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| Images like these, from a day of violence across Hong Kong on China's National Day, have spooked Philippine government officials |
By The SUN
Fears over the worsening political unrest in
The anxiety escalated recently when foreign domestic worker
Joy Palmera collapsed on Oct 6 after inhaling toxic fumes from tear gas hurled
by police at protesters in Wanchai.
The news that Palmera was rushed to hospital unconscious reached
Manila , and frantic officials at the Department
of Foreign Affairs reportedly asked the Hong Kong
post to give an immediate update.
Luckily, Palmera recovered and was sent home the next day,
but this did not stop the home office from badgering their officers here to
keep sending updates as frequently as every hour.
According to the officer-in-charge of the Philippine
Overseas Labor Office, Antonio Villafuerte, his instruction is to send updates
on the “present situation as much as possible daily and hourly.”
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is said to be monitoring
the situation closely, apparently to help him determine what action to take
just in case the welfare of Filipino migrant workers here are put on the line.
But Villafuerte said that as of now, the political crisis
has not reached a point where emergency measures such as the mass evacuation of
our workers have to be undertaken.
Previously, Bello said in
interviews in Manila that he was considering
stopping the deployment of workers to Hong Kong
because of the tense situation, but this did not happen.
Villafuerte said Bello later told
Polo that he would defer to the DFA on how best to respond to the crisis in Hong Kong .
The DFA has already issued an advisory to all Filipinos to
avoid traveling to Hong Kong, resulting in a massive drop in the number of
tourist arrivals from the Philippines
This was after Jetro Pioquinto, a Filipino dancer in Hong
Kong Disneyland was arrested during a police crackdown on protesters in Mong
Kok on Aug. 3.
However, both Polo and the Consulate say the number of
Filipinos arriving for work in Hong Kong has
remained steady – at least for now.
But with the economy on a downward trajectory, job security,
including those of domestic workers, could be in peril.
The situation could deteriorate further in the wake of a ban
on the use of masks in public gatherings imposed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam
on Sept. 29, which led to an unprecedented chaos across Hong
Kong .
Many fear the violence could escalate ahead of the
resumption on Oct. 16 of the Legislative Council sessions, during which the
Chief Executive’s exercise of her emergency powers that led to the mask ban
will be reviewed.
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