' report for the third quarter of 2009.
"As the quantity of HD-quality media increases over time and the consumption of that media increases, end users are likely to require ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth," the report said. - Agence France-Presse/INQUIRER.net
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Mandatory insurance imperils HK hiring of Pinoy helpers
11 Nov 2010 -- Hong Kong residents have reportedly canceled contracts for Filipino domestic workers, following the Philippine government’s implementation of a mandatory insurance coverage for these workers.
Employers, recruiters and workers themselves have scored the new policy, which took effect on Monday. They described the policy as unfair and redundant, as existing labor laws in Hong Kong already require employers to secure insurance policies for foreign domestic workers.
Reports by Hong Kong-based news sites The Standard and the South China Morning Post said a local organization claimed that over 100 residents have suspended hiring Filipino helpers due to the mandatory insurance.
The compulsory insurance coverage requires employers or recruiters to secure a two-year policy coverage for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amounting to a fixed rate of US$144, on top of the premiums. (See: DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs)
The policy includes benefits of $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation.
A certificate of cover provided by an insurance company that is licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission is now required before the issuance of overseas employment certificate or exit clearance of agency-hired overseas workers.
A recent advisory from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said the accredited insurance providers are Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp., Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., and United Coconut Planters’ Life Assurance Corp.
HK laws already require insurance for foreign workers
The report by The Standard, however, said employers and recruiters are not happy as some 280,000 households shell out about HK$900 every two years for foreign domestic workers’ insurance as mandated by the region’s laws.
“(Foreign domestic workers) are adequately protected by the insurance policies that employers have bought on behalf of their workers," said Joseph Law, chairman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association as quoted in the report.
He added that many employers have voluntarily purchased comprehensive insurance of about HK$800 to HK$1,000 a year for their workers’ medical expenses, on top of the compulsory insurance.
Hong Kong’s Liberal Party on Tuesday staged a rally before the Philippine Consulate General there to protest the new policy and to call on the Hong Kong government to negotiate with Philippine authorities to revoke the “unnecessary" law.
A separate report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) likewise also said a recruitment agency has temporarily stopped processing new workers until questions about the new policy are clarified.
"We have stopped letting new workers come to Hong Kong. The halt will continue until we know the specifics of the new policy," said Technic Employment Service Centre managing director Teresa Liu Tsui-lan as quoted in the report.
HK workers also oppose new policy
In light of this, a Hong Kong-based Filipino workers’ organization has expressed concerns that the mandatory insurance will result in job loss or additional fees for migrant workers, and has called on the Philippine government to exempt them from the new policy.
“We don’t feel protected. We are actually anxious that this new policy for mandatory insurance will create job loss or possible additional financial burden to us Filipino migrants in Hong Kong. For OFWs in HK, this new insurance is thrice redundant and an exemption should be made for us," said Eman Villanueva, secretary general of the United Filipino in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK), in a statement.
Villanueva said OFWs were not consulted prior to the implementation of the new policy, adding that employers and agencies may eventually pass on to OFWs the burden of paying for the insurance coverage.
The POEA earlier issued a reminder that licensed recruitment and manning agencies or foreign employers should bear the cost of the insurance coverage of workers.
Villanueva, however, said: “There are many fees that are supposed to be paid for by employers but are in reality carried by OFWs such as the contract authentication fee and the OWWA fee. There is no existing concrete mechanism to ensure that these fees are not passed on to OFWs."
He cited the placement fee that is supposedly illegal but is still being charged by recruitment agencies through various modus operandi. He claimed that both the POEA and the Labor department have been unable to stop this illegal practice.
“This new rule should be reviewed. Genuine protection should not cost us our jobs or more fees for us," Villanueva said.
The Labor department’s communications head Nicon Fameronag meanwhile maintained in the SCMP report that the insurance is intended to protect OFWs.
"This is not a levy but a new law that gives added protection for Filipino overseas workers," Fameronag said as quoted in the report.
The guidelines for the new policy were published in Hong Kong newspapers on September 17, he added.
POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili could not be reached for comment as of posting time.
Records from the POEA show that Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, was the third top destination of OFWs in 2009, with 100,142 Filipino workers deployed there last year. Of this figure, about 25,000 are domestic helpers.
Currently, there are about 140,000 Filipino domestic helpers in the region. It is also among the top countries in terms of OFW remittances, which amounted to over US$339 million in 2009.— JERRIE M. ABELLA, GMANews.TV
Employers, recruiters and workers themselves have scored the new policy, which took effect on Monday. They described the policy as unfair and redundant, as existing labor laws in Hong Kong already require employers to secure insurance policies for foreign domestic workers.
Reports by Hong Kong-based news sites The Standard and the South China Morning Post said a local organization claimed that over 100 residents have suspended hiring Filipino helpers due to the mandatory insurance.
The compulsory insurance coverage requires employers or recruiters to secure a two-year policy coverage for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amounting to a fixed rate of US$144, on top of the premiums. (See: DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs)
The policy includes benefits of $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation.
A certificate of cover provided by an insurance company that is licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission is now required before the issuance of overseas employment certificate or exit clearance of agency-hired overseas workers.
A recent advisory from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said the accredited insurance providers are Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp., Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., and United Coconut Planters’ Life Assurance Corp.
HK laws already require insurance for foreign workers
The report by The Standard, however, said employers and recruiters are not happy as some 280,000 households shell out about HK$900 every two years for foreign domestic workers’ insurance as mandated by the region’s laws.
“(Foreign domestic workers) are adequately protected by the insurance policies that employers have bought on behalf of their workers," said Joseph Law, chairman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association as quoted in the report.
He added that many employers have voluntarily purchased comprehensive insurance of about HK$800 to HK$1,000 a year for their workers’ medical expenses, on top of the compulsory insurance.
Hong Kong’s Liberal Party on Tuesday staged a rally before the Philippine Consulate General there to protest the new policy and to call on the Hong Kong government to negotiate with Philippine authorities to revoke the “unnecessary" law.
A separate report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) likewise also said a recruitment agency has temporarily stopped processing new workers until questions about the new policy are clarified.
"We have stopped letting new workers come to Hong Kong. The halt will continue until we know the specifics of the new policy," said Technic Employment Service Centre managing director Teresa Liu Tsui-lan as quoted in the report.
HK workers also oppose new policy
In light of this, a Hong Kong-based Filipino workers’ organization has expressed concerns that the mandatory insurance will result in job loss or additional fees for migrant workers, and has called on the Philippine government to exempt them from the new policy.
“We don’t feel protected. We are actually anxious that this new policy for mandatory insurance will create job loss or possible additional financial burden to us Filipino migrants in Hong Kong. For OFWs in HK, this new insurance is thrice redundant and an exemption should be made for us," said Eman Villanueva, secretary general of the United Filipino in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK), in a statement.
Villanueva said OFWs were not consulted prior to the implementation of the new policy, adding that employers and agencies may eventually pass on to OFWs the burden of paying for the insurance coverage.
The POEA earlier issued a reminder that licensed recruitment and manning agencies or foreign employers should bear the cost of the insurance coverage of workers.
Villanueva, however, said: “There are many fees that are supposed to be paid for by employers but are in reality carried by OFWs such as the contract authentication fee and the OWWA fee. There is no existing concrete mechanism to ensure that these fees are not passed on to OFWs."
He cited the placement fee that is supposedly illegal but is still being charged by recruitment agencies through various modus operandi. He claimed that both the POEA and the Labor department have been unable to stop this illegal practice.
“This new rule should be reviewed. Genuine protection should not cost us our jobs or more fees for us," Villanueva said.
The Labor department’s communications head Nicon Fameronag meanwhile maintained in the SCMP report that the insurance is intended to protect OFWs.
"This is not a levy but a new law that gives added protection for Filipino overseas workers," Fameronag said as quoted in the report.
The guidelines for the new policy were published in Hong Kong newspapers on September 17, he added.
POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili could not be reached for comment as of posting time.
Records from the POEA show that Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, was the third top destination of OFWs in 2009, with 100,142 Filipino workers deployed there last year. Of this figure, about 25,000 are domestic helpers.
Currently, there are about 140,000 Filipino domestic helpers in the region. It is also among the top countries in terms of OFW remittances, which amounted to over US$339 million in 2009.— JERRIE M. ABELLA, GMANews.TV
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Pag-IBIG expands mandatory coverage to include OFWs
MANILA, Philippines—The government housing finance institution has expanded its mandatory coverage to include Filipino workers from formal and informal sectors here and abroad, it was learned Monday.
The Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or Pag-IBIG Fund) made the announcement in a press statement issued Monday, after its chief executive officer Jaime Fabiaña met with overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong to inform them of the passage of Republic Act 9679 (or the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009), which took effect last month.
Membership of OFWs used to be voluntary under the old Pag-IBIG Overseas Program, with terms of five, 10, 15, and 20 years.
However, OFWs in the former British colony did not welcome this development. Members of Gabriela-Hong Kong opposed the mandatory Pag-IBIG coverage, calling it as another government scheme to try and “milk” them of their money.
The OFWs’ opposition to the universal coverage forced Fabiaña to tell them that they won’t be forced to become Pag-IBIG members, said Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, chairperson of Gabriela-Hong Kong, in a statement. She said her group will hold a rally Sunday, February 7, to call for the scrapping of this provision in the law.
Nevertheless, Fabiaña still tried to sell the idea to OFWs. “Be a Pag-IBIG member and secure a bright future for yourself. Your savings with the Fund earn double and even triple. These savings are guaranteed by the government and earn tax-free dividends. More importantly, as a member you have access to benefits no banks can give such as the lowest interest housing loans, fast salary loans and reliable calamity loans,” he said.
With the mandatory coverage, OFWs can enjoy the various benefits of being a member which include:
* Savings. Members’ contributions are credited to their savings or the total accumulated value that earn dividends and fully guaranteed by the national government. In 2009,
Pag-IBIG declared tax-free dividends amounting to P8.5 billion with a dividend rate of 5 percent.
“At this dividend rate, an OFW member will generate savings amounting to P40,753 if he contributes P100 monthly for 20 years; P81,507 if he contributes P200; and P203,768 at P500 a month. The bigger the contribution, the bigger the savings,” Fabiana explained.
He assured that Pag-IBIG savings are portable, meaning, “these remain in the name of a member even if he transfers employers, works abroad, or becomes self-employed or even unemployed.”
* Short-term loans. OFW-members can also avail of short-term loans that will help address their immediate financial needs such as payment for tuition fees, hospital bills, appliance purchases, minor home repairs, and even for small business capital.
* Housing loan. A member of good standing is eligible to avail of a home financing loan that has an interest rate of as low as 6 percent to 11.5 percent payable in 30 years. The maximum loan amount is P3 million. The loan can be used for the purchase of a fully developed lot within a residential area not exceeding 1,000 square meters, purchase of a residential house and lot, townhouse or condominium unit, construction or completion of a residential unit on a lot owned by the member, home improvement and refinancing of an existing loan.
Fabiana said that in 2009, Pag-IBIG extended a total of P9.6 billion in housing loans to their OFW members which financed 12,233 housing units. “No other financial institution, government or private, has extended this much for OFWs’ housing,” he stressed.
He attributed the 68-percent increase in housing loan availment of OFWs in 2009 to the housing reforms initiated by Pag-IBIG’s board chairman Vice President Noli “Kabayan” De Castro, primarily the low interest rates and long repayment period, which makes it the most affordable home lending program in the country today.
To register for membership and for other inquiries, OFWs can call 724.4244 or visit the Pag-IBIG office located at the 6F, Justine Building, Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City (beside Land Bank). They can also register through the Pag-IBIG satellite offices at the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) or coordinate with the Pag-IBIG information officers who conduct the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar for OFWs. - INQUIRER.net, Posted date: February 02, 2010
The Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or Pag-IBIG Fund) made the announcement in a press statement issued Monday, after its chief executive officer Jaime Fabiaña met with overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong to inform them of the passage of Republic Act 9679 (or the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009), which took effect last month.
Membership of OFWs used to be voluntary under the old Pag-IBIG Overseas Program, with terms of five, 10, 15, and 20 years.
However, OFWs in the former British colony did not welcome this development. Members of Gabriela-Hong Kong opposed the mandatory Pag-IBIG coverage, calling it as another government scheme to try and “milk” them of their money.
The OFWs’ opposition to the universal coverage forced Fabiaña to tell them that they won’t be forced to become Pag-IBIG members, said Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, chairperson of Gabriela-Hong Kong, in a statement. She said her group will hold a rally Sunday, February 7, to call for the scrapping of this provision in the law.
Nevertheless, Fabiaña still tried to sell the idea to OFWs. “Be a Pag-IBIG member and secure a bright future for yourself. Your savings with the Fund earn double and even triple. These savings are guaranteed by the government and earn tax-free dividends. More importantly, as a member you have access to benefits no banks can give such as the lowest interest housing loans, fast salary loans and reliable calamity loans,” he said.
With the mandatory coverage, OFWs can enjoy the various benefits of being a member which include:
* Savings. Members’ contributions are credited to their savings or the total accumulated value that earn dividends and fully guaranteed by the national government. In 2009,
Pag-IBIG declared tax-free dividends amounting to P8.5 billion with a dividend rate of 5 percent.
“At this dividend rate, an OFW member will generate savings amounting to P40,753 if he contributes P100 monthly for 20 years; P81,507 if he contributes P200; and P203,768 at P500 a month. The bigger the contribution, the bigger the savings,” Fabiana explained.
He assured that Pag-IBIG savings are portable, meaning, “these remain in the name of a member even if he transfers employers, works abroad, or becomes self-employed or even unemployed.”
* Short-term loans. OFW-members can also avail of short-term loans that will help address their immediate financial needs such as payment for tuition fees, hospital bills, appliance purchases, minor home repairs, and even for small business capital.
* Housing loan. A member of good standing is eligible to avail of a home financing loan that has an interest rate of as low as 6 percent to 11.5 percent payable in 30 years. The maximum loan amount is P3 million. The loan can be used for the purchase of a fully developed lot within a residential area not exceeding 1,000 square meters, purchase of a residential house and lot, townhouse or condominium unit, construction or completion of a residential unit on a lot owned by the member, home improvement and refinancing of an existing loan.
Fabiana said that in 2009, Pag-IBIG extended a total of P9.6 billion in housing loans to their OFW members which financed 12,233 housing units. “No other financial institution, government or private, has extended this much for OFWs’ housing,” he stressed.
He attributed the 68-percent increase in housing loan availment of OFWs in 2009 to the housing reforms initiated by Pag-IBIG’s board chairman Vice President Noli “Kabayan” De Castro, primarily the low interest rates and long repayment period, which makes it the most affordable home lending program in the country today.
To register for membership and for other inquiries, OFWs can call 724.4244 or visit the Pag-IBIG office located at the 6F, Justine Building, Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City (beside Land Bank). They can also register through the Pag-IBIG satellite offices at the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) or coordinate with the Pag-IBIG information officers who conduct the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar for OFWs. - INQUIRER.net, Posted date: February 02, 2010
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pinoy HK travelers warned vs fake visa stamps
MANILA - Filipino tourists planning to visit Hong Kong are warned against using fake entry and exit immigration stamps following the arrest of another Pinoy traveler who used bogus travel documents.
The Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong issued the warning after immigration authorities nabbed a Filipino woman at the Hong Kong international airport on October 28.
The woman from Batangas province was on her way back to the Philippines with her family. It was her first visit to Hong Kong.
The Consulate said the woman’s passport bore fake entry and exit stamps “to falsely show that she had previously traveled to Hong Kong.”
Two days after her arrest, the woman was brought to Shatin Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to the offense of possession of a false instrument. She was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment.
The Consulate added that the immigration entry/exit stamps were allegedly forged by a company that peddles the service as a way of bolstering a visa applicant’s chances at getting a visa from certain embassies in Manila.
However, mere possession of a false instrument is an offence under Section 75 of Hong Kong’s Crimes Ordinance and carries with it a maximum penalty of 3 years’ imprisonment, the Consulate warned. - abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/05/2009 1:13 PM
Monday, October 19, 2009
Hong Kong: Asian migrant workers fight for their rights
Ninety nine percent of Indonesian migrants in Hong Kong work more than eight hours a day
Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info
Sunday, 18 October 2009.
“We are workers, not slaves!” Victoria Park in Hong Kong was in the grip of ‘girl power’ of the trade union kind on Sunday 18 October. Indonesian migrant domestic workers were celebrating ten years of trade union organisation in Hong Kong with a large and colourful mobilisation to press their demands for inclusion in an impending minimum wage law and for an end to the notorious discrimination they suffer. An open air festival with speeches, music, and then a march to the Indonesian Consulate drew more than 2,000 women workers.
“We are going to the Consulate to protest that many Indonesian workers don’t even get the minimum monthly wage [for migrants] of HK$3,580,” said Iin from Indonesia who has worked in Hong Kong for six years. She and her friends held a banner calling for a blacklist over employers and recruitment agencies that violate migrants’ rights. This was a central demand of the demonstration. Violations are very common and take a variety of forms, from illegal confiscation of migrants’ passports, to underpayment of the paltry migrant minimum wage. The Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union (IMWU), one of the organisers of the festival and march, have listed 40 agents of migrant workers’ assignments that they say should be blacklisted because they have committed such violations.
The ‘no welfare’ trap
The overwhelmingly female migrant workforce in Hong Kong constitutes the most exploited section of the city’s labour force. But they are also becoming one of the best organised – loud, clear, and radicalised. They deserve the full support of all other groups of workers. There are over 250,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, with most coming from the Philippines, closely followed by Indonesia. Other migrants come from Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
These women fill the void that exists in childcare, elderly care and other services, due to frailty of Hong Kong’s public service sector under a government with a notoriously anti-welfare “small government, big market” doctrine. Rather than pooling resources under a strong, democratically supervised, and state-funded (via a progressive taxation policy) system of childcare for example, each family must find their own ‘private solution’. This means that the migrant workforce are often severely exploited, whereas under a state-organised welfare system they would all work for one employer – the government – and be organised in powerful workplace trade unions. The Hong Kong government, which represents the interests of the tycoon class of capitalists, opposes any idea of a “welfare state”, which would strengthen the working class as a whole, not just migrant workers, and facilitate collective organisation.
The following facts illustrate the super-exploitation of migrant workers:
• One quarter of Hong Kong domestic workers receive less than the statutory minimum wage of HK$3,580 (US$462) per month.*
• Half work more than 15 hours per day**. Among Indonesian migrants, only 1% enjoy an 8 hour working day.
• 64% of Indonesian domestic workers are not given statutory holiday by their employer.
• 54% of Indonesian domestic workers are not given the legally mandated 1 day of rest per week.
[Sources: KOTKIHO, IMWU and AMC research in 2006. * and ** South China Morning Post, 5 October 2009]
‘I am a worker’
Mirabel comes from Iloilo in the Philippines and has lived in Hong Kong for seven years. She gets to go home to the Philippines to visit her family once every two years. She joined the trade union FDWU (Filipino Domestic Workers’ Union) four months ago because she wants “the government to give me my rights”. Previously Mirabel had only been organised through her church. “We encourage all migrant workers to join the union, but many are afraid their employers will sack them,” she told chinaworker.info.
“We don’t call ourselves ‘domestic helpers’, we say ‘domestic workers’ – I am a worker, not a helper,” she says defiantly. “I work for 16 hours a day taking care of a grandmother. We want to work only 8 hours, anything over that should be overtime and I should be paid accordingly,” she said. Mirabel is adamant that the Hong Kong government’s new minimum wage law must apply to migrant workers. “If they don’t include us in the minimum wage law, then they are exploiting me too much. My hourly rate nowadays is just HK$19, she explained.”
Blacklist over bad practise
Muthi Hidayati, the Secretary-General of KOTKIHO (Coalition of Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Groups in Hong Kong) told chinaworker.info, “Today we are trying to push the Indonesian government and the Hong Kong government to blacklist agencies and employers who violate our rights.”
There are many types of violation, she explained. Many employers pay below the minimum wage for migrants, with some paying as little as around HK$2,000 a month. Some employers and agencies keep workers’ ID cards, passports, personal documents or contract letters, which is illegal. Employers also refuse to give workers their statutory holiday entitlement, with some allowing only one day off per month, Muthi said. Cases of sexual harassment or mistreatment and physical attacks also occur, with migrants in an extremely vulnerable position economically and legally. The government’s infamous ‘2-year rule’ means that migrant workers whose contract is terminated have just 14 days to find alternative work before they must leave Hong Kong. “It’s not enough time,” argued Muthi. “The law is discriminatory.”
She explained that many Indonesian women come to Hong Kong with university degrees or, like herself, a secondary high school education, but are unable to find jobs in their own country that are compatible with their level of qualifications. Often they are cleaning and cooking for people with fewer educational qualifications, but economically, the life of a low-paid migrant in Hong Kong is the only way out. “Our government is very bad,” she said. “Indonesia’s people are getting poorer and poorer now.”
New minimum wage law
“We want the Hong Kong government to include us in the minimum wage legislation. They want to exempt us, this is discrimination,” explained Muthi.
Donald Tsang’s government will soon announce its long promised proposals for a statutory minimum wage for Hong Kong workers. But the government is already maneuvering to exclude migrants, the lowest paid section, using such arguments as that migrants’ working hours are too hard to calculate(!), and that food and accommodation is included in many job contracts. In fact, the government’s attempt to exempt migrants is in breach of its international commitments. Hong Kong has signed the ILO Convention No. 97 Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 which states that “Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to apply, without discrimination in respect of nationality, race, religion or sex, to immigrants lawfully within its territory, treatment no less favourable than that which it applies to its own nationals ....”
This issue of migrant worker inclusion is a central one to the wider struggle for a minimum wage, set at a level that workers can live upon. Nearly one quarter of Hong Kong’s indigenous workforce earn less than HK$5,000 per month, and many young workers especially at the ubiquitous fast-food chains and convenience stores get paid less than HK$20 (US644$2.58) an hour.
Without a big campaign of pressure and a mass recruitment drive by trade unions and left organisations among low paid workers, the risk is very real that the new minimum wage will be set at a derisory level. The right-wing pro-Beijing Liberal Party for example, a party close to the Tsang administration, calls for the new minimum to be set “not higher” than HK$24 an hour, which based on an eight-hour day means a monthly wage of just HK$4,992 (US$644). As one newspaper joked, that’s not a minimum wage, it’s a minimal wage! The fighting example of migrant women can inspire other workers and youth in Hong Kong to get organised and fight for their rights.
Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info
Sunday, 18 October 2009.
“We are workers, not slaves!” Victoria Park in Hong Kong was in the grip of ‘girl power’ of the trade union kind on Sunday 18 October. Indonesian migrant domestic workers were celebrating ten years of trade union organisation in Hong Kong with a large and colourful mobilisation to press their demands for inclusion in an impending minimum wage law and for an end to the notorious discrimination they suffer. An open air festival with speeches, music, and then a march to the Indonesian Consulate drew more than 2,000 women workers.
“We are going to the Consulate to protest that many Indonesian workers don’t even get the minimum monthly wage [for migrants] of HK$3,580,” said Iin from Indonesia who has worked in Hong Kong for six years. She and her friends held a banner calling for a blacklist over employers and recruitment agencies that violate migrants’ rights. This was a central demand of the demonstration. Violations are very common and take a variety of forms, from illegal confiscation of migrants’ passports, to underpayment of the paltry migrant minimum wage. The Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union (IMWU), one of the organisers of the festival and march, have listed 40 agents of migrant workers’ assignments that they say should be blacklisted because they have committed such violations.
The ‘no welfare’ trap
The overwhelmingly female migrant workforce in Hong Kong constitutes the most exploited section of the city’s labour force. But they are also becoming one of the best organised – loud, clear, and radicalised. They deserve the full support of all other groups of workers. There are over 250,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, with most coming from the Philippines, closely followed by Indonesia. Other migrants come from Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
These women fill the void that exists in childcare, elderly care and other services, due to frailty of Hong Kong’s public service sector under a government with a notoriously anti-welfare “small government, big market” doctrine. Rather than pooling resources under a strong, democratically supervised, and state-funded (via a progressive taxation policy) system of childcare for example, each family must find their own ‘private solution’. This means that the migrant workforce are often severely exploited, whereas under a state-organised welfare system they would all work for one employer – the government – and be organised in powerful workplace trade unions. The Hong Kong government, which represents the interests of the tycoon class of capitalists, opposes any idea of a “welfare state”, which would strengthen the working class as a whole, not just migrant workers, and facilitate collective organisation.
The following facts illustrate the super-exploitation of migrant workers:
• One quarter of Hong Kong domestic workers receive less than the statutory minimum wage of HK$3,580 (US$462) per month.*
• Half work more than 15 hours per day**. Among Indonesian migrants, only 1% enjoy an 8 hour working day.
• 64% of Indonesian domestic workers are not given statutory holiday by their employer.
• 54% of Indonesian domestic workers are not given the legally mandated 1 day of rest per week.
[Sources: KOTKIHO, IMWU and AMC research in 2006. * and ** South China Morning Post, 5 October 2009]
‘I am a worker’
Mirabel comes from Iloilo in the Philippines and has lived in Hong Kong for seven years. She gets to go home to the Philippines to visit her family once every two years. She joined the trade union FDWU (Filipino Domestic Workers’ Union) four months ago because she wants “the government to give me my rights”. Previously Mirabel had only been organised through her church. “We encourage all migrant workers to join the union, but many are afraid their employers will sack them,” she told chinaworker.info.
“We don’t call ourselves ‘domestic helpers’, we say ‘domestic workers’ – I am a worker, not a helper,” she says defiantly. “I work for 16 hours a day taking care of a grandmother. We want to work only 8 hours, anything over that should be overtime and I should be paid accordingly,” she said. Mirabel is adamant that the Hong Kong government’s new minimum wage law must apply to migrant workers. “If they don’t include us in the minimum wage law, then they are exploiting me too much. My hourly rate nowadays is just HK$19, she explained.”
Blacklist over bad practise
Muthi Hidayati, the Secretary-General of KOTKIHO (Coalition of Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Groups in Hong Kong) told chinaworker.info, “Today we are trying to push the Indonesian government and the Hong Kong government to blacklist agencies and employers who violate our rights.”
There are many types of violation, she explained. Many employers pay below the minimum wage for migrants, with some paying as little as around HK$2,000 a month. Some employers and agencies keep workers’ ID cards, passports, personal documents or contract letters, which is illegal. Employers also refuse to give workers their statutory holiday entitlement, with some allowing only one day off per month, Muthi said. Cases of sexual harassment or mistreatment and physical attacks also occur, with migrants in an extremely vulnerable position economically and legally. The government’s infamous ‘2-year rule’ means that migrant workers whose contract is terminated have just 14 days to find alternative work before they must leave Hong Kong. “It’s not enough time,” argued Muthi. “The law is discriminatory.”
She explained that many Indonesian women come to Hong Kong with university degrees or, like herself, a secondary high school education, but are unable to find jobs in their own country that are compatible with their level of qualifications. Often they are cleaning and cooking for people with fewer educational qualifications, but economically, the life of a low-paid migrant in Hong Kong is the only way out. “Our government is very bad,” she said. “Indonesia’s people are getting poorer and poorer now.”
New minimum wage law
“We want the Hong Kong government to include us in the minimum wage legislation. They want to exempt us, this is discrimination,” explained Muthi.
Donald Tsang’s government will soon announce its long promised proposals for a statutory minimum wage for Hong Kong workers. But the government is already maneuvering to exclude migrants, the lowest paid section, using such arguments as that migrants’ working hours are too hard to calculate(!), and that food and accommodation is included in many job contracts. In fact, the government’s attempt to exempt migrants is in breach of its international commitments. Hong Kong has signed the ILO Convention No. 97 Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 which states that “Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to apply, without discrimination in respect of nationality, race, religion or sex, to immigrants lawfully within its territory, treatment no less favourable than that which it applies to its own nationals ....”
This issue of migrant worker inclusion is a central one to the wider struggle for a minimum wage, set at a level that workers can live upon. Nearly one quarter of Hong Kong’s indigenous workforce earn less than HK$5,000 per month, and many young workers especially at the ubiquitous fast-food chains and convenience stores get paid less than HK$20 (US644$2.58) an hour.
Without a big campaign of pressure and a mass recruitment drive by trade unions and left organisations among low paid workers, the risk is very real that the new minimum wage will be set at a derisory level. The right-wing pro-Beijing Liberal Party for example, a party close to the Tsang administration, calls for the new minimum to be set “not higher” than HK$24 an hour, which based on an eight-hour day means a monthly wage of just HK$4,992 (US$644). As one newspaper joked, that’s not a minimum wage, it’s a minimal wage! The fighting example of migrant women can inspire other workers and youth in Hong Kong to get organised and fight for their rights.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Group protests freeze in maids’ wages in HK
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 04, 2009
MANILA, Philippines — An organization of Asian migrant labor organizations Thursday denounced a Hong Kong government decision to freeze foreign domestic workers’ monthly wages at the current HK$3,580 (about P22,500) level.
The Hong Kong-based Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, which includes overseas Filipino workers’ groups, described the freezing of the minimum allowable wage (MAW) as a blow to domestic helpers and their families suffering from the hard economic times back home.
“Wage freeze is definitely not what foreign domestics want in this time of crisis. Considering the impact of the economic crunch on us and on our families, who can survive with a wage level that is even way below that of a decade ago?” ACMB spokesperson Eni Lestari said in a statement from Hong Kong.
Lestari said that since the “drastic” HK$400 wage cut in 2003, foreign maids have been demanding for a significant wage increase.
What was cut out in 2003 has not been fully recovered since the Hong Kong government has only increased the maids’ wages by HK$360, spread out in yearly increments until 2008.
“Before, they gave us a yearly pittance. Now with the wage freeze, they totally abandon any pretense of promoting what is right and just for foreign domestics,” she lamented.
With the wage freeze order came a directive pegging the minimum food allowance for foreign maids at HK$740 (about P4,600).
But the ACMB said the amount, though “long overdue” and a welcome improvement for those receiving such an entitlement, was still not enough for the maids’ everyday food needs.
“The amount only translates to about HK$25 (P157) per day, barely enough to buy a value meal at McDonalds! Nobody here can really survive with such an amount,” Lestari said.
She noted that the food allowance was not part of the wage that foreign maids wanted increased.
“Even the Hong Kong government has admitted that the majority of employers provide food for their foreign maids because they are ‘live-in’ employees. If the government thinks that we will be appeased by this sugarcoating of their essential decision to keep the current unjust wage level, they are badly mistaken,” she said.
Lestari said that ACMB and its affiliate migrant groups would stage a protest on Sunday to denounce the wage freeze decision.
She said that ACMB would continue to lobby for the inclusion of foreign domestics in the statutory minimum wage (SMW) coverage in time for the opening of the Hong Kong Legislative Council next month.
“This arbitrary, unjust and nontransparent fixing of the MAW is the very reason why we want to be part of the SMW. The HK government is again rehashing all their hodgepodge justifications for their decision after a deliberation process that only they know about,” Lestari said.
She said there was something fundamentally wrong with the MAW policy and it has to end.
“With the SMW, [foreign domestics] will be given more opportunity to lobby for our wages, free from the whims of the Hong Kong government,” Lestari said.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 04, 2009
MANILA, Philippines — An organization of Asian migrant labor organizations Thursday denounced a Hong Kong government decision to freeze foreign domestic workers’ monthly wages at the current HK$3,580 (about P22,500) level.
The Hong Kong-based Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, which includes overseas Filipino workers’ groups, described the freezing of the minimum allowable wage (MAW) as a blow to domestic helpers and their families suffering from the hard economic times back home.
“Wage freeze is definitely not what foreign domestics want in this time of crisis. Considering the impact of the economic crunch on us and on our families, who can survive with a wage level that is even way below that of a decade ago?” ACMB spokesperson Eni Lestari said in a statement from Hong Kong.
Lestari said that since the “drastic” HK$400 wage cut in 2003, foreign maids have been demanding for a significant wage increase.
What was cut out in 2003 has not been fully recovered since the Hong Kong government has only increased the maids’ wages by HK$360, spread out in yearly increments until 2008.
“Before, they gave us a yearly pittance. Now with the wage freeze, they totally abandon any pretense of promoting what is right and just for foreign domestics,” she lamented.
With the wage freeze order came a directive pegging the minimum food allowance for foreign maids at HK$740 (about P4,600).
But the ACMB said the amount, though “long overdue” and a welcome improvement for those receiving such an entitlement, was still not enough for the maids’ everyday food needs.
“The amount only translates to about HK$25 (P157) per day, barely enough to buy a value meal at McDonalds! Nobody here can really survive with such an amount,” Lestari said.
She noted that the food allowance was not part of the wage that foreign maids wanted increased.
“Even the Hong Kong government has admitted that the majority of employers provide food for their foreign maids because they are ‘live-in’ employees. If the government thinks that we will be appeased by this sugarcoating of their essential decision to keep the current unjust wage level, they are badly mistaken,” she said.
Lestari said that ACMB and its affiliate migrant groups would stage a protest on Sunday to denounce the wage freeze decision.
She said that ACMB would continue to lobby for the inclusion of foreign domestics in the statutory minimum wage (SMW) coverage in time for the opening of the Hong Kong Legislative Council next month.
“This arbitrary, unjust and nontransparent fixing of the MAW is the very reason why we want to be part of the SMW. The HK government is again rehashing all their hodgepodge justifications for their decision after a deliberation process that only they know about,” Lestari said.
She said there was something fundamentally wrong with the MAW policy and it has to end.
“With the SMW, [foreign domestics] will be given more opportunity to lobby for our wages, free from the whims of the Hong Kong government,” Lestari said.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
‘HK migrant maids entitled to minimum wage’
FOREIGN domestic workers in Hong Kong ask for fair treatment
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:29:00 07/08/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong have bonded with workers from other foreign countries in pressing the Legislative Council (LegCo) of Hong Kong to include them in the law that would legislate the wage increase of workers.
The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) staged a protest rally in front of the LegCo building to air their concern as the first reading of the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) was held.
“We appeal to the members of the Legislative Council (LegCo)...to show to the public and to the world you are compassionate, just, and non-discriminatory to those who already have less in the Hong Kong society. Include foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) bill,” said Eni Lestari, AMCB spokesperson, in a statement.
The group called on the members of the LegCo to be independent and not to be a “stamp pad” of the Executive Committee, which sees foreign domestic workers as “second-class, or even third-class, citizens and has never hesitated in reducing us to a slave-like status.”
Lestari said that AMCB will actively work to gather the widest support among the LegCo members in their bid to include the FDWs in the bill.
“Any wage increase in the SMW will undergo deliberations and LegCo decision. What we aim for is for FDW wage to be released from the arbitrary, unaccountable, and non-transparent process of the ExCo and be moved to the LegCo, where we, at least, can have a level playing field in terms of advocacy,” Lestari said.
Lestari had criticized Executive Committee’s justifications that the SMW was for the “protection of disadvantaged sectors” and for the “promotion of social harmony.”
“Are we not members of the disadvantaged sectors and are we not part of the HK (Hong Kong) society? This is the height of discrimination by the HK ExCo,” she said.
Lestari said that her group will seek out international support for the campaign such as lobbying with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and with trade unions of different countries.
Lestari also said that the AMCB is exploring all venues to challenge the exclusion of FDWs including seeking out legal opinions for the planned filing of judicial review if other lobbying efforts fail.
“We shall not take infringement to our rights sitting down. We stand for what is just and right and we sincerely hope that the LegCo and the local people of Hong Kong will stand with us,” she said.
Member of the AMCB include the Association of Sri Lankans in Hong Kong (ASL-HK), Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia-Hong Kong (Atki-HK or Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers), Far-East Overseas Nepalese Association-Hong Kong (Feona-HK), Filipino Migrant Workers' Union (FMWU), Friends of Thai-Hong Kong (FOT-HK), Thai Regional Alliance (TRA-HK), and the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK).
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:29:00 07/08/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong have bonded with workers from other foreign countries in pressing the Legislative Council (LegCo) of Hong Kong to include them in the law that would legislate the wage increase of workers.
The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) staged a protest rally in front of the LegCo building to air their concern as the first reading of the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) was held.
“We appeal to the members of the Legislative Council (LegCo)...to show to the public and to the world you are compassionate, just, and non-discriminatory to those who already have less in the Hong Kong society. Include foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) bill,” said Eni Lestari, AMCB spokesperson, in a statement.
The group called on the members of the LegCo to be independent and not to be a “stamp pad” of the Executive Committee, which sees foreign domestic workers as “second-class, or even third-class, citizens and has never hesitated in reducing us to a slave-like status.”
Lestari said that AMCB will actively work to gather the widest support among the LegCo members in their bid to include the FDWs in the bill.
“Any wage increase in the SMW will undergo deliberations and LegCo decision. What we aim for is for FDW wage to be released from the arbitrary, unaccountable, and non-transparent process of the ExCo and be moved to the LegCo, where we, at least, can have a level playing field in terms of advocacy,” Lestari said.
Lestari had criticized Executive Committee’s justifications that the SMW was for the “protection of disadvantaged sectors” and for the “promotion of social harmony.”
“Are we not members of the disadvantaged sectors and are we not part of the HK (Hong Kong) society? This is the height of discrimination by the HK ExCo,” she said.
Lestari said that her group will seek out international support for the campaign such as lobbying with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and with trade unions of different countries.
Lestari also said that the AMCB is exploring all venues to challenge the exclusion of FDWs including seeking out legal opinions for the planned filing of judicial review if other lobbying efforts fail.
“We shall not take infringement to our rights sitting down. We stand for what is just and right and we sincerely hope that the LegCo and the local people of Hong Kong will stand with us,” she said.
Member of the AMCB include the Association of Sri Lankans in Hong Kong (ASL-HK), Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia-Hong Kong (Atki-HK or Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers), Far-East Overseas Nepalese Association-Hong Kong (Feona-HK), Filipino Migrant Workers' Union (FMWU), Friends of Thai-Hong Kong (FOT-HK), Thai Regional Alliance (TRA-HK), and the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK).
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Filipino Maids HK – Why Filipino Maids Prefer Western Employers
http://healthwealthmatters.com
Posted by Alice Sy in June 24th 2009
Most Filipino maids in Hong Kong would prefer Western employers over Chinese employers. Whenever they inquire from our employment agency for job opportunities, they are more likely to ask, “Do you have Western employers available?”
As an employment agency catering to both local and international market, we often receive inquiries from Western employers who are in need of domestic help from time to time as a result of our internet marketing using Google Adwords campaign.
Based on my interviews with some of those Filipino maids, they prefer Western employers compared with Chinese employers in Hong Kong because they tend to be more understanding and generous with compensation.
The four major areas where Western employers shows an edge over the Chinese employers in terms of their treatment of filipino domestic helpers are : atmosphere of work environment, consideration, socio-psychological distance and personal space. This is the result of the in-depth study conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong on how domestic helpers in Hong Kong are treated by their employers.
The data were based on in-depth and structured interviews of Filipino helpers who have served both types of employers. A few Western and Chinese employers were also interviewed.
The results of the study indicate that the Filipino maids, in general, are more satisfied with their Western employers, who tend to provide them with easier and more comfortable work environment, over their Chinese employers. Their Western employers are also more considerate and are more likely to treat them equally, allowing them more personal space.
With the treatment of Filipino maids, homogeneity of expectations, attitudes and actions is also a trait of Western employers, as the study shows. Unlike the Chinese employers who are more detailed in expectations and diversified, Western employers tend to concentrate, generally, on the positive side. To sum it up, Filipino maids are more likely to know what Western employers are expecting of them and how they would be treated versus the Chinese whose treatment would greatly vary from one employer to the other.
About the Author:
Before hiring your domestic helper, make sure you visit the top domestic helper agency Hong Kong for free profiles and photos of qualified English speaking applicants and contact us for the fastest way to hire your next Filipina maid, nanny, housekeeper, driver or gardener.
Posted by Alice Sy in June 24th 2009
Most Filipino maids in Hong Kong would prefer Western employers over Chinese employers. Whenever they inquire from our employment agency for job opportunities, they are more likely to ask, “Do you have Western employers available?”
As an employment agency catering to both local and international market, we often receive inquiries from Western employers who are in need of domestic help from time to time as a result of our internet marketing using Google Adwords campaign.
Based on my interviews with some of those Filipino maids, they prefer Western employers compared with Chinese employers in Hong Kong because they tend to be more understanding and generous with compensation.
The four major areas where Western employers shows an edge over the Chinese employers in terms of their treatment of filipino domestic helpers are : atmosphere of work environment, consideration, socio-psychological distance and personal space. This is the result of the in-depth study conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong on how domestic helpers in Hong Kong are treated by their employers.
The data were based on in-depth and structured interviews of Filipino helpers who have served both types of employers. A few Western and Chinese employers were also interviewed.
The results of the study indicate that the Filipino maids, in general, are more satisfied with their Western employers, who tend to provide them with easier and more comfortable work environment, over their Chinese employers. Their Western employers are also more considerate and are more likely to treat them equally, allowing them more personal space.
With the treatment of Filipino maids, homogeneity of expectations, attitudes and actions is also a trait of Western employers, as the study shows. Unlike the Chinese employers who are more detailed in expectations and diversified, Western employers tend to concentrate, generally, on the positive side. To sum it up, Filipino maids are more likely to know what Western employers are expecting of them and how they would be treated versus the Chinese whose treatment would greatly vary from one employer to the other.
About the Author:
Before hiring your domestic helper, make sure you visit the top domestic helper agency Hong Kong for free profiles and photos of qualified English speaking applicants and contact us for the fastest way to hire your next Filipina maid, nanny, housekeeper, driver or gardener.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Indonesian maids to outnumber Filipinos in Hong Kong
Earthtimes.org
Posted on : 2009-06-01 | Author : DPA
Hong Kong - Filipino maids have for decades been a ubiquitous sight in Hong Kong. But they are about to be outnumbered by Indonesians for the first time, a news report said Monday. The number of Indonesian maids in the wealthy former British colony rose 7 per cent last year to 125,567, compared to 126,075 Filipinos, the South China Morning Post said.
Quoting government figures, the newspaper pointed to a sharp trend for Hong Kong families to employ Indonesian rather than Filipino maids.
Indonesian maids will soon overtake Filipinos in overall numbers, the newspaper said, and it looks as if the current economic downturn will speed up the process.
The main reasons for Hong Kong families preferring Indonesian maids is that they speak better Cantonese and also that they are prepared to work for less than the legal minimum wage.
There is a government-set minimum wage of around 450 US dollars for foreign domestic helpers but Indonesians have a long-standing reputation of being prepared to work for less.
Agencies offer under-the-table deals to employers under which Indonesian maids will work for as little as a half of the legal minimum wage.
Apart from Indonesians and Filipinos, Hong Kong is home to 3,774 Thai domestic helpers and around 3,500 from other countries such as Sri Lanka, according to official figures for April 2009.
Posted on : 2009-06-01 | Author : DPA
Hong Kong - Filipino maids have for decades been a ubiquitous sight in Hong Kong. But they are about to be outnumbered by Indonesians for the first time, a news report said Monday. The number of Indonesian maids in the wealthy former British colony rose 7 per cent last year to 125,567, compared to 126,075 Filipinos, the South China Morning Post said.
Quoting government figures, the newspaper pointed to a sharp trend for Hong Kong families to employ Indonesian rather than Filipino maids.
Indonesian maids will soon overtake Filipinos in overall numbers, the newspaper said, and it looks as if the current economic downturn will speed up the process.
The main reasons for Hong Kong families preferring Indonesian maids is that they speak better Cantonese and also that they are prepared to work for less than the legal minimum wage.
There is a government-set minimum wage of around 450 US dollars for foreign domestic helpers but Indonesians have a long-standing reputation of being prepared to work for less.
Agencies offer under-the-table deals to employers under which Indonesian maids will work for as little as a half of the legal minimum wage.
Apart from Indonesians and Filipinos, Hong Kong is home to 3,774 Thai domestic helpers and around 3,500 from other countries such as Sri Lanka, according to official figures for April 2009.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Racism now a crime in Hong Kong
Asia News Network, inquirer.net
07/12/2008
AFTER more than a decade of debate, a controversial anti-racism bill has been unanimously approved by legislators in Hong Kong.
This could be good news for non-Chinese Hong Kongers like the Arcilla family.
Originally from the Philippines, the Arcillas have called Hong Kong home for more than two decades.
All of the four Arcilla children were educated in the city after the family's move, and both parents speak fluent English and some Cantonese, hold steady jobs and pay taxes.
Yet they face racism on a daily basis.
Father Ray Arcilla, 54, said he has been called “stupid and “brainless” in the course of his work as an engineer, simply because of the colour of his skin.
His 26-year-old daughter Tesa said she has met Hong Kongers who assume she is either a maid or a prostitute because she is a Filipina.
Under the new anti-racism legislation, the discrimination faced by the Arcillas could now be illegal.
The new law aims to guarantee racial equality by criminalizing "discrimination, harassment and vilification on the ground of race".
Even so, some rights groups like Unison, which represents ethnic minorities, criticize the bill for not going far enough to protect minority rights.
Fermi Wong, the director of Unison, said it was “ridiculous” that government agencies, including the police, are exempted from the law.
But secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs Stephen Lam said it was not feasible to include all government departments in the bill.
Doing so could result in "an influx of litigation and complaints which are unreasonable and unnecessary...and would hamper efficient administration", he said.
Ethnic minority groups, who make up five per cent of Hong Kong's seven million population, have long complained of discrimination from the majority-Chinese population, especially towards the darker-skinned South Asians.
There are hundreds of thousands of ethnic Indians, Filipinos, Nepalese and members of other South Asian groups living in Hong Kong.
Many often complain they are paid less than Hong Kong Chinese for the same jobs or are made to work longer hours.
Some have also reported unfair treatment from hospitals and government departments, and difficulty in getting places for their children in public schools because of poor Chinese-language skills.
A separate row over a controversial clause exempting language discrimination divided lawmakers and nearly torpedoed the bill.
Under the original clause, government agencies and hospitals would be required to provide services in languages other than Chinese.
Margaret Ng, who chairs the Legislative Council's bills committee and is a long-time champion of an anti-discrimination law, slammed the government for its 'mono-language existence'.
In a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday night, she told fellow lawmakers: "I stand before this council and the eyes of the world bowed down with shame and disappointment. I am deeply ashamed of our government."
Unison's Wong said the problem was that the government did not see minorities as a politically significant constituency.
"There is not a single non-Chinese legislator representing their interests," she noted.
In March, Wong and other equal rights campaigners headed to Geneva to express their concerns to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
She intends to return next month to put pressure on the Hong Kong government to amend the anti-racial discrimination bill.
But some members of minority races - the very people the bill sets out to protect - are apathetic about the law and its clauses and exemptions.
Arcilla echoed the thoughts of others when he said there is only so much a law can do.
"The rest is up to education." Caryn Yeo, The Straits Times-ANN
07/12/2008
AFTER more than a decade of debate, a controversial anti-racism bill has been unanimously approved by legislators in Hong Kong.
This could be good news for non-Chinese Hong Kongers like the Arcilla family.
Originally from the Philippines, the Arcillas have called Hong Kong home for more than two decades.
All of the four Arcilla children were educated in the city after the family's move, and both parents speak fluent English and some Cantonese, hold steady jobs and pay taxes.
Yet they face racism on a daily basis.
Father Ray Arcilla, 54, said he has been called “stupid and “brainless” in the course of his work as an engineer, simply because of the colour of his skin.
His 26-year-old daughter Tesa said she has met Hong Kongers who assume she is either a maid or a prostitute because she is a Filipina.
Under the new anti-racism legislation, the discrimination faced by the Arcillas could now be illegal.
The new law aims to guarantee racial equality by criminalizing "discrimination, harassment and vilification on the ground of race".
Even so, some rights groups like Unison, which represents ethnic minorities, criticize the bill for not going far enough to protect minority rights.
Fermi Wong, the director of Unison, said it was “ridiculous” that government agencies, including the police, are exempted from the law.
But secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs Stephen Lam said it was not feasible to include all government departments in the bill.
Doing so could result in "an influx of litigation and complaints which are unreasonable and unnecessary...and would hamper efficient administration", he said.
Ethnic minority groups, who make up five per cent of Hong Kong's seven million population, have long complained of discrimination from the majority-Chinese population, especially towards the darker-skinned South Asians.
There are hundreds of thousands of ethnic Indians, Filipinos, Nepalese and members of other South Asian groups living in Hong Kong.
Many often complain they are paid less than Hong Kong Chinese for the same jobs or are made to work longer hours.
Some have also reported unfair treatment from hospitals and government departments, and difficulty in getting places for their children in public schools because of poor Chinese-language skills.
A separate row over a controversial clause exempting language discrimination divided lawmakers and nearly torpedoed the bill.
Under the original clause, government agencies and hospitals would be required to provide services in languages other than Chinese.
Margaret Ng, who chairs the Legislative Council's bills committee and is a long-time champion of an anti-discrimination law, slammed the government for its 'mono-language existence'.
In a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday night, she told fellow lawmakers: "I stand before this council and the eyes of the world bowed down with shame and disappointment. I am deeply ashamed of our government."
Unison's Wong said the problem was that the government did not see minorities as a politically significant constituency.
"There is not a single non-Chinese legislator representing their interests," she noted.
In March, Wong and other equal rights campaigners headed to Geneva to express their concerns to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
She intends to return next month to put pressure on the Hong Kong government to amend the anti-racial discrimination bill.
But some members of minority races - the very people the bill sets out to protect - are apathetic about the law and its clauses and exemptions.
Arcilla echoed the thoughts of others when he said there is only so much a law can do.
"The rest is up to education." Caryn Yeo, The Straits Times-ANN
OFWs protest direct hiring ban in HK
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
02/09/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong mounted their first major protest on Sunday against the ban on direct hiring imposed in January by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
According to the United Filipinos in Hong Kong-Migrante, about 1,000 Filipino workers trooped to the Philippine consulate general in Hong Kong and presented a petition against the ban signed by 12,130 Filipino migrants.
The workers formed last January 18 a new coalition called the Samahan laban sa Katiwalian ng mga Recruitment Agencies at Patakarang Ban sa Direct Hiring (SKRAP, Association against the Corruption of Recruitment Agencies and the Ban on Direct Hiring), to protest the Memorandum Circular No. 04 of the POEA.
The coalition is composed of 75 Filipino migrant organizations in Hong Kong.
The POEA re-imposed the direct hiring ban in Hong Kong at the beginning of 2009, saying overseas employment coursed through recruitment agencies would ensure the protection of the rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers.
But the workers’ groups opposed this. “It is never for our protection. The only interest that the ban on direct hiring is serving is that of the government and unscrupulous recruiters--not us, migrant workers,” said Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chair of the United Filipinos in HK-Migrante and convener of the SKRAP coalition.
Pelaez, in a statement emailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said that a survey of the Hong Kong-based Mission for Migrant Workers showed that about 74 percent of Filipino domestic workers in the Chinese territory were employed through recruitment agencies.
Of those who were recruited by agencies, 54 percent paid P60,000 to more than P100,000 as agency fees, according to the survey.
“Overcharging of recruitment fees and the lack of government protection and services are the widespread and serious problems we are facing, not direct hiring. Direct hiring is in fact the only recourse we have to get saved from overcharging of greedy recruiters,” Pelaez said.
The OFW leader added that placement fees are supposed to have been abolished by the recruitment guidelines of the POEA issued in 2007 but recruiters continue to collect huge amount of fees under the guise of training charges.
“What the guidelines did was to worsen the problem as they removed any legal limitation to what recruiters can charge to migrants. Up to now, no effective actions have been done to stamp up overcharging,” she lamented.
Before the guidelines were issued, the legal limit for a placement fee was approximately P20,000 or the equivalence of a one-month salary, Pelaez recalled.
Pelaez claimed that the conciliation process that the Philippine consulate has been using to resolve disputes on overcharging was slow. The complaints against recruiters are no longer pursued once the complaining OFWs go home, according to Pelaez.
The migrant leader said overcharging has been happening too in other countries. In Taiwan, she said, placement fees for OFWs ranged from P80,000 to P140,000 and paid in cash or through salary deductions. In the Middle East, placement agencies “do not care about the plight of domestic workers and even force a number of them to work with other employers with no or little pay until their loans are paid,” she said.
“Protection will never come from recruiters who are only concerned with how much profit they can get from us. Ban on direct hiring is just the government’s way to pass on its responsibility of providing assistance to the OFWs to the recruitment agencies,” she explained.
Pelaez said the recruitment agencies have been pushing Congress to pass a law on compulsory employment liability insurance so that they could be relieved of the burden of money claims or damages sought by workers.
Pelaez said the ban on direct hiring was an incentive to recruiters in line with the government’s policy of intensifying Filipino labor exports. She said that such move was reflected in the Administrative Order No. 247 issued by the Malacañang last month that directed recruiters to be more aggressive in exploring labor markets.
“The ban is not the answer to our problems. In these times of crisis, what we need are concrete protection and services and not license for recruiters to overcharge nor a more intensified labor export,” said.
POEA tried to ban direct hiring twice—through MC-41 in 1994 and MC-04 in 2008. Due to the widespread protests, MC-41 was scrapped while the MC-04 was held in abeyance.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
02/09/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong mounted their first major protest on Sunday against the ban on direct hiring imposed in January by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
According to the United Filipinos in Hong Kong-Migrante, about 1,000 Filipino workers trooped to the Philippine consulate general in Hong Kong and presented a petition against the ban signed by 12,130 Filipino migrants.
The workers formed last January 18 a new coalition called the Samahan laban sa Katiwalian ng mga Recruitment Agencies at Patakarang Ban sa Direct Hiring (SKRAP, Association against the Corruption of Recruitment Agencies and the Ban on Direct Hiring), to protest the Memorandum Circular No. 04 of the POEA.
The coalition is composed of 75 Filipino migrant organizations in Hong Kong.
The POEA re-imposed the direct hiring ban in Hong Kong at the beginning of 2009, saying overseas employment coursed through recruitment agencies would ensure the protection of the rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers.
But the workers’ groups opposed this. “It is never for our protection. The only interest that the ban on direct hiring is serving is that of the government and unscrupulous recruiters--not us, migrant workers,” said Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chair of the United Filipinos in HK-Migrante and convener of the SKRAP coalition.
Pelaez, in a statement emailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said that a survey of the Hong Kong-based Mission for Migrant Workers showed that about 74 percent of Filipino domestic workers in the Chinese territory were employed through recruitment agencies.
Of those who were recruited by agencies, 54 percent paid P60,000 to more than P100,000 as agency fees, according to the survey.
“Overcharging of recruitment fees and the lack of government protection and services are the widespread and serious problems we are facing, not direct hiring. Direct hiring is in fact the only recourse we have to get saved from overcharging of greedy recruiters,” Pelaez said.
The OFW leader added that placement fees are supposed to have been abolished by the recruitment guidelines of the POEA issued in 2007 but recruiters continue to collect huge amount of fees under the guise of training charges.
“What the guidelines did was to worsen the problem as they removed any legal limitation to what recruiters can charge to migrants. Up to now, no effective actions have been done to stamp up overcharging,” she lamented.
Before the guidelines were issued, the legal limit for a placement fee was approximately P20,000 or the equivalence of a one-month salary, Pelaez recalled.
Pelaez claimed that the conciliation process that the Philippine consulate has been using to resolve disputes on overcharging was slow. The complaints against recruiters are no longer pursued once the complaining OFWs go home, according to Pelaez.
The migrant leader said overcharging has been happening too in other countries. In Taiwan, she said, placement fees for OFWs ranged from P80,000 to P140,000 and paid in cash or through salary deductions. In the Middle East, placement agencies “do not care about the plight of domestic workers and even force a number of them to work with other employers with no or little pay until their loans are paid,” she said.
“Protection will never come from recruiters who are only concerned with how much profit they can get from us. Ban on direct hiring is just the government’s way to pass on its responsibility of providing assistance to the OFWs to the recruitment agencies,” she explained.
Pelaez said the recruitment agencies have been pushing Congress to pass a law on compulsory employment liability insurance so that they could be relieved of the burden of money claims or damages sought by workers.
Pelaez said the ban on direct hiring was an incentive to recruiters in line with the government’s policy of intensifying Filipino labor exports. She said that such move was reflected in the Administrative Order No. 247 issued by the Malacañang last month that directed recruiters to be more aggressive in exploring labor markets.
“The ban is not the answer to our problems. In these times of crisis, what we need are concrete protection and services and not license for recruiters to overcharge nor a more intensified labor export,” said.
POEA tried to ban direct hiring twice—through MC-41 in 1994 and MC-04 in 2008. Due to the widespread protests, MC-41 was scrapped while the MC-04 was held in abeyance.
OFW groups in HK form coalition against POEA circular
Cebu Daily News, inquirer.net
02/07/2008
MANILA—Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong Wednesday formed a coalition to oppose a new regulation on direct hiring issued recently by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Sixty-five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) groups including eight alliances, eight church-based associations, three union chapters and 44 organizations, formed the Samahan Laban sa Katiwalian ng mga Recruitment Agencies at Patakarang (SKRAP MC-04).
Lead convenor United Filipinos (Unifil) in Hong Kong said the coalition would hold protests and launch signature drives to press for the scrapping of the POEA Memorandum Circular No. 04, which, among others required foreign employers to post a repatriation bond of $5,000 plus $3,000 performance bond in hiring an employee from the Philippines.
The performance bond will guarantee payment of the OFW's salary for the duration of his or her job abroad. The repatriation bond will assure that in the event the OFW dies, he or she can be sent back to his or her country.
Unifil chair Dolores Balladares said SKRAP MC-04 will also be calling for more effective mechanisms to stamp out overcharging of fees by recruitment agencies, to scrap the controversial guidelines on recruitment of domestics, and improve services to OFWs.
"POEA MC-04 doesn't, in any way, serve our interest but is only for greater financial gains of unscrupulous recruitment agencies as well as further fattening of government funds that never translate to our well-being," she added.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, another group of OFWs said the Labor Department would better alleviate the burden of OFWs if it just revoked the charging and collection of placement and recruitment fees to OFWs and aspiring overseas workers alike.
The POEA Governing Board will be meeting on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 to discuss MC-04. Migrante-Middle East said that aside from scrapping the circular, POEA should repeal a provision pertaining to charging of placement fees in the rules on landbased recruitment. /Inquirer
02/07/2008
MANILA—Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong Wednesday formed a coalition to oppose a new regulation on direct hiring issued recently by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Sixty-five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) groups including eight alliances, eight church-based associations, three union chapters and 44 organizations, formed the Samahan Laban sa Katiwalian ng mga Recruitment Agencies at Patakarang (SKRAP MC-04).
Lead convenor United Filipinos (Unifil) in Hong Kong said the coalition would hold protests and launch signature drives to press for the scrapping of the POEA Memorandum Circular No. 04, which, among others required foreign employers to post a repatriation bond of $5,000 plus $3,000 performance bond in hiring an employee from the Philippines.
The performance bond will guarantee payment of the OFW's salary for the duration of his or her job abroad. The repatriation bond will assure that in the event the OFW dies, he or she can be sent back to his or her country.
Unifil chair Dolores Balladares said SKRAP MC-04 will also be calling for more effective mechanisms to stamp out overcharging of fees by recruitment agencies, to scrap the controversial guidelines on recruitment of domestics, and improve services to OFWs.
"POEA MC-04 doesn't, in any way, serve our interest but is only for greater financial gains of unscrupulous recruitment agencies as well as further fattening of government funds that never translate to our well-being," she added.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, another group of OFWs said the Labor Department would better alleviate the burden of OFWs if it just revoked the charging and collection of placement and recruitment fees to OFWs and aspiring overseas workers alike.
The POEA Governing Board will be meeting on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 to discuss MC-04. Migrante-Middle East said that aside from scrapping the circular, POEA should repeal a provision pertaining to charging of placement fees in the rules on landbased recruitment. /Inquirer
Migrant workers of the world unite with HK assembly
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: May 30, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Migrant workers from around the world, the Philippines included, are gearing up for the founding assembly of the International Migrants Alliance or IMA on June 15 and 16 which will be held in Hong Kong.
Connie Bragas-Regalado, Migrante International chair, said among the topics for discussion would be issues on wage, remittance, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the war on terror and its impact on migrant workers, undocumented migrants, women and violence, health and HIV/AIDS and other social costs of forced migration.
“The time for the grassroots migrants, immigrants, refugees and other displaced people has arrived. The IMA shall make sure their voices will never be discounted again,” Regalado said in a statement.
Already 121 individuals from 97 organizations and 24 countries have confirmed their participation in the gathering, she said. Irene Fernandez, a prominent Malaysian human rights activist and founder of women’s rights organization, Tenaganita, will keynote the event.
Other conveners of IMA include the Turkish group Atik-Europe, the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers (ATKI) in Hong Kong, Migrante and its chapters, the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Phil Forum in the United States, and Malaysia’s Tenaganita.
“For many years, many have spoken on our behalf. This time, we will speak for ourselves,” said Eni Lestari, ATKI representative and spokesperson of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB-HK), in a separate statement.
Lestari said the presence of a vibrant movement of migrant workers in Hong Kong played a big part in the decision to hold the IMA assembly there.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: May 30, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Migrant workers from around the world, the Philippines included, are gearing up for the founding assembly of the International Migrants Alliance or IMA on June 15 and 16 which will be held in Hong Kong.
Connie Bragas-Regalado, Migrante International chair, said among the topics for discussion would be issues on wage, remittance, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the war on terror and its impact on migrant workers, undocumented migrants, women and violence, health and HIV/AIDS and other social costs of forced migration.
“The time for the grassroots migrants, immigrants, refugees and other displaced people has arrived. The IMA shall make sure their voices will never be discounted again,” Regalado said in a statement.
Already 121 individuals from 97 organizations and 24 countries have confirmed their participation in the gathering, she said. Irene Fernandez, a prominent Malaysian human rights activist and founder of women’s rights organization, Tenaganita, will keynote the event.
Other conveners of IMA include the Turkish group Atik-Europe, the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers (ATKI) in Hong Kong, Migrante and its chapters, the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Phil Forum in the United States, and Malaysia’s Tenaganita.
“For many years, many have spoken on our behalf. This time, we will speak for ourselves,” said Eni Lestari, ATKI representative and spokesperson of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB-HK), in a separate statement.
Lestari said the presence of a vibrant movement of migrant workers in Hong Kong played a big part in the decision to hold the IMA assembly there.
5,000 Filipino maids march in HK vs new deployment rules
By Blanche S. Rivera, Contributor
Inquirer
01/28/2007
HONG KONG— In the biggest show of force since the wage cut protests in 2001, about 5,000 Filipino domestic helpers marched on the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest the Philippine government’s new pre-qualification requirements for household service workers.
Enraged by tales of terminated contracts, steep cost of training and tests required by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and alleged extortion in Manila’s airport, the domestic workers demanded the immediate scrapping of the new POEA guidelines.
A petition to junk the new scheme was submitted to two labor officials from the Philippine Consulate here, who refused to address an agitated crowd that booed at every mention of the consulate or government.
“The additional P5,000 to P10,000 fee for the training and the certificate will even worsen the financial situation of OFWs and our families,” the petition signed by 135 groups stated.
“We are already burdened by various government fees such as the high price of passport, the authentication fee, and even the Overseas Employment Certificate. For the government, every document and every service that we require has a price tag,” the groups said.
Filipinos comprise the biggest population of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, with over 120,000 working in households.
Hong Kong is one of the top three destinations of Filipino maids, according to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
United Filipinos in Hong Kong chair Dolores Balladares said the crowd turnout was the biggest since the protests over the wage cut in 2001, which saw a peak of 12,000 Filipino workers out on the streets.
“This was hastily called. We only announced this last week, but so many people came here because they are really angry about this new money-making scheme,” Balladares said in Filipino.
“We expect more will come next week,” she said. Next Sunday’s protest will be led by church organizations in Hong Kong.
Migrante secretary general Rowena dela Cruz said one member had reported the case of a Filipino domestic worker who had to pay P15,000 at the airport so she could get a certificate without undergoing the required training and the tests.
Dela Cruz said the helper, a friend of one of its members in Hong Kong’s Sha Tin district, was in the Philippines on emergency leave because her father had died. When she was about to fly back to Hong Kong, she was stopped at the airport.
Migrante, however, could not identify who exactly sought the P15,000 in exchange for the certificate. Tales of employers terminating contracts of vacationing Filipino workers who could not return on time are common in Hong Kong.
“This is extortion. We do not want these training or tests. They are only a burden to us and our families,” Balladares said.
The protesters’ line snaked from Chater Road in Central to Harcourt Garden beside the United Center in Admiralty, which houses the Philippine Consulate office.
The march to Harcourt Garden caused traffic jams in major thoroughfares in Central, prompting police to block more groups from joining the crowd already gathered in the plaza.
“I’m just here to support,” said Gloria Javier, who has been a domestic worker in Hong Kong for 15 years.
Javier, who does not belong to any militant organization and normally spends her day off in church, said she had heard of the new guidelines and had to drop plans of recommending her niece in the Philippines to an employer here whose need for a maid was urgent.
“Hindi naman marami ang pera namin. Malaki na nga ang natutulong ng remittances tapos kukuhaan pa kami ulit, parang sobra na naman (We’re not earning a lot. Our remittances help the economy and yet, the government wants more. It’s too much),” she said.
Unifil’s Norman Carnay said the Hong Kong Police’s community relations officer had told the group that it would issue an official warning to the organizers for going over the number of protesters approved by the police.
To acquire a permit to use the Harcourt Garden, organizers told police only around 1,500 people would come, but Carnay said police had estimated the crowd at 5,000 when Unifil stopped others from joining. The Inquirer count placed the crowd at Harcourt Garden at 4,000 at its peak.
Those who were stopped by police on their way to Harcourt Garden conducted their own program at Chater Garden in Central.
Inquirer
01/28/2007
HONG KONG— In the biggest show of force since the wage cut protests in 2001, about 5,000 Filipino domestic helpers marched on the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest the Philippine government’s new pre-qualification requirements for household service workers.
Enraged by tales of terminated contracts, steep cost of training and tests required by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and alleged extortion in Manila’s airport, the domestic workers demanded the immediate scrapping of the new POEA guidelines.
A petition to junk the new scheme was submitted to two labor officials from the Philippine Consulate here, who refused to address an agitated crowd that booed at every mention of the consulate or government.
“The additional P5,000 to P10,000 fee for the training and the certificate will even worsen the financial situation of OFWs and our families,” the petition signed by 135 groups stated.
“We are already burdened by various government fees such as the high price of passport, the authentication fee, and even the Overseas Employment Certificate. For the government, every document and every service that we require has a price tag,” the groups said.
Filipinos comprise the biggest population of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, with over 120,000 working in households.
Hong Kong is one of the top three destinations of Filipino maids, according to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
United Filipinos in Hong Kong chair Dolores Balladares said the crowd turnout was the biggest since the protests over the wage cut in 2001, which saw a peak of 12,000 Filipino workers out on the streets.
“This was hastily called. We only announced this last week, but so many people came here because they are really angry about this new money-making scheme,” Balladares said in Filipino.
“We expect more will come next week,” she said. Next Sunday’s protest will be led by church organizations in Hong Kong.
Migrante secretary general Rowena dela Cruz said one member had reported the case of a Filipino domestic worker who had to pay P15,000 at the airport so she could get a certificate without undergoing the required training and the tests.
Dela Cruz said the helper, a friend of one of its members in Hong Kong’s Sha Tin district, was in the Philippines on emergency leave because her father had died. When she was about to fly back to Hong Kong, she was stopped at the airport.
Migrante, however, could not identify who exactly sought the P15,000 in exchange for the certificate. Tales of employers terminating contracts of vacationing Filipino workers who could not return on time are common in Hong Kong.
“This is extortion. We do not want these training or tests. They are only a burden to us and our families,” Balladares said.
The protesters’ line snaked from Chater Road in Central to Harcourt Garden beside the United Center in Admiralty, which houses the Philippine Consulate office.
The march to Harcourt Garden caused traffic jams in major thoroughfares in Central, prompting police to block more groups from joining the crowd already gathered in the plaza.
“I’m just here to support,” said Gloria Javier, who has been a domestic worker in Hong Kong for 15 years.
Javier, who does not belong to any militant organization and normally spends her day off in church, said she had heard of the new guidelines and had to drop plans of recommending her niece in the Philippines to an employer here whose need for a maid was urgent.
“Hindi naman marami ang pera namin. Malaki na nga ang natutulong ng remittances tapos kukuhaan pa kami ulit, parang sobra na naman (We’re not earning a lot. Our remittances help the economy and yet, the government wants more. It’s too much),” she said.
Unifil’s Norman Carnay said the Hong Kong Police’s community relations officer had told the group that it would issue an official warning to the organizers for going over the number of protesters approved by the police.
To acquire a permit to use the Harcourt Garden, organizers told police only around 1,500 people would come, but Carnay said police had estimated the crowd at 5,000 when Unifil stopped others from joining. The Inquirer count placed the crowd at Harcourt Garden at 4,000 at its peak.
Those who were stopped by police on their way to Harcourt Garden conducted their own program at Chater Garden in Central.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
RP ban on direct hiring of HK maids hit
By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:34:00 01/13/2009
MANILA, Philippines—The militant labor group Migrante on Tuesday condemned the government's ban on direct hiring of Filipino maids in Hong Kong, saying it would be an additional burden to overseas Filipino workers.
Around 30 Migrante members picketed the Department of Labor and Employment building in Manila Tuesday morning to decry the implementation of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's Memorandum Circular 04.
The new regulation, which took effect on January 1, prohibits Hong Kong employers from hiring domestic workers from the Philippines directly. Under the memorandum, all hiring must be done by recruitment agencies accredited by the POEA.
The government issued the memorandum early last year to protect OFWs from abusive employers.
Migrante chairman Garry Martinez said the new policy does not benefit OFWs. He noted that the memorandum was an added burden to workers as it would leave them at the mercy of recruiters who require placement fees and pay cuts in exchange for a posting in the former British colony.
“The only ones who are celebrating for the direct hiring ban in Hong Kong are the recruitment agencies and their cohorts in the government who are reliably defending their interests. We highly condemn this connivance between the Arroyo administration and the recruitment agencies, who are further exhorting OFWs out of their earnings amidst the global financial crisis,” Martinez said.
The labor group said the Philippine government pushed for the policy because it stands to receive P3 billion in additional revenues from the fees paid by the workers to the government and recruiters.
Under the new scheme, recruiters pay the government P2,400 for every contract. In the direct hiring method, OFWs only pay the government the required processing fees.
“Eliminating the direct hiring scheme, therefore, assures the government of more than P3 billion in revenues annually, with the number of contracts processed in 2007 at 1,306,078,” the Migrante official said.
Migrante also cried foul over the implementation of the new policy. According to Martinez, the government “abruptly” announced the regulation on December 28 on the website of the Hong Kong consulate.
“Like a thief in the night, without any consultation or any warning, the anti-migrant policy was posted in their website three days before its implementation and during the longest Yuletide holiday in the Philippines,” Martinez said.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:34:00 01/13/2009
MANILA, Philippines—The militant labor group Migrante on Tuesday condemned the government's ban on direct hiring of Filipino maids in Hong Kong, saying it would be an additional burden to overseas Filipino workers.
Around 30 Migrante members picketed the Department of Labor and Employment building in Manila Tuesday morning to decry the implementation of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's Memorandum Circular 04.
The new regulation, which took effect on January 1, prohibits Hong Kong employers from hiring domestic workers from the Philippines directly. Under the memorandum, all hiring must be done by recruitment agencies accredited by the POEA.
The government issued the memorandum early last year to protect OFWs from abusive employers.
Migrante chairman Garry Martinez said the new policy does not benefit OFWs. He noted that the memorandum was an added burden to workers as it would leave them at the mercy of recruiters who require placement fees and pay cuts in exchange for a posting in the former British colony.
“The only ones who are celebrating for the direct hiring ban in Hong Kong are the recruitment agencies and their cohorts in the government who are reliably defending their interests. We highly condemn this connivance between the Arroyo administration and the recruitment agencies, who are further exhorting OFWs out of their earnings amidst the global financial crisis,” Martinez said.
The labor group said the Philippine government pushed for the policy because it stands to receive P3 billion in additional revenues from the fees paid by the workers to the government and recruiters.
Under the new scheme, recruiters pay the government P2,400 for every contract. In the direct hiring method, OFWs only pay the government the required processing fees.
“Eliminating the direct hiring scheme, therefore, assures the government of more than P3 billion in revenues annually, with the number of contracts processed in 2007 at 1,306,078,” the Migrante official said.
Migrante also cried foul over the implementation of the new policy. According to Martinez, the government “abruptly” announced the regulation on December 28 on the website of the Hong Kong consulate.
“Like a thief in the night, without any consultation or any warning, the anti-migrant policy was posted in their website three days before its implementation and during the longest Yuletide holiday in the Philippines,” Martinez said.
OFWs in HK to rally vs direct-hiring ban
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:50:00 02/03/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong are planning to stage a rally on Sunday to oppose Manila’s continued ban on direct hiring, a group of migrant Filipinos in the former British colony said.
More than 6,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong have signed the petition calling for the lifting of the ban, which they said only benefits recruiters, Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong, said Tuesday.
"Instead of answering our need for sufficient services and genuine protection, the Philippine government chose to resurrect the ban on direct hiring that forcibly feed us to unscrupulous recruiters," she said in a statement e-mailed to media outfits.
There are more than 100,000 overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong.
In 2007, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued the Guidelines on Hiring Household Service Workers, which, among other things, removed placement fees.
In reality, Balladares said, the guidelines did not reduce the OFWs’ expenses because the rules also allowed recruiters to collect "training fees."
"We said it before and we say it again: A ban on direct hiring is never for our protection as it puts us in an even more vulnerable position to get exploited and overcharged by recruiters. The government doesn't do anything to finally stamp out overcharging and
now they have the gall to throw us to the wolves," she added.
Balladares noted that the government previously tried to impose the ban in 1994 through POEA Memorandum Circular 41, which Department of Labor and Employment Order 11 scrapped in 2001, and in 2008 POEA Memorandum Circular 04, which was not implemented at all.
"Direct hiring is the way for us not to get victimized by overcharging. What is more condemnable is, like his predecessors, DoLE Secretary Marianito Roque continues to deceive us by saying that the ban is for our protection," she said, noting that recruiters charge OFWs between P20,000 to P100,000..
Balladares said the labor chief is muddling the issue by insisting that only a small number of overseas Filipinos go through the direct hiring process. She also criticized Philippine Labor Attaché in Hong Kong Romulo Salud for trying to confuse OFWs by calling direct hiring, name hiring, which is essentially the same thing.
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:50:00 02/03/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong are planning to stage a rally on Sunday to oppose Manila’s continued ban on direct hiring, a group of migrant Filipinos in the former British colony said.
More than 6,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong have signed the petition calling for the lifting of the ban, which they said only benefits recruiters, Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong, said Tuesday.
"Instead of answering our need for sufficient services and genuine protection, the Philippine government chose to resurrect the ban on direct hiring that forcibly feed us to unscrupulous recruiters," she said in a statement e-mailed to media outfits.
There are more than 100,000 overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong.
In 2007, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued the Guidelines on Hiring Household Service Workers, which, among other things, removed placement fees.
In reality, Balladares said, the guidelines did not reduce the OFWs’ expenses because the rules also allowed recruiters to collect "training fees."
"We said it before and we say it again: A ban on direct hiring is never for our protection as it puts us in an even more vulnerable position to get exploited and overcharged by recruiters. The government doesn't do anything to finally stamp out overcharging and
now they have the gall to throw us to the wolves," she added.
Balladares noted that the government previously tried to impose the ban in 1994 through POEA Memorandum Circular 41, which Department of Labor and Employment Order 11 scrapped in 2001, and in 2008 POEA Memorandum Circular 04, which was not implemented at all.
"Direct hiring is the way for us not to get victimized by overcharging. What is more condemnable is, like his predecessors, DoLE Secretary Marianito Roque continues to deceive us by saying that the ban is for our protection," she said, noting that recruiters charge OFWs between P20,000 to P100,000..
Balladares said the labor chief is muddling the issue by insisting that only a small number of overseas Filipinos go through the direct hiring process. She also criticized Philippine Labor Attaché in Hong Kong Romulo Salud for trying to confuse OFWs by calling direct hiring, name hiring, which is essentially the same thing.
She fights for HK Pinoys’ right to vote
By Blanche Rivera
Inquirer
First Posted 11:34:00 05/17/2007
HONG KONG—MOST PEOPLE HERE KNOW her name. Daphne Ceniza-Kuok, after all, rings a bell.
But few know that this Filipina’s life—a history of fighting for various causes from various angles—rings loud with something bigger than a married name associated with swanky hotels.
Kuok, 47, carries a conviction from her past that remains unchanged.
“Service, once it gets into you, will always be there,” Kuok tells the Inquirer in an interview at the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town where the overseas absentee voting (OAV) was being held.
Her story is an alphabet soup of political and non-government organizations since the 1980s. But for the last seven years, her advocacy has been spelled with only three letters: OAV.
Kuok, a member of the International Coalition for Overseas Filipino Voting Rights (ICOFVR), has been devoted to encouraging overseas Filipino workers to exercise their political right to vote.
She sits as vice chair of the special board of canvassers in Hong Kong, the post with the second biggest population of registered overseas voters at 96,505.
Hong Kong had the highest voter turnout in 2004, with 64 percent casting their ballots. The situation has been dismal this year, however.
The Philippine Consulate and Filipino organizations here had exerted all efforts to encourage migrants to vote, even providing free bus rides to the polling precinct.
Kuok says many OFWs were excited in 2004 because it was the first time they could vote outside the country. Others from the martial law generation who left the Philippines before democracy was restored were enthusiastic about simply voting again.
Apathy
The apathy in this second OAV showed that there is still “no appreciation of the value of voting” among OFWs, says Kuok.
She says most OFWs do not realize that participating in the elections to determine who will make up Congress will directly affect their lives.
“We have to remind them that they are here because of force of circumstance, of the economic situation back home. If it had been better, there will be no need for them to break away from their families,” Kuok says.
“Now they have the chance to have their say, they should take care of it. We got the OAV Law because we pounded on Congress, we developed allies,” she says.
In 2001, those behind the E-lagda, an online campaign among Filipinos abroad to support the ouster of then President Joseph Estrada decided to take on a new advocacy: overseas voting.
Filipino professionals from all over Europe, the United States, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, including Kuok who was then in Beijing with her family, formed the ICOFVR, a coalition that survived through e-mail but had enough clout back home to keep key allies in Congress.
Dedication
Although most of them have never met, the trust was such that one member from the United States even asked his sister in Manila to hand over a check for P175,000 to Ellen Sana, a member of the Center for Migrants Advocacy (CMA), for the payment of an OAV advertisement in the Inquirer.
“So you see the dedication... That’s what I’ve been telling the consulate here, you have to get the community involved. There must be a sense of ownership of this activity,” Kuok says.
After two years of lobbying, the ICOFVR finally saw Congress pass the OAV Law in 2003. The first OAV was held in time for the presidential elections in 2004.
“Until now, we have not seen each other, but we still update each other about what’s going on,” Kuok says of the ICOFVR.
Old hand at lobbying
The woman is no stranger to lobbying — fighting, to be precise. A Social Science graduate, she was a student leader in the University of the Philippines during martial law.
She dropped out of UP law school in her third year after the wife of rebel priest Conrado Balweg was arrested by the military coming from her house. The military was hot on her heels then.
Kuok was involved with the League of Filipino Students (LFS), and later, the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (Jaja) movement, then the Nationalist Alliance for Justice, Freedom and Democracy (NAJFD) with the likes of Chino Roces and Lorenzo Tañada. She was also with the Women for Ouster of Marcos and Boycott (Womb), which did a “state-of-the-nation” fashion show.
By the time democracy returned in 1987, ideological differences had split the communist movement in the Philippines, and Kuok, who described herself then as “a lone ranger” decided to try and get a job, like all her friends who had by then become lawyers.
Unfortunately for her, a resumé with a rough sketch of her work experience as “media liaison officer during the ceasefire” did not impress employers.
“I had been an activist for years, so I had nothing to show them... Imagine the humiliation of knowing you’re intelligent, or being in your Sunday best, and not even getting a chance to be interviewed,” she recalls.
That period had been a life-changing journey for Kuok, who then put up her own boutique and supplies trading business instead.
“At the end of the day, God will strip you of all your confidence until there’s nothing but you and Him,” she says.
Migrants’ concerns
Kuok was with the Concerned Citizens against Pollution (Cocap) when she married in 1989. She moved to Beijing in 1994 and became a full-time wife and mother.
When her family transferred to Hong Kong in 2001, Kuok picked up migrants concerns again. She founded the Filipino Community Services and Information Network (Filcomsin) and became an active member of the CMA in Manila.
Involvement with the OAV is her way of rallying migrants to address the moral vacuum in the Philippine government, she says. “Everything that had happened in my life is part of God’s molding and equipping for me… Service is just something you have to do, I think,” she says.
Inquirer
First Posted 11:34:00 05/17/2007
HONG KONG—MOST PEOPLE HERE KNOW her name. Daphne Ceniza-Kuok, after all, rings a bell.
But few know that this Filipina’s life—a history of fighting for various causes from various angles—rings loud with something bigger than a married name associated with swanky hotels.
Kuok, 47, carries a conviction from her past that remains unchanged.
“Service, once it gets into you, will always be there,” Kuok tells the Inquirer in an interview at the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town where the overseas absentee voting (OAV) was being held.
Her story is an alphabet soup of political and non-government organizations since the 1980s. But for the last seven years, her advocacy has been spelled with only three letters: OAV.
Kuok, a member of the International Coalition for Overseas Filipino Voting Rights (ICOFVR), has been devoted to encouraging overseas Filipino workers to exercise their political right to vote.
She sits as vice chair of the special board of canvassers in Hong Kong, the post with the second biggest population of registered overseas voters at 96,505.
Hong Kong had the highest voter turnout in 2004, with 64 percent casting their ballots. The situation has been dismal this year, however.
The Philippine Consulate and Filipino organizations here had exerted all efforts to encourage migrants to vote, even providing free bus rides to the polling precinct.
Kuok says many OFWs were excited in 2004 because it was the first time they could vote outside the country. Others from the martial law generation who left the Philippines before democracy was restored were enthusiastic about simply voting again.
Apathy
The apathy in this second OAV showed that there is still “no appreciation of the value of voting” among OFWs, says Kuok.
She says most OFWs do not realize that participating in the elections to determine who will make up Congress will directly affect their lives.
“We have to remind them that they are here because of force of circumstance, of the economic situation back home. If it had been better, there will be no need for them to break away from their families,” Kuok says.
“Now they have the chance to have their say, they should take care of it. We got the OAV Law because we pounded on Congress, we developed allies,” she says.
In 2001, those behind the E-lagda, an online campaign among Filipinos abroad to support the ouster of then President Joseph Estrada decided to take on a new advocacy: overseas voting.
Filipino professionals from all over Europe, the United States, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, including Kuok who was then in Beijing with her family, formed the ICOFVR, a coalition that survived through e-mail but had enough clout back home to keep key allies in Congress.
Dedication
Although most of them have never met, the trust was such that one member from the United States even asked his sister in Manila to hand over a check for P175,000 to Ellen Sana, a member of the Center for Migrants Advocacy (CMA), for the payment of an OAV advertisement in the Inquirer.
“So you see the dedication... That’s what I’ve been telling the consulate here, you have to get the community involved. There must be a sense of ownership of this activity,” Kuok says.
After two years of lobbying, the ICOFVR finally saw Congress pass the OAV Law in 2003. The first OAV was held in time for the presidential elections in 2004.
“Until now, we have not seen each other, but we still update each other about what’s going on,” Kuok says of the ICOFVR.
Old hand at lobbying
The woman is no stranger to lobbying — fighting, to be precise. A Social Science graduate, she was a student leader in the University of the Philippines during martial law.
She dropped out of UP law school in her third year after the wife of rebel priest Conrado Balweg was arrested by the military coming from her house. The military was hot on her heels then.
Kuok was involved with the League of Filipino Students (LFS), and later, the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (Jaja) movement, then the Nationalist Alliance for Justice, Freedom and Democracy (NAJFD) with the likes of Chino Roces and Lorenzo Tañada. She was also with the Women for Ouster of Marcos and Boycott (Womb), which did a “state-of-the-nation” fashion show.
By the time democracy returned in 1987, ideological differences had split the communist movement in the Philippines, and Kuok, who described herself then as “a lone ranger” decided to try and get a job, like all her friends who had by then become lawyers.
Unfortunately for her, a resumé with a rough sketch of her work experience as “media liaison officer during the ceasefire” did not impress employers.
“I had been an activist for years, so I had nothing to show them... Imagine the humiliation of knowing you’re intelligent, or being in your Sunday best, and not even getting a chance to be interviewed,” she recalls.
That period had been a life-changing journey for Kuok, who then put up her own boutique and supplies trading business instead.
“At the end of the day, God will strip you of all your confidence until there’s nothing but you and Him,” she says.
Migrants’ concerns
Kuok was with the Concerned Citizens against Pollution (Cocap) when she married in 1989. She moved to Beijing in 1994 and became a full-time wife and mother.
When her family transferred to Hong Kong in 2001, Kuok picked up migrants concerns again. She founded the Filipino Community Services and Information Network (Filcomsin) and became an active member of the CMA in Manila.
Involvement with the OAV is her way of rallying migrants to address the moral vacuum in the Philippine government, she says. “Everything that had happened in my life is part of God’s molding and equipping for me… Service is just something you have to do, I think,” she says.
Filipino maids get pay hike in Hong Kong -- Palace
By Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 08, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Here’s good news for Filipino domestic HERE’S helpers in Hong Kong.
Malacañang on Tuesday announced that the domestic helpers could expect an increase in their monthly wages in June.
Acting Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, who accompanied President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her working visit to the former British Crown colony last week, said that Hong Kong would announce a “moderate” increase in the wage rates of foreign domestic workers not later than June this year.
Roque met with Permanent Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the end of the three-day visit.
Roque explained that Hong Kong officials would just be able to determine the amount of the increase of the salaries of foreign maids upon the release of statistical data on consumer price index, gross domestic product and other economic indicators at the end of the month.
But Roque said that Cheung would inform the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong about the wage increase a few minutes before government officials announce the good news.
As of 2007, he said there are 125,000 Filipino workers in the former Crown Colony representing 50 percent of the household workers population. The other half are Indonesian workers.
The present salary of foreign domestic workers is Hk$3,480 a month, which is HK$270 less than the salary in 2003.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 08, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Here’s good news for Filipino domestic HERE’S helpers in Hong Kong.
Malacañang on Tuesday announced that the domestic helpers could expect an increase in their monthly wages in June.
Acting Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, who accompanied President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her working visit to the former British Crown colony last week, said that Hong Kong would announce a “moderate” increase in the wage rates of foreign domestic workers not later than June this year.
Roque met with Permanent Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the end of the three-day visit.
Roque explained that Hong Kong officials would just be able to determine the amount of the increase of the salaries of foreign maids upon the release of statistical data on consumer price index, gross domestic product and other economic indicators at the end of the month.
But Roque said that Cheung would inform the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong about the wage increase a few minutes before government officials announce the good news.
As of 2007, he said there are 125,000 Filipino workers in the former Crown Colony representing 50 percent of the household workers population. The other half are Indonesian workers.
The present salary of foreign domestic workers is Hk$3,480 a month, which is HK$270 less than the salary in 2003.
2 Filipinas convicted of trafficking in HK
By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: December 21, 2007
HONG KONG -- Convinced by their victims’ detailed testimony on the flesh trade here, a judge yesterday convicted two Filipino women in what prosecutors called a “landmark” human trafficking case.
District Judge Susana Maria D’Almada Remedios found Jennifer N. Balibat, 28, and Angelita A. David, 39, guilty of trafficking five Filipino women into Hong Kong in July to work as prostitutes in Wan Chai, the city’s red-light district.
The judge sentenced the two to three years in prison after finding them guilty of two counts of human trafficking and five counts of aiding and abetting the breaching of the conditions of stay.
“On the evidence before me, I am satisfied the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants are guilty on charges 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,” Remedios said.
Facts are clear
“The facts are very clear. You arranged for the five women to be brought to Hong Kong from the Philippines for the purpose of prostitution,” she said.
Prosecutor Edward Le Breton Laskey urged the court to immediately release copies of the verdict, saying he had heard from investigators that even President Macapagal-Arroyo was interested in the case.
“This is the very first case involving the prosecution of Filipino nationals for this type of offense to be held outside the Philippines,” Laskey told the court. “I understand this has generated a lot of interest … even from the President of the Philippines.”
Hong Kong police officers flew to Manila last month to talk to Department of Justice officials and Dante Ang, chair of the Presidential Task Force Against Trafficking, about the case.
The Hong Kong police also went to Nueva Ecija since the Philippine government had filed human trafficking charges there against Loida Villaflor, an alleged accomplice of Balibat and David.
The women—aged 24 to 39—were made to work as prostitutes because they owed the traffickers P60,000 for their air fare and accommodations.
Villaflor and David reportedly recruited the women in the Philippines while David and Balibat picked them up when they arrived at the Hong Kong airport in two groups late last July.
Remedios said she believed the victims’ account that David and Balibat had urged them to look for customers willing to pay for sex so they could repay the P60,000 immediately.
They were told they could earn from HK$400 to HK$2,000 if they chose the right customer.
“(One of the victims) was told by (Balibat) not to go out with Chinese men because they might report her to the police. (She) was also advised to avoid Indians and Pakistanis because they could be very rude,” the judge said.
She said the victims were also warned about Indians “who would not pay” and might even beat them.
Balibat advised the women to look for black men because of their “size.”
The victims sought the help of the Philippine consulate and the police because, contrary to the traffickers’ promises, they were not adequately fed and were housed in cramped apartments.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: December 21, 2007
HONG KONG -- Convinced by their victims’ detailed testimony on the flesh trade here, a judge yesterday convicted two Filipino women in what prosecutors called a “landmark” human trafficking case.
District Judge Susana Maria D’Almada Remedios found Jennifer N. Balibat, 28, and Angelita A. David, 39, guilty of trafficking five Filipino women into Hong Kong in July to work as prostitutes in Wan Chai, the city’s red-light district.
The judge sentenced the two to three years in prison after finding them guilty of two counts of human trafficking and five counts of aiding and abetting the breaching of the conditions of stay.
“On the evidence before me, I am satisfied the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants are guilty on charges 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,” Remedios said.
Facts are clear
“The facts are very clear. You arranged for the five women to be brought to Hong Kong from the Philippines for the purpose of prostitution,” she said.
Prosecutor Edward Le Breton Laskey urged the court to immediately release copies of the verdict, saying he had heard from investigators that even President Macapagal-Arroyo was interested in the case.
“This is the very first case involving the prosecution of Filipino nationals for this type of offense to be held outside the Philippines,” Laskey told the court. “I understand this has generated a lot of interest … even from the President of the Philippines.”
Hong Kong police officers flew to Manila last month to talk to Department of Justice officials and Dante Ang, chair of the Presidential Task Force Against Trafficking, about the case.
The Hong Kong police also went to Nueva Ecija since the Philippine government had filed human trafficking charges there against Loida Villaflor, an alleged accomplice of Balibat and David.
The women—aged 24 to 39—were made to work as prostitutes because they owed the traffickers P60,000 for their air fare and accommodations.
Villaflor and David reportedly recruited the women in the Philippines while David and Balibat picked them up when they arrived at the Hong Kong airport in two groups late last July.
Remedios said she believed the victims’ account that David and Balibat had urged them to look for customers willing to pay for sex so they could repay the P60,000 immediately.
They were told they could earn from HK$400 to HK$2,000 if they chose the right customer.
“(One of the victims) was told by (Balibat) not to go out with Chinese men because they might report her to the police. (She) was also advised to avoid Indians and Pakistanis because they could be very rude,” the judge said.
She said the victims were also warned about Indians “who would not pay” and might even beat them.
Balibat advised the women to look for black men because of their “size.”
The victims sought the help of the Philippine consulate and the police because, contrary to the traffickers’ promises, they were not adequately fed and were housed in cramped apartments.
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