By Daisy CL Mandap
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| The tiny toilet where Grace was made to sleep and eat in |
The
In an online forum held today, Aug 18, the
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Other participants called for more action, including the imposition of sanctions like a hefty fine, on employers who violate the prohibition when it becomes part of the standard employment contract (SEC).
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Eni Lestari, chair of the International Migrants Alliance, concurred and wondered why making FDWs sleep in unsuitable places like toilets, or even the floor, has not sparked as much concern as other forms of abuse.
“Why has this never been an issue?,” Lestari asked, suggesting that it was high time the government and the relevant consulates raised this as a serious cause for concern.
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In its appeal for support, the
Hong Kong authorities must consult domestic worker
organizations and their advocates in coming up with the expanded list of
unsuitable accommodation, said the
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Currently, the only sleeping accommodations specified as unsuitable for FDWs under the employment contract are make-do beds in corridors and rooms which workers are meant to share with a grown-up person of the opposite sex.
Among those who spoke at the forum was Grace Enicito, whose
case sparked the
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Enicito spoke of how her employers told her as soon as she
got to their house in
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| Grace tells her month-long ordeal sleeping and eating inside a toilet |
The Filipina helper immediately protested, but her employers tried to appease her by saying the toilet was not frequently used as there was another one in the house.
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But Enicito remained upset. “As days passed, I felt I was no longer a human being,” she said.
She decided to terminate their
contract after only a month, but while serving notice, her male employer tried
to take her to the airport to force her onto a plane. She called the police and
was rescued by the
Enicito returned to the
“ But precisely because no explicit ban on toilets as suitable accommodation…Grace and the MFMW had to undergo six hours of negotiation with her employers who were arguing the merits of toilets as suitable space,” said the Mission in its report, “Between a Toilet Bowl and a Wall.”
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| Tent over her bunk bed was meant to give Mary Ann 'privacy' |
Another migrant worker, Mary Ann Picorro, spoke of how she was made to sleep in a tent hung over her bunk bed, which her employer said would give her some privacy.
Picorro said her contract did not state that the two children she would be sleeping with were both boys, aged 10 and 11 years old. She also did not know that her male employer would sometimes share his sons’ bunk beds.
Apart from the lack of privacy, the helper also complained of being overworked and being constantly watched while she did backbreaking work like cleaning the floor with bare hands, and not being given enough food.
While calling for a ban on toilets
and listing other places as unsuitable for use by migrant workers to rest and
sleep in, the
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| Sofa converts into a bed at night for this helper |
“We still profess that live-out
arrangements can be an option that should be made available for both the
employers and the domestic workers, and should not be criminalized,” the
“Let us not allow out migrant workers to be further challenged by these problems of unsuitable accommodations. The question is simple: Would you sleep in a toilet? If your answer is NO, then there is no reason for us not to agree to improve things.”
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| PADALA NA! |
