Nalulong sa Mark 6

Tumataya si Lita sa Mark 6 (Mark 2 noong una) pero mula $10 hanggang $20 lang ang kanyang isinusugal noong una dahil iyon lang ang kaya ng bulsa niya.

Bandang huli, nagdesisyon syang itaas ang taya sa $50 at pinalad naman siyang manalo ng $60,000.

Ginamit niya ang pera sa pagpaayos ng kanilang bahay at pinambayad ng kanilang mga utang.



Pero mula nang maambunan siya ng grasya ay hindi na siya kuntentong tumaya lamang ng $50, umabot na ito una, sa $100 at bandang huli, sa $200 kada taya.

Unti-unti nang nag-alala ang kanyang mga kaibigan sa lakas ng kanyang taya, pero ang lagi niyang sagot ay “Ok lang yan, bawing-bawi naman kapag natiyempuhan mo”.



Pero mabilis na lumipas ang mga araw, linggo at buwan na hindi na siya muling pinalad kahit palaki nang palaki ang taya niya.

Pati utang niya sa dalawang pautangan ay hindi na niya nababayaran dahil naipantataya na niya ang perang dapat sanang pambayad niya dito.



Nang nag-umpisa na siyang kalampagin ng mga pinagkakautangan ay walang abog-abog na sinesante siya ng kanyang mga amo.

Naiwan niyang luhaan ang isang kaibigan na kahati niya sana sa utang na umabot sa Php200,000 ang halaga.



Sa kabila nito ay hindi pa rin nagpaawat si Lita sa katataya, sa pag-asang susuwertihin siyang muli.

Kahit napauwi na ay nagpapataya pa rin sa mga kaibigan niya na nasa Hong Kong, at ang bayad ay pinapadala sa mga kapamilya ng mga ito sa Pilipinas.

Mabuti na lang at napagtapos naman niya sa pag-aaral ang kanyang panganay, pero ang bunso ay nasa elementarya pa. Si Lita ay 40 taong gulang at nakatira sa Nueva Ecija. – Marites Palma

HK has no plans to change policies on job-hopping

Immigration Department

The Hong Kong government has no plan to change its policies against domestic helpers' premature contract termination to change employers (commonly known as “job-hopping”) because enough measures are in place to prevent it, according to the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong.

Answering a question by legislator Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan in the Legislative Council on December 12, Law said: “Since June 2013, ImmD (Immigration Department) has strengthened the assessment of employment visa applications from FDHs who changed employers repeatedly to combat abuse in changing employers.”

He cited figures indicating that this abuse is not prevalent.



“From June 2013 to end-October 2018, ImmD received around 544,000 employment visa applications from FDHs, of which 11,077 were subject to further scrutiny, accounting for 2 per cent of the total number of applications. Among the 11,077 cases closely scrutinized by ImmD, various exceptional circumstances may be involved, including premature contract termination on grounds of the transfer, migration, death or financial reasons of the ex-employer, or where there was evidence suggesting that the FDH had been abused or exploited. Of these 11 077 cases, ImmD refused 1,817 applications, 819 applications were withdrawn by the applicants, and 658 applications could not be processed further.”

He added: “The Government has all along been closely monitoring the suspected abuse of the arrangement for premature termination of contract by FDHs.



“Since June 2013, in order to combat suspected "job-hopping" by FDHs, ImmD has strengthened the assessment of employment visa applications from FDHs who changed employers repeatedly within a short period of time.  ImmD later implemented a series of measures to further combat "job-hopping", including improving the visa application assessment workflow, increasing manpower to handle cases, and issuing clear operational guidelines to staff, which include checking relevant records of employers and FDHs, and contacting the former employers and FDHs suspected of "job-hopping" to understand the reasons for premature contract termination etc."

He added that ImmD will continue to and review the effectiveness of the measures.



Law said the Labour Department (LD) has "all along been encouraging employers to purchase air tickets for FDHs instead of providing them with cash equivalent to the value of an air ticket... to reduce the chance of FDHs or employment agencies (EAs) not returning to their places of origin or not arranging FDHs to return to their places of origin after receiving from employers free return passage to the places of origin."



He also rejected a proposal for the government to introduce a probationary period in which employers can terminate their contracts with their helpers, because this would also make it easier for helpers to terminate their contracts prematurely, with the cost of recruitment still shouldered by employers.

IBP bats for paralegal training for Filcom leaders

Consul General Antonio A. Morales (above) meets with a delegation from the Intergrated Bar of the Philippines. 

By Daisy CL Mandap

Lawyers from the national office of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines have suggested holding a paralegal training for Filipino community leaders in Hong Kong to make them better equipped to handle legal queries from their members.

The suggestion came from June Ambrosio-Macaspac, director of IBP’s National Center for Legal Aid (NCLA), during a visit by her team to Hong Kong on Dec 15-16.

June Ambrosio-Macaspac, director of IBP’s National Center for Legal Aid (NCLA), and Congen Morales shake hand on future joint projects.

In a meeting with Consul General Antonio A. Morales, Macaspac said there is a group with the University of the Philippines College of Law which conducts formal paralegal training for private individuals or companies. She said their training module could be shortened to fit the needs of overseas Filipino workers.

Congen Morales responded positively to the suggestion, but asked if it was possible to have just a day-long session to minimize costs.

He also asked if the NCLA could coordinate the visits of the various IBP chapters that come to Hong Kong regularly to provide one-on-one legal consultations so the free service could be better utilized.

In a separate meeting with Filcom leaders earlier, the IBP-NCLA team was also asked if a referral system could be set up so OFWs with legal problems or cases could be given names of lawyers in their hometowns who could best provide the services they need.



This, according to Ching Baltazar of Balikatan sa Kaunlaran Hong Kong Council, would help ensure that OFWs are not squeezed for their hard-earned money by unscrupulous lawyers.

Baltazar said, “Ok lang magbayad, pero huwag namang sobra.”



Macaspac said in response that NCLA is ready to give free legal advice to OFWs even if they earn more than what is prescribed for indigent clients.

“Nililibre na ho namin kayo kahit na may means test, at ang kinikita ninyo ay lampas doon sa prescribed income,” she said.



Another leader, Josie Pingkihan of Cordillera Alliance, asked if it was possible for NCLA to come up with primers on such common legal issues such as transfer of title, or respond to their so-called “frequently asked questions.”

Another suggestion was for NCLA to set up a data base of basic information about such issues affecting many migrant workers such as annulment, child custody and property rights.



Other suggestions included setting up a hotline to NCLA for HK migrant workers, a Facebook page where they can post questions, or video consultations with lawyers on Sundays when most OFWs are off work.

Macaspac promised to look into all the suggestions and try to come up with a more efficient way for NCLA to respond to the OFWs’ concerns.

Filipina injured in North Point bus crash recounts ordeal to OWWA

Rescuers trying to remove bodies of people trapped under the bus

By Daisy CL Mandap

Filipina Marjorie Salvador, 43, had a narrow escape when an empty school bus rolled down a busy North Point street on Dec. 10, and slammed through an alley where she and her wheelchair-bound elderly ward were checking out items at a makeshift stall.

Salvador was thrown to the side as the bus rammed the wheelchair, then pinned it underneath along with the elderly woman, before coming to a full stop a short distance away.

Marjorie Salvador 

The Filipina who had been in Hong Kong for just two months, escaped with just contusions on her body. She was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan but was discharged the next day.

Her 89-year-old employer surnamed Yip was not as lucky, as she remains in serious condition at Eastern Hospital.

Four people who were all local Chinese, were killed in the accident. Eleven others, including two Filipinos - Salvador and and family driver Silvestre Velasco, Jr., - were injured.

The story of what transpired that fateful day was recounted by Salvador when she reported to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration on Dec. 17. OWWA had tried to reach her earlier, but the police initially declined to give names of the casualties. The contact number supplied by her employment agency was no longer working.

Welfare officer Nini Clarin finally got through to her on Dec. 16, after her agency managed to get her new telephone number.

Salvador, who is from Cavite and is married with three children, told The SUN her employer, surnamed Yip, had been good to her. Only the two of them lived together in nearby City Garden, and they used to spend a lot of time going around their North Point neighborhood.

Often, the elderly woman would reportedly ask Salvador to wheel her to the makeshift stall in the alley just off busy King’s Road where the bus crash happened. She particularly enjoyed going there every 10^th of the month, when the stall is tended by a vendor selling emergency lights and other electronic gadgets which she collected.

That particular 10^th of the month, the two had taken a longer time than usual checking the goods that they were there at the precise time that the empty bus rolled fast down Cheung Kong street in the opposite side, and rammed through the stall.

Salvador said she was holding on to the wheelchair when the bus mowed it down from the side, and she was thrown off to one side.

Salvador appeared to have been so traumatized by the experience that she panics each time she sees a yellow school bus similar to the one that mowed down her employer.

Clarin said the Filipina will be referred to a social worker for counseling.

OWWA has also advised her and Velasco to file claims with the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Scheme of the Social Welfare Department and employee compensation from the Labour Department.

On Dec 11, Chief Executive Carrie Lam pledged help to the families of those who died or were injured in the accident. She also said safety measures to prevent road accidents will be stepped up.

Employment back home still the best

By Josefina Pingkihan

The jolliest season is again approaching, and most overseas Filipino workers would again be wishing they were back home with their loved ones on this most celebrated event in our country. Indeed, even the most modern video-chatting could never replace the happiness that we experience when we are physically present to bask in the love of our families back home.

The feeling of loneliness experienced by most migrant workers could soon be amplified when China truly opens up its labor market to 10,000 household service workers from the Philippines. According to our Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, this was one of the takeouts from the recently concluded visit to Manila of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

More employment equals more income, as proved by the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas report on remittances by Filipinos abroad. As of September this year, the total amount sent home by OFWs already amounted to a staggering US$23.713billion, an increase of 2.4 % from last year. This should be a good thing, according to analysts, but at what cost?

In exchange for the dollars sent home are the tears and sweat from millions of  OFWs who were forced to leave behind their families in search of greener pasture, only to find themselves trapped in the quagmire of the costs of migration. Broken families and estranged children often result from an OFW having to go away, while they themselves find themselves falling victims to abuse by their employers, debt bondage which often starts from the mounting cost of securing a job abroad, cultural shock…the list goes on.

We have been led to believe by the present government that there would be “changes” if we only stayed on course and remained patient. But three years since President Rodrigo Duterte took over, these promised changes never happened. In fact, if we are to say it fair and square, the economy has worsened considerably under his rule.

Instead of the promised relief from a robust economy, the country’s inflation rate shot up from just 1.3% in June 2016 to a whopping 5.7% in July this year. This happened back to back with a record low for the peso, which dropped to Php7 to HK$1 in the latter part of the third quarter of this year. Analysts say the Philippine peso has been the worst performing currency in Asia. Despite this, surveys show cash remittances fell to US$2.36billion in June 2018 from US$2.47billion in the same month last year.

Amid this doom-and-gloom scenario, it is not surprising that many Filipinos are scampering to work abroad to secure their family’s future. From a daily OFW deployment of just 4,000 a day during the previous administration, about 6,000 are now joining the daily exodus.

The government avers that more jobs are being created for Filipinos. But statistics show that the claim is not true, as there are now 11.1 million unemployed and underemployed Filipinos.

Why would anyone in their right minds decide to leave the country if they had good-paying jobs at home? The explanation is simple. It is not true that more jobs are opening up to Filipinos, despite claims that more foreign investors are coming in. Also whatever new jobs were created from these mostly Chinese foreign investments appear to have gone also to Chinese workers.

While our agriculture and fishing industries remain stagnant, the manufacturing sector boosted by foreign investments does not really contribute much to our economy as they come in only because of sweeteners or incentives.

Given these indicators, it is clear that the present administration has failed to deliver on its promise of genuine change to address the acute needs of the people, particularly the poor. Nearly three years on, and it is obvious that Dutertenomics or whatever the present administration wants its policy direction called, has failed miserably.

Migrant workers like us have simple needs, and we have made them amply clear from the migrants agenda we have drawn up even before the current president assumed office. We have relentlessly followed up on this, but have received no relief so far.

What we want to say is, yes, we need jobs, but jobs that would give us security and wages that would complement our socio-economic needs. The offered jobs in China, if true, could be a big help, particularly to many poor families in the Philippines, but these are not what we are hoping for. What we need are jobs that would not lead us away  our families. 
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Our contributor this issue is a long-time Filipino migrant worker who became known for leading Cordillera Alliance in Hong Kong, one of the oldest and most active OFW organizations around. Josie now spends a lot of time traveling between Hong Kong and China with her employer, giving her more time to hone her talent for writing.