Filipino migrant workers demand return of 'illegal' training fees

 By Vir B. Lumicao 

Palma (in white blouse) will bring some claimants to Polo this Sunday

A group of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong plan to go the Philippine Overseas Labor Office this Sunday, Nov 22, to ask for a refund of the training fee charged them by their employment agencies in the Philippines.

Their action follows Labor Attaché Melchor Dizon’s statement during a meeting with Filipino community leaders last week that agencies should not charge helpers for training because it is not in the rules of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Labatt Dizon said that if the employer wants the worker to be trained, he or she must pay for the cost.

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Prompted by this pronouncement, the OFW group, Social Justice for Migrant Workers, decided to lead a number of newly arrived workers in filing claims for a refund of the money they paid their agencies for training and other fees.

 “Nagbabalak po kaming pupunta sa Polo sa Sunday. Sasamahan ko ang mga bago na nag-training at nagbayad ng malaki. Marami pong nagsabi na sasama sila,” said Marites Palma, the group’s founder.  

Many of the complainants say they paid their Philippine agencies between Php25,000 and Php105,000 for training which did not prove to be of much use to their work in Hong Kong.

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Among them is Cherry Anne Zerrudo, who paid Php37,000 for three weeks of training at Kimmy International Training and Testing Inc. (Kitti) in San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City in October 2019.

She was charged Php30,000 for the basic training and an extra Php7,000 for elderly care, but realized later on that her employer, who is 71, was feisty and strong, and did not need looking after.

Zerrudo said there were about 30 of them who were recruited by Novation Resources, their agency in Manila, and sent to training at Kitti, which provided them board and lodging.

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The center was so packed that Zerrudo said that she, along with a few trainees, had to sleep on the kitchen floor. They were also given only a small bowl of rice with a slice of fish or meat for each meal that many of them would rush out to buy food as soon as they finished training for the day.  

“First week, pinag-aralan namin kung paano maglinis ng bahay ng Intsik. Noong second week, kung paano magplantsa, at noong third, kung paano maglaba, at paano magluto,” said Zerrudo.

At the time, Zerrudo had just returned from working for three years in Doha, Qatar, and was still in possession of a valid national certificate for competency or NC2, and should not have been made to undergo training again.

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But according to Zerrudo, her recruiter told her she needed to re-train as President Rodrigo Duterte had the NC2 replaced with another certificate.

Zerrudo paid Php30k plus Php7k to train for a certificate she didn't need

She said another OFW in her batch who just completed a contract in Malaysia was exempted from the general training but was told she needed to learn Chinese cooking all over again, and pay Php7,000.

Other workers who claimed they paid varying large fees to agencies for their training in the Philippines said they trained for skills that proved useless when they arrived in Hong Kong.

They said the fees were excessive for two weeks of supposed training that did not include learning to speak Cantonese or cook Chinese food.

“All they taught us was table setting which I found out was useless in Hong Kong because my employers would use just a bowl and chopsticks,” said one worker.

Some said they washed and ironed clothes of agency owners, training school operators or the trainors’ families. They said these were basic jobs they did at home. One said that aside from washing, she looked after the agency owner’s child as her supposed training was on child care.

Lyn Francisco said her training at TransAsia in Antipolo included surviving on little food because the trainees were reportedly told some Hong Kong employers would starve their workers. The center was in a three-storey building that also housed the family of the owner. 

Francisco says her training at TransAsia included surviving on little food 

“Naalala ko ang training namin, isang latang Hokkaido sardines, 2 pirasong papaya, 20 katao kakain. Grabe, talagang gutom. Breakfast, 1 pirasong tinapay tapos isang kaserolang kape hati-hatiin pa, yung tigkalahating baso lang kayo,” she said earlier, commenting on a report on The SUN about the controversial training.

“The trainees would do all the laundry of the trainor’s family, house cleaning and carwashing,” said Francisco, who arrived here on Dec 19, 2017. She said she was charged Php18,500 for the training but ended up paying $23,000 including her medical checkup.

“Yung ibang ka-batch namin, tig-Php30,000 ang training fee nila. Mga taga-Davao sila at yung iba, sa ibang part ng Mindanao,” she said.

Most agencies do not issue receipts for the workers’ payments, the helpers said. They said if the workers were told, “Kung ayaw nyo sumunod sa aming patakaran, huwag kayong mag-apply sa amin. Bakit, kayo lang ba ang applicant?”

The training fee scandal appears to have unsettled the recruitment industry in the Philippines as well as the agencies’ partners in Hong Kong. 

On Monday, Alfredo Palmiery, president of the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines (Sharp) will be having an online meeting with his member’s partners in the city.

Thomas Chan, president of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies, said the conference with Sharp will precede a meeting of local agencies with Labatt Dizon on Tuesday afternoon.

Sharp wrote a letter to Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Friday last week, seeking clarification on Dizon’s statement that training and other fees are not in the POEA rules and are thus illegal. 

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Health officials report 20 preliminary Covid-19 cases in HK, say it's ‘worrying’

 By Daisy C L Mandap

The Starlight Dance Club in Wanchai linked to 1 confirmed and 5 preliminary cases

Hong Kong health officials have reported about 20 preliminary positive, mostly local cases of Covid-19 today, Nov 19, and said “the trend is worrying.”

Dr Wong Ka-hing, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said at today’s press briefing that the preliminary cases were found in many districts and across different sectors in the city.

They include five patrons of a dance club, a man with disability and his elderly relative, a construction worker who went on a hotel staycation, two housewives, a taxi driver who shared his cab with two other drivers, a security guard, and a male expatriate.

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If the preliminary positive cases are eventually confirmed, Wong said that would indicate that a silent transmission was on the rise in the community, and that the pandemic was on the rebound.

These cases were apart from 12 confirmed infections today, four of which were locally acquired, two with unknown source.

Among the two local cases with unknown sources today was 75-year-old businesswoman who went to the Starlight Dance Club on Lockhart Road in Wan Chai on Nov 14. Five preliminary cases have also been reported from this venue.

Dr Wong calls for vigilance amid signs of a rebound in the number of cases

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of CHP’s communicable diseases branch, said the government was still getting more information about the place, including how many people were there on the day the patient visited, and whether live music was performed.

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What they do know for now is that the dance studio measured 4,000 square feet, and had tables where two people sat together. At least two instructors there were also said to have taught at another studio called Heavenly Dance in Sheung Wan.

The other local case with unknown source was a 65-year-old female retiree who lives in Tai Kok Tsui with her family. She felt unwell on Nov 14, and tested positive on Nov 17. She had meals with four friends on Nov 10 and one other friend on Nov 12.

The two other locally acquired cases were linked to previous infections. They were a 74-year-old woman who lives in Shatin, and a 5-month-old baby boy who was linked to an imported case, and whose stool sample revealed his infection.

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Among the eight imported cases was a 35-year-old Filipina domestic worker who flew in from Manila on Nov 17 on board Cathay Pacific flight CX 906.

The others were a 47-year-old cargo crew from the United States; a 52-year-old pilot who also arrived from the US via South Korea; a 13-year-old boy from the United Kingdom; a 19-year-old male who also came from the UK but tested positive while in quarantine; and three returnees who flew in from India on two different dates – an 11-year-old boy, 30-year-old woman and 75-year-old man.

The CHP gave the following details of some of the preliminary positive cases:

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-        A 37-year-old man with special learning needs and his 73-year-old relative. Seven students and other staff members who had used the same room as the disabled man at the Fu Hong Society Leung King Adult Training Centre would be quarantined. More than 40 other students and 20 staff members would be tested. The facility will also be closed temporarily;

-        A 63-year-old daytime cab driver who shared his taxi with a night driver and a substitute driver;

-        A 27-year-old man who lives in Ho Man Tin with family members who also tested preliminary positive. He works at a construction site in Yuen Long with around 12 others in the same team, who have all been sent for testing. After developing symptoms, he went to the Olympian Hong Kong Hotel on Nov 17 for a staycation that lasted until early the next day;

-        A 61-year-old female security guard who lives with her family in Shatin;

-        Two housewives – one who lives in Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok and the other in Braemar Hill Garden in North Point, and a foreign national who had been in Hong Kong since January.

Hong Kong recorded 5,491 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Thursday, with 108 related deaths.

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Filipino resident pleads guilty to rape, will be sentenced Dec 16

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The defendant pleaded guilty in Eastern Court, but will be sentenced in the High Court

A Hong Kong-born Filipino man has pleaded guilty in Eastern Court to a charge of raping a Filipina in Lantau on Jan 31 this year.

The defendant, Mark Angelo Roxas, admitted the offense on Nov 16 before Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong, who scheduled the sentencing at the Court of First Instance on Dec 16.

Roxas was initially charged in Kowloon City Court in early February with raping the victim identified only as X, a cousin of his brother’s wife.

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The prosecution said he is the son of a Filipino permanent resident of Hong Kong who lives in Tung Chung. He was born in Hong Kong but is a Filipino citizen, the prosecutor said.

According to the prosecution, the incident happened after a celebration on Jan 30 in Tung Chung, during which the defendant had been drinking with friends and family, including the victim.

The defendant, who lived in Macau, came over to spend the holiday with his father, the prosecution said. Whenever he was in Hong Kong, he usually slept on the sofa. 

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According to the facts of the case read out in court, Roxas and the family of his brother, as well as X and her friends, had a barbecue party in Lantau on Jan 30. X invited the guests to her flat just before midnight, during which she served beer and cognac.

Around 2:30am the next day, X excused herself and went to her bedroom to sleep but left the door unlocked. Around 5am, she woke up because she dreamt somebody was thrusting something in her private part.

She realized that the defendant, who was calling her name, was lying in bed behind her, and then penetrated her about 10 times. When he was done, the defendant got up naked from the waist down and left the room.

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The victim followed Roxas outside the room and hit his head with a frying pan and told him to go away.

Roxas’ brother who was awakened by the noise got up and pursued the defendant as he fled. The brother then reported the incident to the police and the defendant was arrested.

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But at the police station, when officers asked where he got the bump on his face and a bruise on his temple, Roxas said he had hurt himself.

Since his arrest, Roxas has been held in custody as the magistrate rejected his bail applications on the ground that rape is a serious case, and the risk of him absconding was high.

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Filipina saleslady fined $2,000 for punching World-Wide shop owner

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The punching incident happened inside this favorite haunt of Filipinos

A Filipina sales staff at World-Wide House was fined $2,000 today, Nov 18, by an Eastern Court magistrate after she admitted a charge of assaulting the owner of an adjacent shop.

N. C. de Guzman, 23, a Hong Kong resident, pleaded guilty when she appeared before Magistrate Bina Chainrai.

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The prosecution said the incident happened at 9:25am on Sept 3 outside Mekeni Mart on Level 2 of World-Wide’s shopping arcade.

The prosecution said L. Maniaul, 50, Mekeni owner, and her staff J. Marciano, 37, were tending the shop when a heated argument broke out between Marciano and De Guzman, who works at the nearby Filipino Enterprises.

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Maniaul intervened and tried to separate the two sales ladies, but De Guzman became emotional and punched the shop owner in the face.

The incident was reported to police and responding officers investigated Maniaul, Marciano and De Guzman. The officers also reviewed a CCTV footage of the fight.

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Afterwards, the police arrested De Guzman for “assault occasioning actual bodily harm”. They also seized from a Chinese man a USB flash drive where a copy of the CCTV footage was stored.

Maniaul was sent to Queen Mary Hospital where she was treated. A medical certificate issued by her attending physician said she had bruising on her upper and lower lips.

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The defendant was taken to the Central Police Station where she was further investigated. De Guzman admitted she punched Maniaul, but claimed this was after the latter had elbowed her.

The defendant provided a CCTV footage showing the victim elbowing her, while Maniaul also gave a footage of the incident. After viewing all the footages, police charged De Guzman with common assault.

The defendant’s duty lawyer appealed for leniency, saying De Guzman was a single mom with a 3-year-old daughter living with her parents in the Philippines. The lawyer said her remorseful client was the sole supporter of her daughter and parents.

 Magistrate Chainrai said that, after considering the defendant’s clear record, she was imposing a $2,000 fine to be set off by her bail.   

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Indo DH tests positive for Covid-19 in one of 2 tests at airport

By Daisy CL Mandap

Two tests are now given at HK Airport to ensure stricter screening of new arrivals 

Nine confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported in Hong Kong today, Nov 18, and one of them involves an Indonesian domestic worker who tested negative in the government-run test, but positive in a trial test run by Prenetics, a private laboratory.

An information officer at the Centre for Health Protection said the 34-year-old Indonesian arrived from Jakarta via Cathay Pacific CX flight 796 on Nov. 14.

She was given two tests – a deep-throat saliva test administered by CHP, and a second one done by Prenetics. The result of the first test came out negative, and she was allowed to proceed to her quarantine hotel, the Silka Seaview in Yau Ma Tei.

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However, the Prenetics test, which turned out to be more sensitive in detecting the coronavirus, showed a preliminary positive result for her, so CHP immediately sent her to a hospital for isolation and treatment. There, a second test confirmed her infection.

“The government is still trying to find out how this happened,” said the female information officer, who also said the simultaneous tests are meant to find out which yields a more accurate result.

The Indonesian worker was already in Silka Hotel in Yau Ma Tei when she tested positive

The CHP did not hold its usual media briefing today, so the daily Covid-19 report was issued only through a press release.

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Of the nine new cases, three were local transmissions, including one with unknown source.

The six others are all imported, including a 37-year-old Filipina domestic worker who tested positive on her second test, while in quarantine at the Dorsett Mong Kok hotel in Tai Kok Tsui.

Two other imported cases were also found infected in their second test, and they both flew in from the United Kingdom - an 18-year-old male and a 19-year-old female.

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The two others both tested positive on arrival at the airport – a 41-year-old male returnee from Montenegro, and a 12-year-old boy from Pakistan.

Of the three local cases, the only one with an unknown source is a 76-year-old taxi driver who consulted with Prince of Wales Hospital on Nov 16, ten days after developing a cough and shortness of breath.

He was immediately admitted to hospital where his test result showed he was infected with the coronavirus.

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This was the latest in a recent spate of coronavirus infections involving taxi drivers, in the city,  sparking fears that silent carriers are again spreading the virus in the community.

The two other cases were linked to previous infections, an 82-year-old man who lives in Kwai Chung, and a 76-year-old man who lives in Sha Tin.

The latest cases bring Hong Kong’s coronavirus tally to 5,479.

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PH agency group belies Labatt Dizon’s claim of no training fee for helpers

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Labatt Dizon (far right) raised the training fee issue during a meeting at the Consulate

Employment agencies in the Philippines say it is not true that under the guidelines set down by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, Filipino domestic workers should not pay any fees before they can go abroad and work.

The Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines (Sharp) took exception to a statement made by Labor Attaché Melchor Dizon during a meeting with Filipino community leaders on Nov 11 that the training fee, which forms the bulk of an OFW’s pre-departure costs, is an illegal exaction.

Sharp sent a letter to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III dated Nov 13, in which it expressed concern over Dizon’s statement as reported by The SUN, saying it “may just create confusion in the market because it is incomplete and partially inaccurate.”

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In the meeting with Filcom leaders, Dizon said that training is not required under the POEA rules. If the employer wants the worker to be trained, they should pay for it.

He also said the training fee creates an opportunity for agencies to refer the worker to lending firms, a practice which is illegal.

The question of training fee was raised during the meeting in which the problem over lack of food during quarantine by newly arrived OFWs was the main agenda.

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Asked what help could be extended to those who paid no less than Php 25,000 for the training before they were deployed to Hong Kong, the labor chief said they should not have been charged any fee at all.

“When I was the director of the POEA, yung household services package na iyon, wala sila talaga dapat babayaran na placement fee, kaya nga kami very strict na sa mga complaints na iyan...which resulted yung ganyang iba’t ibang cancellations…and my recommendation (was) to issue preventive suspension pending adjudications of some agencies,” Dizon said.

He said he asked POEA to act on it and followed it up and now action had been speeded up such that even the previous cases had now been docketed.

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“Sigurado ngayon, mababawasan na iyon (pending cases) meron kami kasing issue pa diyan, kasi I always raised na dapat walang training, it should not be required… it is not required under the POEA rules,” Dizon said.

He said there is a provision in the rules that state “if the employer requires training, it’s the employer who pays.”

The labor attaché said because of his position on training, “nag-issue na rin ang POEA ng opinion on that kasi kinukulit na rin sila ng mga agencies.”

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Sharp, which is headed by agency owner Alfredo Palmiery, said that while the group “totally agree and … fully comply with the Absolutely No Placement Fee policy” on domestic helpers, it is not true that the worker has no fees to pay.

Sharp's letter to Bello says it's not true OFWs should not pay any fees before deployment

The group cited Section 50, Rule V, Part II of the POEA rules that enumerate the fees and costs to be paid by the worker, such as passport fee, NBI/police/barangay clearance, NSO certified birth certificate, school transcript of records and diploma, duly authenticated professional license and Tesda certificate of competency.

Nowhere in this provision, however, does it states that the enumerated fees -most of which are not required of a migrant domestic worker - must be paid to the recruitment agency.

The letter went on to add that Sharp had asked POEA for a "legal clarification" on the issue of training fee, indicating that there was, indeed, an ambiguity over the matter.

Sharp said that in its reply dated June 19 this year, POEA made clear that a first-time worker may indeed, be required to undergo training "at the Training Centre of their choice and its costs may be shouldered by them, including the Tesda assessment fee."

All other references to the POEA reply actually made it clear that the recruiters should not be collecting any fees from the worker.

The second page of Sharp's letter makes no reference to any fees
being made directly to the agency by the worker

Asked for a comment, Thomas Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies, said local agencies are not affected by Dizon’s statement.

“Regarding the training fee, we understand the workers paid to certified training center in the Philippines and from a legal point of view, this has nothing to do with accredited agencies in the Philippines and HK agencies, of course. HK agencies do not have any role to play in the training program and collection of training fee,” Chan said.

“Though we understand POEA does regulate that an agency should not force workers to attend training courses, workers are paying for their own working skills that’s required by POEA before they are allowed to be employed and deployed overseas,” he said.

The training fee was introduced after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made it a state policy in 2002 to prohibit the payment of placement fees to recruitment agencies by Filipino migrant workers.

In not a few cases, OFWs have complained that the agencies sent them to pre-selected training schools where there was no actual training given but just videos to watch showing what the workers were expected to do.

The fees charged the workers also varied to between under, to well over Php20,000.

After training, the workers were sent to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for assessment, in which they paid another fee to ascertain whether they qualify for a national certificate, referred to as NC2.

Because of such requirements, OFWs who were all obliged to go through agencies before coming to Hong Kong, had paid for training and other fees.

It is not clear as of this writing how, or whether, Secretary Bello has responded to Sharp’s letter.

Meantime, several groups who have heard of Labatt Dizon’s surprise pronouncement are now planning to bring their members to Polo to file for a refund of the training fee they paid to their agencies in the Philippines.

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