By Vir B. Lumicao
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Many from the infected batch of new arrivals were confined at United Christian Hospital
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Six Filipina helpers in a batch of 10 who tested positive of
coronavirus infection after arriving from Manila on Sept 9 have been reportedly
been allowed by their employers to move in with them.
Two of the six have already been allowed into their
employers’ homes while the rest have been put in hotel quarantine prior to
moving in.
Their being allowed to join their employers after recovering
in hospital is a virtual turnaround in the saga of the discharged new arrivals.
Two from the same batch and another discharged from hospital
earlier had been removed from Hong Kong by
Immigration officials, who said their employers had backed out of their
contract because of worries about their Covid-19 infections.
Their removal, however, exposed an apparent irregularity in
the procedure, as they were taken to hospitals in Hong
Kong without going through the Immigration counters and the visa
page in their passports was not stamped to indicate their arrival.
The expelled workers were also made to sign recognizance
papers indicating they were to be removed on the day of their release from the hospitals.
That procedure raised concerns in the Filipino community because
it appeared to indicate that Immigration had decided to make the infected FDHs
leave as soon as they got cured, without even consulting their respective
employers.
It also suggested that the 14-day grace period given to
terminated workers as a matter of practice had been done away with.
The apparent policy shift prompted Consul General Raly
Tejada to seek clarification from the Hong Kong
government on the stance of the Immigration Department.
The infected helpers came in a group of 13 deployed to Hong
Kong by Placewell International Services in Manila
after being certified as Covid-19 negative by the Lung
Center of the Philippines.
On arrival in Hong Kong,
five tested positive at the airport. Three were found infected the next day,
and one more two days later.
Meanwhile, two others from the batch are still in hospital,
waiting to be moved by their employers to hotels who want them to undergo
further quarantine, said an OFW group that is helping the released helpers.
But not all of those who have been discharged from hospital
are assured of acceptance by their would-be employers, said the group, Social
Justice for Migrant Workers.
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All 13 FDHs from the batch were cleared by Lung Center of the Philippines, but 10 tested positive in HK
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The group’s founder, Marites Palma, who is also an FDH, has
said one of the discharged maids was taken by her employer to a hotel in Causeway
Bay for quarantine, but was told her contract would be terminated.
The worker, M.E.B., would be sent home after her 14-day
hotel quarantine which would end on Oct 8, according to Palma.
Another from the batch who was discharged from United
Christian Hospital was initially also rejected by her employer, but after
pleading with her employer to consider all she had gone through just to come
here, the employer reportedly changed her mind.
Another member of the group, E.S., was reportedly picked up
by her employer and immediately taken to her flat for home quarantine.
Another, J.Q., 33, was discharged from United Christian
Hospital on Thursday,
Sept 24, and spent a few days in a boarding house. She was fetched by her
employer today, Sept 28, and put up in a hotel to rest for a further 12 days
before letting her start work.
J.Q. said in a telephone conversation last night that her
attending doctor had told her to stay a further 14 days for her employers’
safety.
J.Q.’s work visa expired on Sept 10 while her passport was in
Immigration custody at the airport, so her employer had to apply for her visa extension.
Immigration stamped on her passport a visa valid until Sept 24, 2022.
Palma
said two others from the batch who were moved to a Tsuen Wan hotel for quarantine
were also set to join their employers today.
