The SUN HK

Philippine Consul General Raly Tejada said he invited his Indonesian counterpart, Ricky Suhendar, to a meeting so they can discuss what they can do jointly to respond to the Ombudsman’s initiative.

CG Tejada said that among the measures that he hopes the Hong Kong government would do is to open leisure and sports facilities to FDHs.

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“Opportunities for capacity building activities for skills enhancement especially on housekeeping, care giving, Cantonese language, financial literacy, etc, during days off and while waiting for their visas could also be considered by the Hong Kong government,” the consul general said in response to queries from The SUN.

CG Tejada also said he hopes the Ombudsman’s inquiry would result in recommendations that will help improve the living conditions of FDWs, especially with regard to provision on proper accommodations, which is statutorily guaranteed.”

Tellez says HK and the sending countries must all share the blame for the boarding house issues

Meanwhile, Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, general manager of the Mission for Migrant Workers, blames Hong Kong’s mandatory live-in policy for the overcrowding in boarding facilities, where many workers surreptitiously take refuge because they are not provided living space by their employers.

She said the government’s failure to provide for temporary living accommodations for FDHs who are in-between jobs or are fighting labour claims, also forces the workers to stay in cramped hostels, many of which are run by employment agencies.

It is only when someone dies, as in the case of an Indonesian worker who was crushed by a falling concrete slab while sleeping on a podium outside an agency shelter in North Point nearly five years ago, that questions are raised over government’s inaction on the issue, she said.

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“Kaya sa panahon ng pandemya, yan pa rin ang isyu,” she added. (So now that we are in the midst of a pandemic, that’s still the issue).

Tellez also blamed sending countries like the Philippines and Indonesia for the problem, citing their insistence that their workers go through a recruitment agency if they want to work overseas, like in Hong Kong.

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“Dahil din ito sa patakarang ini-impose ng gobyerno ng sending countries na dapat dadaan sa ahensya ang aplikante nila for migration. Kapabayaan ng sending governments like Philippines and Indonesia yan dahil pinapasa nila ang kanilang responsilidad na pangalagaan ang kanilang mga mamamayan sa agencies,” said Tellez

(This is also due to policies imposed by governments of the sending countries, which require their migrating workers to go through agencies. Sending governments like the Philippines and Indonesia are negligent because they pass on their responsibility of looking after their nationals to the agencies).

On top of this, she said the sending governments do not even inspect the agency-run dormitories to ensure that their workers are well looked after.

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ConGen Tejada, Filcom leaders applaud Ombudsman’s probe of boarding houses

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By Virgilio B. Lumicao

Shelters like Bethune House follow strict health protocols, says Antonio

Filipino community leaders and migrant workers have welcomed the Ombudsman’s opening of an investigation into what the Hong Kong government has done to regulate boarding facilities for foreign domestic helpers.

Consul General Raly Tejada said he hopes the probe would result in better living conditions for FDHs, while the manager of a shelter for distressed helpers said it should underscore the need for government to set up facilities for them.

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Migrant workers who have experienced staying in boarding houses also favor regulation.

“I hope the investigation and the resulting recommendations by the Honourable Ombudsman can help improve the living conditions of foreign domestic workers, especially with regard to provision on proper accommodations which is statutorily guaranteed,” ConGen Tejada said.

Edwina Antonio, executive director of Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge, which operates two shelters for distressed workers, said the investigation should push the government to provide a safe and secure place for them.

But she said Ombudsman Winnie Chiu’s action is directed more at overcrowded boarding houses and dormitories run by Hong Kong employment agencies and other private operators and not shelters like Bethune House.

8 FDHs who stayed in a boarding house in Fung Nin building in Tai Po were infected

Last year, several outbreaks of Covid-19 were recorded among Indonesian helpers who were living in agency-run dormitoryies, while more recently in a Taipo boarding house, 10 DHs, mostly Filipinas, were found infected, along with four family members of an employer.

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Antonio said shelters run by churches and nongovernmental organizations follow safety rules and health protocols set down by the government. At Bethune House, for example, strict guidelines on proper hygiene are imposed to ensure that the shelter is safe from coronavirus transmissions.

“Since the pandemic began, we have limited our intake of people in keeping with the social distancing requirement. We also accept only those workers who have tested negative to ensure that she does not bring the virus into the shelter,” Antonio said.

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All of Bethune’s residents have taken Covid-19 tests from which they emerged negative, but Antonio said she still encourages them to go for a new test whenever one is offered, just to be sure that the shelter is coronavirus-free.

She said residents of Bethune House’s shelters in Sheung Wan and Jordan are instructed to keep proper distancing as much as possible, wear a mask, sanitize their hands regularly and wash the clothes they take off after returning from outside.

These safeguards may not be present in some boarding houses where operators are just concerned about providing a space for workers waiting to take up a new job, without much regard for their health and safety, Antonio said.

The workers themselves are aware of the danger of losing their prospective employment if they catch the virus, but they have nowhere to stay, Antonio said.

Rain Tuando, an administrator of the Domestic Workers Corner Facebook group, said she hopes the government will set up its own shelters for FDHs.

“Naway maglaan po ang Hong Kong government ng shelters para sa mga FDH na magagamit nila kapag holiday, para wala silang makikita pa na mga workers na nagpapahinga sa karton tuwing holiday nila,” Tuando said.

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(I hope the Hong Kong government sets up shelters that FDHs can use during their holiday, so that no worker would be seen resting on cartons on their day off)

Baby Jean de Leon, also a DWC admin who rents a flat that she shares with fellow workers in need of a shelter, said foremost to her is the safety of other FDHs.

“Ang para po sa akin ay pipiliin ko lagi ang kaligtasan ng nakararami at maging mabuti at maayos ang mga FDH habang naghihintay sila ng working visa,” De Leon said.

(I’d always consider the safety of the majority and good living conditions for the FDHs first as they wait for their working visa),”

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“Di po ako against diyan dahil alam ko naman na ang aking boarding house ay malinis at maayos.

(I’m not against it (any regulation] because I know my boarding house is clean and tidy.)”

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Indonesian DH falls to her death while cleaning windows

Posted on 14 January 2021 No comments

By The SUN

The victim fell from the balcony of a unit in Kingsford Gardens in North Point

Police tonight confirmed that an Indonesian domestic worker was cleaning windows when she fell to her death from the balcony of a unit in a housing block on Tin Hau Temple Road in North Point.

A police spokeswoman said the 37-year-old Indonesian woman was declared dead at the scene.

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She was reportedly cleaning a window in her employer’s sixth-floor flat in Block A, Kingsford Gardens, when she fell into an underground parking space at about 10am today, Jan 14.

The police were seen sealing off the scene, and covering the victim’s body with a tent before they entered the building to investigate.

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No one was taken in for questioning after the incident, said a police spokeswoman.

Dangerous window-cleaning is a prohibited act under the standard employment contract of all foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong.

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The government announced the addition of the clause in November 2016 after then Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre unilaterally required all employers to sign an undertaking that they would not require their Filipino DHs to clean windows from outside.

He took the move after several FDHs fell to their deaths while cleaning windows, the latest of whom was Filipina Rinnalyn Duollog, who was killed on Aug 9, 2016, after falling from her employer’s high-rise flat in Tseung Kwan O.

All FDHs who were signed up to work in Hong Kong from Jan 1, 2017, could not be asked to clean any window above the ground unless it is fitted with a locked grille, and no part of their body except for the arms should extend outside.

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Newly arrived Filipina DH tests positive after moving to employer’s home

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By Daisy CL Mandap

The Filipina tested negative at the airport, and to 2 more tests while in quarantine

A Filipina domestic helper who started coughing on the day she finished her 14-day quarantine and moved into her employer’s house is among 29 new Covid-19 cases reported today.

According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection, the Filipina arrived in Hong Kong from the Philippines on Dec 24.

“On January 7 she completed quarantine and arrived at her employer’s house and started coughing. A few days later she developed a fever and went to the accident and emergency department for treatment,” Chuang said.

She said the helper was not allowed to leave her employer’s house until she tested positive. Everyone in the employer's house will now have to be put under quarantine.

Chuang also said that since the infection developed within the 14-day quarantine period, the case has been classified as "imported."

Two other imported cases were reported today. One flew in from Pakistan, and the other, from the United States, and both tested positive at Hong Kong airport.

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The CHP official also confirmed that a quarantine order was issued for all asymptomatic residents of buildings 20, 22, 24 and 26 Reclamation Street in Jordan, after two more infections were found in the block.

A total of 27 residents there have been found infected.

She said, “The safest and most effective way of stopping the infection is to evacuate the residents.”

This was because the buildings were interconnected and the communal places were shared by residents, mostly South Asians, who often mingled together.

More than 80 cases have been found in the Yau Tsim Mong area, where the Reclamation block is located

Chuang also said that more than 80 infections have been reported in the Yau Tsim Mong district in the past two weeks, particularly on Jordan Road, Temple Street, Canton Road and Woosung Street.

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Two of the new cases came from Shanghai Street, which is about 100 meters away from Reclamation Street.

Many residents in the area are said to be Nepalese who worked at two construction sites where a number of infections were reported in the past few days. The workers are suspected to have spread the virus to their families and friends in the neighborhood.

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These worksites are at the Central Kowloon Route and the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin tunnel, which both accounted for two new cases each today. The TKO site now has 40 confirmed cases, while 22 other cases have been linked to the Central-Kowloon worksite.

Also today, residents at three apartment buildings have been ordered to take Covid-19 tests after at least two unrelated infections were discovered in each of them.

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In addition, residents in units 9 of one of the buildings, Yan Shek House in Kwai Chung, will have to move to a quarantine center from tomorrow.

The two other affected buildings are The Spectra in Yuen Long and 163-165 Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei.

As of 9am today, there were 563 confirmed patients being treated in 25 public hospitals and the treatment facility at AsiaWorld Expo. Amohng them, 42 patients are in critical condition, 30 are serious, and 491 are in stable condition.

Hospital Authority’s Dr Sara Ho said one more patient passed away in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll in public hospitals to 157.

At the daily press briefing, Undersecretary for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi gave an overview of the prevailing Covid situation.

He reported that between Dec 31, 2020 and Jan 6 this year, a total of 296 were recorded, of which 268 were local cases. From Jan 7 to 13, a total of 311 cases were recorded, of which 292 were locally acquired.

Cases with unknown sources accounted for 27% and 29%, respectively. Nearly a third, or 30% of all the patients in the past two weeks had no symptoms.

He advised the public to remain vigilant, as there has been no substantial decline in the number of cases.

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