Spicy treats

Chili is always part of any meal that 49-year-old Jhen Li Shen, an administrator of Domestic Workers Corner, serves to her employers who live in Tseung Kwan-o.

 “Hindi sila mapili sa food, but favorite nila yung mga spicy na ulam like yung Korean at Thai kaya pag luto ko laging may chili,” says Jhen.

This native of Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte, says she is given a budget of $150 per day for meals, and she is expected to come up with three dishes and soup each time.

The daily challenge does not faze her, as she can calculate in her mind how much each dish she intends to cook will cost.

“Kailangan marunong tayong mag-budget sa pera na binibigay sa atin na pang marketing,” she said.

But this does not mean sacrificing quality for the cost. “Kailangan i-check nating mabuti ang ating nabili, at kung sira na ay huwag nang lutuin pa para hindi tayo masira sa ating amo,” she says.

Her other advice: “Kailangan laging malinis ang ating niluluto, at dapat ay paiba-iba. Hindi lang dapat magbasa ng cook book, dapat ay mag search din sa google ng mga menu. More learning, more knowledge.”

Since she enjoys cooking, Jhen says she plans to set up a “simple” restaurant when she finally goes home for good. She has been planning for this day by checking out simple dishes served in restaurants so she can have a better idea of what she should be cooking.

For now, she is happy enough guiding newly arrived Filipina migrant workers in Hong Kong on what they should serve to please their bosses. Her being an admin in DWC’s “It’s All About Food” page has enabled her to do just this.

“Masaya ako sa group dahil sa simpleng paraan ay nakakatulong kami sa mga first-timer sa abroad, lalo na sa pagluluto ng iba-ibang klase ng Asian at Western dishes. Mas maigi na natuturuan sila nang hindi na sila kailangang gumastos.”

Roasted Duck in Dried Chili and Cashew Nuts
Ingredients:
1/2 roasted duck
fried cashew nuts
basil leaves
sliced ginger and onions
garlic, crushed
dried chili, sliced
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1tsp sugar
Spring onion, sliced
½ cup water

Procedure:
1. Saute ginger, then add garlic and sliced onion.
2. Mix in the sliced roasted duck and keep stirring in high heat until all its juices have been squeezed out
3. Add the light soy sauce, sugar, water and cashew nuts. Mix well.
4. Add the basil leaves and stir some more until everything is cooked through.
5. Serve with a sprinkling of sliced spring onions on top.

Steamed Vietnamese spring rolls 
Ingredients:  
rice paper spring rolls wrappers
¼ lbs minced pork
1 medium sized carrot, minced
1 onion, minced
½ small cabbage, minced



Sauce:
minced shallots
crushed garlic
light soy sauce
sugar
flour dissolved in water for thickening
sliced spring onions



Procedure:
1. In a bowl, mix minced pork, carrots, onion and cabbage.
2. Add the light soy sauce, black pepper and sesame, then mix. Set aside
3. Put 2 tbsp of the ingredients into each rice paper wrapper, then roll and seal.
4. Put all rolled ingredients on a wet towel, then place in a steaming dish. Steam for 15 minutes or until cooked.
5. Arrange spring rolls on a dish and sprinkle with sliced spring onions
6. Serve hot with sauce on the side.

Thai Steamed Squid with Minced Pork (or Fish)
Ingredients:
1 big size fresh squid
For the stuffing:
minced fish or minced pork
minced carrots
minced onion
2 tbsps light soy sauce
sliced spring onions.



For the sauce:
Lime juice
Thai fish sauce
minced shallots
fresh chili
sliced spring onions




Procedure:
1. Gently remove the skin and clean the inner part of the squid, then wash.
2. Mix all the remaining ingredients.
3. Take out the squid’s head and stuff the mixed ingredients inside.
4. Put back the squid head and close with toothpicks.
5. Make slight cuts on the side of the squid, then put in a steamer
6. Steam for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked.
7. Remove the sauce from the steaming pot, and put in a bowl. Mix with all the ingredients for the sauce.
8. Put squid on a dish and sprinkle with sliced coriander. Serve with the sauce on the side.

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OWWA offers Php20k livelihood aid for terminated OFWs

Labatt de la Torre says aid is given to terminated workers
who undetake to go home for good

By Vir B. Lumicao

Filipino migrant workers who have lost their jobs prematurely due to termination, maltreatment and other employer violations of their contracts can apply for a Php20,000 livelihood aid from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration on their return home.

This little-known benefit was disclosed recently at Filipino community gatherings by new welfare attaché Marivic Clarin, and confirmed in an interview on Nov 22 by Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre.

According to Labatt dela Torre, terminated workers who go home for good are endorsed to OWWA offices in the workers’ regions.

“Lahat ng terminated na umuuwi, binibigyan namin ng endorsement sa regional offices ng OWWA” so they can receive the livelihood aid, Labatt Dela Torre said.

But it appears there has not been a lot of takers in the eight years that the “Balik-Pinas, Balik-Hanapbuhay” program has been in existence.

Statistics from the Department of Labor and Employment show that only 260 OFWs have received the benefit as of the end of the third quarter this year.

This may be because OWWA is said to be meticulous in evaluating the returning worker’s proposed project so that the financial aid does not go to waste.

“Kasi, yung iba, ipinambabayad lang sa utang,” Clarin said. 

She said the intent of the program is to help distressed OFWs, primarily wards of government shelters who have cases against their employers, those who are terminated for medical reasons, or are laid off due to their employers’ financial difficulties.

Clarin with livelihood program
provider Ofelia Baquirin

Clarin said the cash assistance comes with a development training to provide the recipients basic skills in doing the livelihood project of their choice.

The training is said to be provided by OWWA, other government agencies, as well as non-government organizations and OFW cooperatives or groups in the regions.

Evaluation and supervision of the project is conducted to ensure its success, especially now that the aid amount is bigger than before, Clarin said. 

The livelihood assistance was put in place during the tenure of Former President Benigno Aquino III, but the aid given at the time was in the form of starter kits worth Php10,000.

Clarin said that since 2016, the livelihood grant had been doubled to PhP20,000.

But she admitted that the success rate among aid recipients has been low “because not everyone is cut out for business”.

One recipient, an illegally terminated worker from Naga City, told The SUN she applied for the assistance in January 2016 and got a check for PhP10,000. She said the check was not issued to her but to a local merchant who provided her a starter kit for her project.

Another former Hong Kong-based OFW who went to Russia only to discover it was a job scam, said she tried applying for the livelihood assistance but balked when she was told she would have to stay in the Philippines for good.

In Nueva Vizcaya province, where former OFWs have formed a cooperative and undertaken livelihood projects, there were 85 recipients of the OWWA assistance as of the end of the third quarter this year, said its president Cristina Gauuan Reyes.

She said in her barangay, there are 20 recipients whose projects, namely piggery, sari-sari store and fish vending, are being coordinated by the cooperative.

She said the “Balik-Pinas, Balik-Hanapbuhay” beneficiaries in the 15 municipalities of Nueva Vizcaya received PhP20,000 each, which they put into their chosen businesses. They received help from the provincial government in the form training.

The reintegration program was introduced to help former OFWs rejoin Philippine society by offering them livelihood opportunities if they decide to stay home for good.

(OFWs who undergo livelihood training are in the best position to come up with a sound project proposal, like these members of Diwa't Kabayan Benlife Society: https://www.facebook.com/leo.deocadiz/videos/1959148447466791/)


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2 Pinays charged with harming young wards

Two Filipina domestic workers have appeared in separate courts to each face a charge of ill-treating or assaulting their young wards.

Ando pleaded not guilty to ill-treatment of her ward in Shatin court

Merlyn Ando, who has been held without bail since May this year, pleaded not guilty to the offence before Shatin Magistrate Wong Sze-lai on Nov. 22. She will face trial on Jan 29-30.

No details of the case were read out in court.

Tuen Mun court, where Inabiohan faces a charge of assaulting her ward

However, local media have reported that she was accused by her employer of mixing detergent in the milk of her young ward. The reports said the mother found a plastic container of powder detergent beside the can of infant formula that was being fed to the baby.

The second domestic helper, Eden Inabiohan, appeared on Nov 23 before Tuen Mun Magistrate Ivy Chui Yee-mei for an update on her case.

Inabiohan, who is out on bail, has been charged with assaulting her young ward.

No details of the case were mentioned during the hearing.

Magistrate Chui adjourned the case until Dec 24 at the request of the prosecution, and extended the helper’s bail.  - Vir B. Lumicao

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Delayed payment of wages

By Cynthia Tellez

Recently,  some domestic workers came to the Mission to seek assistance, while others were there to refer friends who needed help.

While waiting for their turn, they shared stories about work experiences, including delays in their salary, many for more than a week, others for almost two months. This caught our attention and so we joined the conversation.

One said that her salary for this month, for example, was supposed to be for two months earlier. The reasons given by her employer was that she either forgot or simply had no time to go to the bank. Another worker had it worse, because her employer said he was experiencing financial difficulties so she decided to just wait.

Their fellow migrants regarded this as ‘better than having no work at all’. But then, they kept on saying that their families back home were of course affected by the delay in their salaries, with one complaining that they cannot just give promissory notes to the school for late payment of tuition fees.

Usually, domestic workers regard the matter of delayed salary as a non-issue and dismiss it as if nothing happened. But delayed wages, being part of the Employment Ordinance, is a serious omission on the part of the employer. This act falls under the protection of wages and is prohibited like illegal deductions.

Let us quote from the HK Labour Department’s “A Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance”, on Payment of Wages:



‘Wages shall become due on the expiry of the last day of the wage period. An employer should pay wages to an employee as soon as practicable but in any case not later than seven days after the end of the wage period. An employer is required to pay interest on the outstanding amount of wages to the employee if he fails to pay wages to the employee within seven days when it becomes due.’



Offences and Penalties
‘An employer who willfully and without reasonable excuse fails to pay wages to an employee when it becomes due is liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of HK$350,000 and to imprisonment for three years.’

‘An employer who willfully and without reasonable excuse fails to pay interest on the outstanding amount of wages to the employee is liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $10,000.’




In the above excerpts from the said Guide, it is clear  that delayed salary is an offence under the Employment Ordinance.

But because this is a serious offence by your employer, you need to present concrete proofs.

Following are some tips to guide you in case similar things happen and termination of contract is unavoidable.



One, it would be best to open a bank account and ask your employer to deposit your salary into the said account. The deposit is either printed in your bank book (you can regularly update it), or your employer must give you a bank receipt stating the amount deposited. The important thing is that a date is always printed on any of these. This will show the regularity on when your salary is given.

Two, if you are paid by cash or cheque, you can make a prepared receipt stating the amount of the salary and the date it is given.  You can use any clean sheet of paper to do this. Here is a sample receipt, say your contract started when you arrived on 3rd September 2018:



“THIS SERVES AS A RECEIPT FOR PAYMENT OF WAGES
Received the amount of  FOUR THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND TEN ONLY (HK$4,410 .00) in cash, as payment for my salary for 03 September - 02 October 2018.  Under DH Contract No_______________.
Signature: ___________________________________
Name in block letters: __________________________
Date ___________________________
You can prepare this type of receipt every time your salary is given to you. Make several copies of this, leaving the amount and inclusive dates blank so that you will not waste time in writing the whole thing every time the salary is given.

For payments made by cheque:

“THIS SERVES AS A RECEIPT FOR PAYMENT OF WAGES
Received the amount of  FOUR THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND TEN ONLY (HK$4,410 .00) in cheque:
Cheque No.___________,
Date Issued___________, as payment for my salary for 03 September - 02 October 2018.  Under DH Contract No:_______________.

Signature: ________________________________
Name (in block letters): ________________________
Date  : _______________________________________  Take a photo of the cheque before depositing, if possible.

I am sure there are other means on how you can gather proof to substantiate your complaint against delayed salary payment. Just be sure to keep these pieces of evidence in a safe place.

Three, always keep a diary stating what happened during your supposed pay day and onwards.

Four, for the more serious cases of delayed payment of wages, you can file a complaint against your employer at the Labour Department. You may consult service providers like the Mission for help in doing this. After calling the attention of your employer to the repeated delays, you can file claims for your unpaid wages plus wage in lieu of notice because by not paying you within the prescribed period, your employer is deemed to have terminated your contract. Further, your employer is liable for committing an offence under the law.

Together with your claim, do not forget to mention to the Labour Officer to compute your delayed salary plus interest for the whole period of delay. The interest imposed is in the Labour Ordinance and in fact a separate case against your employer.

Just remember that there is no less important or more important offence or case as far as the law is concerned. The law is law and every violation will be meted with corresponding penalties.

If you have any further questions, or would like to ask for clarifications, please do not hesitate to call the Mission at 2522-8264.
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This is the monthly column from the Mission for Migrant Workers, an institution that has been serving the needs of migrant workers in Hong Kong for over 31 years. The Mission, headed by its general manager, Cynthia Tellez, assists migrant workers who are in distress, and  focuses its efforts on crisis intervention and prevention through migrant empowerment. Mission has its offices at St John’s Cathedral on Garden Road, Central, and may be reached through tel. 2522 8264.


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