By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Labor Attache dela Torre |
Filipino domestic workers should complain when their Hong
Kong employers bring them to China
for work, according to Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre.
At the same time, he said Hong Kong Immigration should not
tolerate the illegal practice by some Hong Kong
employers of making their helpers work on the mainland.
Labatt dela Torre was reacting to reports that the employers
of Filipina domestic worker Lorain E. Asuncion who died in Shenzhen last month had
been arrested by the police in Hong Kong last Thursday, Aug. 17. The couple was
held on a charge of conspiring to defraud HK Immigration by claiming that their
domestic would work only in the territory.
Police reportedly found out that the Filipina had been taken
across the border by her employers four times in the nine months that she was
in their employ.
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| Lorain Asuncion |
Asuncion, 28 and single, reportedly fell from a building in
Shenzhen on July 24 after her employers allegedly sent her to work there for
the father of her female employer. The exact cause of her death is still being
investigated.
“Bringing domestic workers to China for work shouldn’t be
tolerated by the Immigration Department because it constitutes a continuing
breach of condition of stay,” dela Torre told The SUN in an online message. “I
don't think she (was) being brought there to enjoy the sounds and sights of China ”.
On the other hand, he said Filipino domestic workers should
do their part in averting the commission of the said illegal act.
“Our domestic workers shouldn't allow themselves become an
unwilling party to the immigration offence. They should report to Immigration
that the employer has plans to bring them to China ,” dela Torre said.
While some domestic workers are allowed to accompany their
employers abroad for a vacation, the labor official said a distinction should
be made.
“If the intention is to make them work,” he said HK
Immigration should not allow it.
His call echoed that made earlier by Indonesian Consul General
Tri Tharyat, who called on the Hong Kong
government to crack down on the practice.
“We have to stop this practice now,” Consul General Tri told
the South China Morning Post in an
interview. “I don’t think we need to wait for someone else to die because of
this.”
“I think we should work on a policy level and operational
level. There should be more stern measures taken by the Hong
Kong government against these employers who employ their helpers
in more than one address ... I really hope there are more sanctions,”
Tri reportedly said.
Anyone found to have provided false information to
Immigration could be prosecuted and face a maximum fine of $150,000 and
imprisonment of up to 14 years.
However, until Asuncion ’s
death, no employer had been arrested or held liable for breaching the law
against bringing a domestic worker to China for work. In a few cases
reported to The SUN, it was the Chinese authorities which rejected visitor’s
visa applications made by employers for their foreign domestic helpers.
