By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Balladares and Sringatin say HK should let employers choose FDWs' quarantine hotels |
Protesters have
hit out at the Hong Kong government for what they called its discriminatory
policy of designating a quarantine hotel for newly arrived foreign domestic
workers.
Leaders of the
biggest umbrella organization of FDWs took
to Chater Road in Central today, Sept. 5, to stage a socially-distanced protest
rally against the government’s decision to order that all incoming migrant
workers must spend their quarantine at Silka Tsuen Wan hotel.
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One of the
protesters, Sringatin, said there is no scientific basis for the order, which she
said, also abets the wrong notion that FDWs are variant carriers.
“We understand
the need for us to stay in quarantine, but there is no scientific basis for
segregating foreign domestic workers,” said Sringatin, who is the Indonesian
spokesperson of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body.
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Further, she
said the segregation only “creates unnecessary tension between locals and FDWs”
as it reinforces discriminatory beliefs.
Another speaker,
Dolores Balladares, said, “We at AMCB think that designating a hotel for FDWs
is discriminatory. Why not allow employers to choose from among 36 quarantine
hotels where they want their helpers to stay?”
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Balladares said
the reason for requiring all FDWs to spend their quarantine in just one hotel
should be made clear.
“The rationale
should be clear and it should not violate the rights of employers and workers,” she
said.
She also
questioned the high cost of a 21-day quarantine at Silka Tsuen Wan, the only
designated hotel for arriving FDWs who were vaccinated in either the Philippines
or Indonesia.
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She said the
$800-per-day charge at Silka is unreasonable, as it is double what the hotel used
to charge before it was given the monopoly to quarantine incoming FDWs.
Further, she
said the hotel, with just over 400 available rooms, cannot possibly take in the
thousands of FDWs who have been waiting for months to come to Hong Kong.
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Even with the
additional 800 rooms to be allocated to FDWs at Penny’s Bay quarantine centre, she
said it would take months before the workers could all come in.
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| Police keep a close eye on the mini-protest |
In the meantime,
she said the workers continue to spend money while waiting to get the green light to come to Hong Kong.
Those in the
Philippines, she said, have been stuck in the country since Hong Kong imposed a
ban on passenger flights from there on Apr 20.
Asked if she
thought the two-week flight suspension on two Philippine carriers which recently brought
in a number of infected travelers would further disrupt travel plans of FDWs,
Balladares said it already has.
She said her
group, United Filipinos in Hong Kong, staged a separate protest earlier in the
day, calling on the Philippine government to give better protection to its
stranded travelers.
The call includes
tightening anti-pandemic measures to ensure the quality of Covid testing given
to people, especially those who go abroad for work.
“We hope the
testing is improved so next time there will no longer be workers who will test
positive when they arrive in Hong Kong,” Balladares said.
Both AMCB
leaders also called for setting up a complaint mechanism to ensure employers comply
with their obligation to pay for their workers' hotel quarantine.
According to
Balladares, at least one case has been reported to them of a migrant worker
being made to repay her employer for the cost of the quarantine.
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| PADALA NA! |
