FDW numbers may fall further as anti-virus moves hit employers’ pockets

By Vir B. Lumicao

These Filipino workers sent off by the Consulate were among those who lost their jobs in HK

The coronavirus pandemic and urgent measures to cope with it led to a drop of more than 25,000 in Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workers’ population last year.

The full-year impact of Covid-19 is evident in the latest statistics from the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

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Last year, the city’s Filipino domestic workers population fell 12,326 - from 219,728 in January to 207,402 in December. The Indonesian helpers’ number shrunk even more, from 170,898 in January to 157,802 in December, a loss of 13,096.

The dramatic drop in the FDW population was due to a combination of factors directly related to Covid-19, as the viral contagion that began in Wuhan City in China’s Hubei Province crept to Hong Kong, before it swept across the globe.

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Hong Kong was not spared from the overall economic decline, and with businesses collapsing and revenues falling to a trickle all around, many employers were forced to terminate their helpers’ contracts.

The subsequent move to impose mandatory hotel quarantine and Covid-19 testing for travelers  further drove up the costs of hiring imported helpers, as employers were told to bear all these additional expenses.

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Many workers stranded by travel restrictions and lockdowns in both the Philippines and Indonesia also contributed to the decline, as employers were forced to abandon plans of hiring from abroad and just choose from terminated workers who were available in the city.  

A decision by the Health Department to require compulsory 21-day hotel quarantine starting Dec 25 for all arriving passengers, except those from China, would likely raise further the cost of hiring a FDW.

The mandatory 21-day quarantine forces employers to dig deeper into their pockets

Already, this could have led partly to the massive 1,275 drop last month in the number of Filipino DHs here. The decline reversed a three-month surge in their numbers, which peaked at 2,372 between August and September this year.

Things could get worse by the end of this month, as the Immigration Department served notice on Dec 30 that it would revert to its long-standing policy of giving terminated helpers only 14 days to remain in the city.

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With many FDWs still stranded abroad and the hundreds of terminated workers on visitor’s visas in the city about to be sent home, the number of those who remain here could only dwindle further.

The church-based charity, Mission for Migrant Workers, can see it coming. As of Jan. 7, or a week since the hardline policy was reimposed, three terminated helpers had already reported to them about being denied a visa extension.

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In one such letter sent to a terminated helper, the Immigration Department said: “Dear Sir/Madam, I regret to inform you that your application for an extension of stay submitted on 23-12-2020 has been refused.  Please note that you are permitted to remain in Hong Kong up to 11-01-21 and you are required to leave Hong Kong on or before this date.”

Mission case officer Esther Bangcawayan said two of the helpers were fortunate because they found new employers in the nick of time, and had submitted their signed contracts to Immigration before the rejection letters could reach them.

But she agrees the tightening of Immigration rules could only lead to further woes for migrant workers, and to more sharp declines in their numbers in the coming months.

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FDWs reminded anew to observe gathering rules as 45 Covid-19 cases reported

By The SUN

Among the targeted places is this footbridge in Mong Kok

The Labour Department says an inter-agency patrol of favorite haunts of foreign domestic workers will continue this weekend, and warns “enforcement action” will be taken against those who still refuse to follow social distancing measures.

A statement released today, Jan 8, said Labour, along with the Hong Kong Police, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the Home Affairs Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will again take part in the joint operation.

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Among the places they will monitor are Central, Tamar Park in Admiralty and the footbridge near Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok, which are all known hangouts of Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers.

The task force will, in particular, target those who violate the regulations that prohibit more than two people to gather in public, or mandate the wearing of face masks in all public places and mass transportation.

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Violators are liable to pay a fixed penalty of $5,000, which is more than the minimum monthly salary of an FDW.

The advisory said that during the New Year holidays last week, the joint forces issued 51 fixed penalty notices, but did not indicate how many, if any, of those penalized were FDWs.

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Meanwhile, the daily Covid-19 cases increased slightly to 45, which health officials say they find worrying.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said the fluctuating numbers indicated the epidemic has yet to be put under control.

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Of the new cases, 42 were locally acquired, and 22 of these were from unknown sources, up from five the previous day.

Chuang said the figures could reflect the situation late last month or the start of the year, when there were lots of people on the streets because of the holidays.

The large holiday crowds could have led to a surge in untraceable cases

“It’s worrying, but it may reflect the fact that there were a lot of people on the streets recently, so the risk of transmission was high,” she said.

She said many of the new unlinked cases did not attend mass gatherings lately, suggesting there are still a lot of undetected infections in the community.

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Among the three imported cases was a 37-year-old Indonesian domestic worker who arrived on Christmas day and tested positive while in quarantine. The two others were a 24-year-old male returnee from Ireland, and a 56-year-old man who came from Japan.

Among the local cases with an unknown source was a nurse from the outpatient clinic at Baptist Hospital and a patient care assistant at Tseung Kwan-O hospital.

Three members of a family living in Fung Chak House in Choi Wan Estate were among more than 40 preliminary positive cases.

Residents of the estate were made to undergo a second round of compulsory testing after sewage samples from there were consistently found to have coronavirus. But Chuang said the infected family members were caught in the first round of testing.

Linda Yu, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, reported that there had been one more Covid-related death in the past 24 hours. An 86-year-old female patient with chronic ailment passed on at Caritas Medical Centre, raising the death toll to 155.

A total of 616 infected patients are being treated at 22 public hospitals and the treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo. They include 43 who are in critical condition, 46 in serious condition, and 527 who are stable.

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91 Filipinos died in HK last year with cancer as leading cause

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Bonagua being wheeled to hospital shortly before she succumbed to cancer

Deaths in the Filipino community in Hong Kong increased 40% to 91 last year from 65 in the previous year, with cancer and stroke reportedly the top two causes.

Among those who succumbed to cancer last year was domestic helper Merle Bonagua, who died on Sept 20 at age 52 in Queen Elizabeth Hospital. She was found to have stage 4 ovarian cancer a month after being plucked from her employer’s house in Saikung by a migrant support group.

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Another prominent death was that of Andrelyn P. Onera, 28, who was found floating unconscious in a pool in Laguna City estate in Lam Tin on Sept. 21, and was declared dead two days later at United Christian Hospital. A coroner is still looking into the cause of her untimely death.

From published reports, however, suicide appears to have caused the deaths of even more Filipinos last year. At least seven such cases were reported by The SUN between February 11  and September 22, mostly involving domestic workers, both male and female; but also a resident who was found dead in a sound studio that he owned.

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Statistics supplied by the Consulate this week showed the deaths averaged 7.58 a month last year as against 5.42 in 2019. Officials say the figures do not include deaths of Filipino residents of Hong Kong that were not reported to the Consulate.

Details on the causes of deaths were not available from the data shared by the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section, which liaises with relatives of the dead as well as police, hospitals, and Hong Kong funeral homes that would handle the repatriations.

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Cancer in all its forms, grouped as malignant neoplasms, has consistently been the No.1 killer in Hong Kong over the last 40 years, with a total of 14,871 patients dying of the disease in 2019, records of the Department of Health Centre for Health Protection show.

While pneumonia was the secondary killer in Hong Kong, it was not so with the 207,000-strong Filipino community, where the second leading cause of death was stroke.

Mystery still surrounds the death of Onera in September last year

Consulate records of reported death cases last year showed four Filipinos dying in January, compared with two deaths in the same month a year earlier.

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The toll jumped in February with seven deaths reported, including two suicides. One involved a domestic helper who hanged herself in Yuen Long on Feb 11 due reportedly to love problems. A male resident took the same path in Sheung Wan 12 days later.

The number eased to four in March but rose to five in April and doubled to 10 in May. After dropping to seven in June, the figure reached nine in July and 10 in August, then stayed high at 12 in September and October before falling to eight in November and plunging to three in December, the lowest for the year.

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In previous years, the Consulate and its attached agencies, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and OWWA, actively promoted health-care awareness among OFWs, especially during the winter, when they are most vulnerable to illness and depression.

The activities were evidently in response to events that directly affected the physical and mental health of workers that could lead to extremes.

The PCG hosted or organized seminars and forums where experts were invited to educate, listen and advice the workers on various issues that ranged from basic financial planning such as saving, investment and debt avoidance as well as crucial issues such as affairs of the heart and home.

Free check-ups and temperature and blood pressure taking were also conducted at the POLO for workers five days a week.

But anti-covid-19 measures implemented by the Hong Kong government since late January last year, such as social distancing, has restricted or halted such activities.

No. of Filipino deaths reported to PCG
Month	2019	2020
January	2	4
February	5	7
March	4	4
April	10	5
May	5	10
June	2	7
July	6	9
August	8	10
September	7	12
October	3	12
November	7	8
December	6	3
TOTAL	65	91
Monthly avg	5.42	7.58
Increase y-o-y (%)		40
Source: PCG Hong Kong

      

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Polo HK to start conciliation of training fee claims this Sunday

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Palma (left), and Pelaez brave the cold to meet up with claimants in an Admiralty park

The first group of Filipino domestic workers seeking reimbursement of the training fee collected by their recruitment agencies in the Philippines has been summoned to a conciliation meeting with their respective Hong Kong agencies this Sunday, Jan 10.

Most of those who received the text message from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office were among about 30 FDWs who filed a refund claim on Nov 22, the first group to do so.

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They took action after Labor Attache Melchor Dizon told a group of Filipino community leaders during a meeting that recruitment agencies could not compel the overseas Filipino workers they deploy to undergo training.

That statement entitled practically all OFWs leaving the Philippines to claim back money they paid their agencies, which did not just require their recruits to undergo training, but also chose where they should go for it.

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The notification to the claimants mostly said they should go to Polo at 11:30am for the conciliation before either of the two assistant labor attaches, Angelica Sunga or Antonio Villafuerte.

Marites Palma, head of Social Justice for Migrant Workers and co-convenor of the Rise Against Government Exactions (Rage), says a total of 286 FDWs have filed refund claims against their agencies in the past seven Sundays.

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She says the claims filed so far are for agency charges that range between Php30,000 to Php45,000.

Many more have expressed an intention to ask for a refund of the fees they paid their agencies, not just for training, but for other unauthorized fees, such as for video recording, and a second or third medical examination.

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However, some are disheartened because they do no have receipts to back up their claim. Palma and her fellow leaders who make up Rage have told them not to worry about this because it’s understandable that the agencies would not want to issue a receipt, knowing the charge is illegal.

If the workers have other proof of their payment, such as a text message from the agency, or photos, or corroborating statement by a fellow applicant, all these could be used to show how much money was collected from them.

A volunteer helps a fellow OFW fill out the claim form

But the claim has a time bar. According to Labatt Dizon, citing POEA Rules, only fees paid no later than three years ago can be claimed back through conciliation. He also said Polo needs at least a month to process the application, meaning that as of now, only those paid from February 2018 onwards could be claimed.

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During the meeting with Filcom leaders in November, Dizon said the POEA Guidelines merely require OFWs to secure the NCII (national certificate of competency) from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

They may opt to go for training if they want to have a better chance of passing the skills assessment, but they should decide on this on their own.

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An employer who requires the worker to undergo training before coming to Hong Kong should pay for it, said Dizon.

He also said that in line with the POEA Guidelines, everyone who has a valid NCII should not be required to undergo training and assessment all over again.

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Among those who were charged this illicit fee are two claimants who both worked in the Middle East previously. Jean Enceso who was charged Php35,000, worked in Saudi Arabia before coming to Hong Kong. Cherry Anne Zerrudo worked in Qatar for three years, but was still made to pay Php37,000 for training.

Palma and fellow Rage leader Dolores Balladares-Pelaez have been meeting claimants in a park near United Centre building where Polo is located, to brief them claimants on the filing process, and why they should assert their right to claim back the illegal fee that was charged them.

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Another such meet-up is scheduled this coming Sunday at Harcourt Garden. Those who wish to get more information should check out the FB page, "Training Fee Refund - Hong Kong."

This is not the first time that OFWs in Hong Kong have filed agency fee refund claims, and not a few said they managed to get back at least part of the illicit fee collected from them.

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The latest rash of claims happened in November 2016, after former POEA Administrator Hans Cacdac said during a visit to Hong Kong that the training fee collected from each OFW should be no more than Php20,000.

But in this case, the statements of claim submitted by about 20 workers were all sent to POEA for action, as they were supposedly all directed against agencies based in the Philippines.

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This time around, Dizon said the claims would be forwarded to POEA only if the worker and the counterpart agency in Hong Kong fail to reach agreement.

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