By Daisy CL Mandap
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| The 2 Filipinas were turned away from their Oct 1 flight aboard Cebu Pacific (file photo) |
To those about to fly out of Hong Kong back to the
This was what happened to two Filipinas on Saturday, Oct. 1, while they were checking in for their 9pm flight on Cebu Pacific.
According to Rhia Mateo, who had worked in
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Mateo, 36, said it was already around 7pm then, and she was shaking from fright because she had just received a phone call from a co-worker who said that their employer was thinking of filing a police report against her.
Pushing the dark thought aside, she said she managed to complete the OHP registration at about 8:12pm but the airline staff told her they couldn’t accommodate her anymore as the check-in counter had closed.
Aside from Mateo, another Filipina, Rebecca Calma, who was also terminated after working here for a year, had the same fate. Both failed to make it to the boarding cut-off time so they were forced to spend the night at the airport.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Meantime, Mateo’s husband was left waiting at
But being a former seafarer, her husband was flight-savvy
enough to see through her excuse. Luckily, he did not have to travel far to get
back home that night, as they live in
For Mateo, being bumped off her flight was the latest in a
series of mishaps that happened when she decided to try her luck in Hong Kong
after working in
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She said she had waited for a year and a half to get here,
because her first employer had backed out when
Her persistence paid off when she was placed with a new employer and she managed to finally arrive here on Aug. 31 this year.
She said she then went straight to work for her at her employer’s house in Fo Tan, where her main tasks were looking after a couple and their four dogs. There was also her employer’s elderly mother she was supposed to help look after, along with another Filipina helper.
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Mateo said the work was not easy and the hours were long, but she was determined to learn and adjust to her new surroundings. She even agreed not to take a day off, hoping this would show her desire to learn the ropes quickly.
Despite this, her employer gave up on her after just one month, saying she had a poor grasp of what was expected of her. She was terminated on the spot on Sept. 30, and paid her salary for the month, plus another month’s pay in lieu of notice.
She was booked for her return flight to
Early on Oct 1, she asked for permission to go out, saying
she needed to meet with a relative. But at a friend’s suggestion she took the
chance to go to the
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
She then went to an employment agency and filled out an application form, hoping an employer might just pick her out and get her to come back quickly.
Once back at her employer’s house, however, she was told to work some more, as she was supposedly paid until that day. She finished her chores at 5pm and immediately packed her stuff and took a taxi to the airport, anxious not to miss her flight.
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| This advisory for Manila-bound passengers has been on the Consulate Facebook page since late May |
Mateo said that since she never took a day off during the entire month that she was here, she did not get the chance to talk at length to fellow Filipinos, nor consult with support organizations about her work-related concerns.
The employment agency that brought her here also did not
guide her, so she was not aware that there were things she needed to do before
she could get on her flight back to the
But once she got stuck at the airport, she began searching online, and found the hotline for the Philippine Overseas Labor Office. When she called, she was told that she and Calma should have reached out earlier so they could have avoided being bumped off.
The next morning, the two got lucky when they met members of
Social Justice for Migrant Workers who were sending off another friend who was
bound for
With help from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration,
Mateo’s
Mateo is now staying at the Polo shelter for the night, and is scheduled to fly out tomorrow, on the same Cebu Pacific flight that she missed earlier. But this time, she is making sure she completes the OHP declaration well ahead of time so she does not go through Saturday’s nightmare all over again.
Note: All travelers to
the
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