By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Pama, an OWWA member for 25 years, says she was ignored when she applied for the cash aid |
For 25 years, Rose Pama, a Filipina migrant worker
from Iloilo, dutifully paid her membership dues to the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration. So, after recovering from Covid-19 early this year, she was
hopeful she could avail of the cash aid that the government agency had promised
those who came down with the disease.
Failing to get a response from OWWA's online booking system she decided to
walk into their office at United Centre in Admiralty on May 25 this year,
hoping to get the promised cash assistance. At that time, she said she had just
been terminated by her employer, and she badly needed money to help tide her
over while she waited for the release of her new employment visa.
To say that she was left disheartened would be an understatement. She said an OWWA officer told her she needed to make an appointment first before she could be assisted with her request.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
When Pama said she never received a reply to her email, and that she had
just lost her job, the officer just told her to make sure she did
not spend the money given by her employer for her return air fare, then walked
away.
“She just turned her back on me. Hindi ka ba masasaktan noon bilang member ng OWWA. Ang tagal mong
nagbabayad – for 25 years – and first time kang humingi ng tulong, tapos wala
kang makukuha?,” Pama said. (Wouldn’t you feel hurt, being an OWWA member.
You paid your dues for so long – 25 years-and the first time you asked for
help, you weren’t given any?)
Pama was among four disgruntled Filipino migrant
workers who spoke at a rally on Sunday outside the Consulate offices to protest
OWWA’s rejection of hundreds of applications from those who tested positive for
Covid, giving as reason their failure to comply with very stringent
requirements.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Applicants should not only be active (or paid) OWWA
members, they must also have been referred to a hospital or isolation facility
for treatment. On top of this, they must also have a medical certificate clearly
listing down their “symptoms” and the medication given them.
Also part of the requirements is a positive result for
a PCR test – something that even the Hong Kong government had to dispense with,
amid an unprecedented surge in infections early this year. They should also submit a recovery certificate, even if weeks had already passed since they were infected.
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| Matias was asked for the impossible - a positive PCR test result - long after she'd recovered |
Matias said she tried to put together all the needed
documents the best she could, with her employer lending a hand with the medical
certificate that OWWA had initially listed as the main requirement. But when
she showed up for her appointment without the PCR test result, she was turned
away.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chair of United Filipinos –
Migrante Hong Kong, which organized the protest, said OWWA should not make migrant
workers go down on their knees to appeal for money that belongs to them in the
first place.
“Bakit
pinapahirapan pa ninyo sila, hindi naman ninyo pera yan, pera yan ng OFW. Bakit
ninyo sila pinipilit magpalimos?,” Pelaez asked. (Why do you make it so
difficult for them, when that is not even your money, but that of OFWs? Why do
you want them to beg for it?).
Another speaker, Jovelyn Polis Udarbe, said she also
got infected on April 16, when the daily caseload was still in the tens of
thousands, so all she got, like most who tested positive at the time, was an
isolation order.
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| Press for details |
“Akala ko yung isolation order was enough,” she said
(I thought the isolation order was enough).
But to her dismay, and despite the prevailing practice
in Hong Kong at the time, OWWA insisted on asking her for a medical certificate
that specified her symptoms, prescribed medicines and mode of treatment – or she
could not get cash aid.
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| Udarbe said she was asked for a medical certificate when she was ordered to isolate at home |
Judith Tan, another speaker, also left empty-handed.
She caught the coronavirus only last June, but her situation
was not any less difficult than those who came down with it at the peak of the
fifth wave of the pandemic.
As she and her employer’s family caught the virus one
after another, they had to be isolated for three weeks. That time, she said they
had to rely on the Hong Kong government and friends for their food and
medicines.
They did, or could not, go out, so seeing a doctor was out of the question as this was only done when the infected person had severe symptoms or was considered high-risk.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Tan said as soon as she heard that she could avail of
OWWA’s cash assistance for Covid , she immediately sought an appointment, and sent
all her documents online. Her employer helped photocopy some of her documents,
happy that Tan could get help from her own government.
In a reply via email, OWWA told Tan to appear at their
office on Aug 27, and she happily complied, thinking she was about to get the
promised aid. To her dismay, her application was rejected because she could not
present a medical certificate.
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| Tan had to self-isolate for 3 weeks, but was still asked for a medical certificate |
“Hinanap nila sa
akin ang medical certificate, na imposibleng makuha ko, dahil naka home
quarantine ako at ang family ng amo ko,” Tan said. (They asked me for a
medical certificate, which I could not possibly have acquired as I went on home
isolation with my employer’s family).
“Sana pinaalam
na ninyo agad na hindi ako makaka avail ng cash assistance dahil kulang ako sa
requirements…Sana yung sinasabi ninyong evaluation sa email, dapat doon pa lang
alam na ninyo kung sino ang dapat maka avail nito, at hindi na ninyo bibigyan
ng appointment (ang hindi papasa). (I wish you told me immediately that I
could not avail of the cash assistance because I did not have all the requirements.
I wish that when you said you were evaluating applications sent through email
you would not have given appointments to those who clearly could not meet your
requirements).
To this, Pelaez said OWWA officers in Hong Kong should
make an effort to explain to their bosses in Manila that what they are
requiring as proofs of infection were superfluous and far beyond what the host
government provides.
“Hindi totoo na implementor lang sila,” she said. (It’s not true that they are mere implementors of the welfare agency’s orders)," she said.
"Dapat sila ang magpaliwanag kung bakit hindi makatarungan na hingan nila ng sobra-sobrang patunay ang mga aplikante."(They should be the ones to explain to Manila why it is not justified to require so many proofs from the applicants).
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| Balladares-Pelaez hands over her group's statement to a Consulate representative |
Pelaez vowed to continue protesting
until all OFWs who were afflicted with Covid would get what is due them.
“Hindi namin ito
tatantanan!,” (We will never give up this pursuit), she said.
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| PADALA NA! |
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| CALL US! |
