PCG to hold talk on child support

 

Poster for tomorrow's talk

Tomorrow, Jan. 21, the Philippine Consulate will hold a talk on child support, a topic that many overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, more than 98 percent of whom are women, are often concerned about.

The discussion will focus on the right of a custodial parent to get support for her/his child or children, in accordance with the law in the Philippines and in Hong Kong. But child support can also be paid by both parents if their child is in the custody of another person, such as a relative.

The “Usapang Sustento” talk will feature a family law expert in the Philippines, Soledad Deriquito-Mawis, who is also the dean of the Lyceum of the Philippines College of Law, along with fellow lawyer Andrea Yasay.

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Sharing her insights on the topic is Hong Kong-based solicitor Jaerey Velasco from the Payne, Clermont Velasco law office.

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The talk which will be held at the Consulate’s conference room is open to the public, but pre-registration is needed as slots are limited. Those interested can do this through this link: bit.ly/PCGTalks or by scanning the QR code in the attached poster.

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For inquiries, call 2823 8523 / 8524

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Covid-19 crisis most unkind to MDWs, says Mission in annual report

By Vir B. Lumicao 

A worker dismissed last year due to the pandemic 

Migrant domestic workers worked longer hours and became more vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse last year as a result of the pandemic.

This was disclosed by the Mission for Migrant Workers in its Service Report for 2020 which was released Thursday, Apr 15, to coincide with the church-based charity’s 40^th founding anniversary.

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“MDWs have been made to work longer hours, even during their rest days. And more worrisome, there is a resurgence in violence against women,” said Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, MFMW general manager.

“Though this pandemic has caused unwelcome changes for everyone, we cannot deny the fact that it has been most unkind to MDWs,” said Tellez. “Even before the pandemic, migrants had always been vulnerable due to their visa status.”

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According to data collated by MFMW, 17% of its clients reported having been physically abused or assaulted last year, a 2-percentage-point increase from 2019.

Six percent of the clients reported experiencing rape or sexual abuse last year compared with 2% the previous year, said Abdon-Tellez.

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Equally worrying, a whopping 34% of the workers who sought help from Mission reported they were not paid their wages. This was 10 times more than the 3% recorded in 2019, and meant that one out of three MDWs did not receive any salary at all.

The MFMW data also shows 69% of its clients had reported ill-treatment, or almost 7 out of every 10. This was far higher than the 25% posted in 2019.

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“Many migrant workers suffer silently because if they lose their job, they also lose their accommodation here because of the live-in requirement,” Abdon-Tellez said.

“With greater economic instability due to the pandemic, the workers are forced to suffer in deeper depths of despair,” she added.

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She said migrant workers bore the burden of stress undoubtedly experienced by their employers, especially the economic difficulty.

Tellez says many MDWs suffered 'in deeper depths of despair' last year

Emphasizing the workers’ vulnerability was the finding that 2% of MDWs reported getting entangled in money laundering while 4% were cyberbullied or harassed online.

“These issues are connected to love scams, wherein vulnerable women migrants are preyed upon by unscrupulous partners. This underscores the loneliness MDWs feel being far away from home and unable to go home for a visit,” said Abdon-Tellez.

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Obviously the most common complaint of the MDWs was working longer hours, with 98% of the clients reporting this kind of abuse, said Abdon-Tellez.

“Related to this, almost 1 in every 2 (or 46%) is made to work on her rest days, while more than 1 in every 3 (or 39%) are made to work on their statutory holidays,” Abdon-Tellez said.

“Of course, this translates to even more overworked MDWs who are also suffering from economic hardships. They are silent and invisible sufferers, and that means more help should be extended to them. If only migrant domestic workers had a live-out option, this could have been avoided,” she said.

On a positive note, the MFMW has helped its clients recover $3,230,624.47 in 2020. This is a 40% increase in claims compared with 2019.

Much of the settlements were the result of labor claims filed by MDWs whose contracts were terminated by their employers because of the economic hardship due to the pandemic.

The Mission also engages in advocacy work for migrant workers (File)

The 2020 Service Report also features the MFMW’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The MFMW referred 873 migrants to shelters, a 24% increase from last year. It also distributed 137,057 pieces of face masks and 6,218 bottles of hand sanitizers, with the help of fellow migrant advocates,” Abdon-Tellez said.

“Many MDWs have trouble procuring their own supply because either they are not included in the household they serve or due the prohibitive prices of these essentials. This underscores the vulnerability of migrants, especially in this pandemic,” she said.

The global crisis brought about the need for new services. In 2020, the MFMW started serving new migrants, or those who just arrived and were quarantined in hotels.

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Being new here, they had no resources yet, and thus had to put up with insufficient, repetitive and unhealthy food served them while under quarantine. Many were also not given basic provisions such as water.

The MFMW provided 3,511 hot meals to them, Abdon-Tellez said.

She said there were also 415 migrants who were given meal coupons good for two people or meal packs that could feed at least five people while staying in boarding houses in-between jobs, or because they were stranded by flight cancellations.

“We also provided other forms of support for those unable to be accommodated in shelters,” Abdon-Tellez recounted.

She said that due to the pandemic, MFMW shifted some of its activities online.

“Some of our 135 Life and Work Skills seminars and training classes were done online to reach more migrants. We also had our Migrant Festival online for International Migrants Day, as a celebration of MFMW's services throughout the year,” Abdon-Tellez said.

The Migrant Festival may be accessed with these links: https://youtu.be/aELAkyavSjo or https://www.facebook.com/watch/275507625853776/201793074885968

“To cope with the new services arising from the pandemic, the MFMW is calling on kind-hearted individuals, institutions, and corporate donors to support its programs by clicking https://www.migrants.net/to-donate. A $100 donation will feed and shelter a migrant for a day,” Abdon-Tellez said.

To download full version of “2020 Service Report”: https://www.migrants.net/reports

Support the Mission: https://www.migrants.net/to-donate

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Relief as Filipina gets visa extension after unwittingly overstaying for 5 months

By Vir B. Lumicao

Albo on a recent hike. She wasn't aware she had been in HK illegally for 5 months

While Filipina helper and avid photo bug Thonie Albo was going up trails in Hong Kong’s countryside recently, she did not realize that she was already staying in Hong Kong illegally. 

She only learned this when staff from an employment agency that was processing her new work contract informed her on Jul 18 that she had already breached immigration laws by overstaying her employment visa.

It turned out her former employer had neglected to inform the Immigration Department that Albo had reconsidered her resignation in February.

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Albo, 40, was confident that her visa was still valid because she herself had sent the department a letter in February canceling her resignation notice as her employer had pleaded with her to stay on until her contract expires.

For some reason that letter did not reach Immigration so Albo didn’t know that her visa was cancelled 14 days after her notice period had lapsed.

After being assured by a friend that she should be able to sort out her problem as she had documents to prove her case, Albo went to the Immigration Tower in Wanchai to explain her side.

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She told the officer that she was prevailed upon by her employer to finish her contract on Aug. 8, and not leave on Mar 20 as she had stated in her notice of termination.

Albo told the officer she sent a letter to Immigration also in February, asking the department to cancel her termination notice. She showed the officer a copy of that letter.

But the officer was still not satisfied. He gave Albo a form to fill and instructed her to ask her employer for a longer written explanation on what happened.

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Early yesterday afternoon, Albo returned to the Immigration Department with the required documents. By 4pm, she was already on her way home with a new visa that is valid until Aug 11.

It turned out Albo’s employer did not notify Immigration about the cancellation of the termination notice as she wanted the helper to sign up for a new contract.

After failing to convince Albo to stay on, the employer then refused to give her an early release, even if she said she wanted to use her 14 days’ annual leave.

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The helper said the employer did not even look concerned when informed by Albo last Saturday evening about her having overstayed.

“Ayaw pa nga akong pagreportin, feeling po niya hindi urgent. Sabi ko huhulihin na ako ng pulis,” the maid said.

(She didn’t even want me to report back (to Immigration), she feels it wasn’t urgent. I told her, the police are about to arrest me)

Albo said that midway through her two-year contract, she had already thought of leaving because of a lack of sleep, her employer’s tantrums and lack of concern for her.

“Ni hindi man lang nila ako kinuhanan ng health insurance. Ako naman ang mag-suffer kung di ako lilipat,” she said when asked why she was leaving the employer and her two and a half year ward.

(She didn’t take out a health insurance for me. I would have suffered if I didn’t leave).

With Aug 8 barely three weeks away, Albo is excited at finally moving on to her next employers, an Indian family.

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HK people urged to stay home as 38 new Covid-19 cases reported

By The SUN

People are again being asked to avoid going out as 30 new local cases were reported

Thirty local cases of coronavirus infection in Hong Kong were confirmed today, Jul 12, prompting the Centre for Health Protection to urge people to stay at home and admit the local outbreak “is a little bit out of control”.

Four Filipinos who arrived from Manila in recent days were among eight imported cases confirmed today, bringing the total number of new cases to 38. An additional 20 were reported as having tested preliminary positive.

Two of the new arrivals from the Philippines are domestic helpers, aged 38 and 45, who both arrived on Jul 10 and were asymptomatic.

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The other two are both men who appear to be sailors, aged 49 and 69. One arrived on Jul 9 and was sent to hospital from home quarantine, while the other was referred by the Port Health Division after arriving on Jul 10. Both had fever and cough.

A third  Filipina domestic worker was also found infected after developing an itchy throat yesterday. The helper, aged 52, lives in the same house in Tseung Kwan O as her employers and their 13-year-old daughter, who all developed symptoms earlier.

Among the new cases are 4 recently-arrived Filipinos and a migrant worker infected at her employer's home

CHP’s Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said the new confirmed cases brought Hong Kong’s total tally to 1,469. The source of 13 of today’s cases is unknown.

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Responding to a query on when she expects the crisis to end, Chuang replied that it does not seem like the contagion will stop soon.

“We’d like it to end as soon as possible but given the current conditions, it doesn’t seem (like) it’s going to stop easily,” she said.

Chuang also said in response to another query: “We are having more and more cases each day, so it is a little bit out of control.”

She said those infected live in different areas and go to work in different industries and districts where they come into contact with various persons, so infections increase.

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“So, we need to be more careful. We need to maintain personal hygiene, and we should avoid unnecessary gatherings, just as what we did a few months ago, that can help slow down the outbreak,” Chuang said.

She said if people stayed at home and had less interaction, Hong Kong could slow down the outbreak. At the same time, she said the government should tighten distancing measures to curb the spread of the virus.

Chuang urged people living in the areas where there had been outbreaks in recent days to go for testing immediately if they feel unwell. They shouldn’t wait for the CHP to hand out sample bottles as that would be “time consuming and the yield would be very low,” she said.

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She expressed concern that more taxi drivers are getting infected in the third wave of the contagion, with another cab driver among the confirmed cases today.

The CHP official also noted the risk of getting infected in tutorial centers, saying the cramped space in such institutions could easily spread the disease.

An 11-year-old female student of Po Leung Kuk Lam Man Chan Primary School and her mother also tested positive, and so did a 7-year-old boy who went to Chun Yin Education Centre for tutorial, Chuang said.

She said CHP was contact-tracing more than 10 pupils who attended the same tutorial school as the boy patient.   

Two teenage female students at Good Hope School also tested positive. One of them was the 13-year-old who infected her parents and their Filipina helper.

An Immigration officer at the Shenzhen Bay border checkpoint whose preliminary test was positive on Saturday, was a confirmed case today, Chuang said.

She said another man, also 48, who tested positive today, said he went to a bar in Tsimshatsui late on Jul 1, but forgot its name.

Dr Sara Ho, Hospital Authority chief manager, said a total of 205 confirmed patients are currently hospitalized in 10 hospitals. Four of them are in critical condition, three are in serious condition, and the remaining 198 are in stable condition.

Earlier today, Gabriel Matthew Leung, dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, told a radio program the transmission rate in the contagion’s third wave had risen by 30%, or an average of one positive person infecting 3 to 4 others.

Leung, a public health authority, cited a research that indicated the virus has mutated. He said this is just the beginning of the local outbreak and the situation is more serious than at the start of the infection in January.

He said Hong Kong’s virus detection capability was ahead of the world but has not continued to improve. He added the public medical system and university laboratories are not enough to cope with the outbreak and need help from the private medical sector.

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Protests held in key HK districts to mark 1st anniversary of 1M march

By The SUN

Police made a number of arrests in Central, where protesters spread through several streets

Scores of people have taken to the streets in various parts of Hong Kong today, Jun 9, to mark the first year since an estimated one million people protested against the now-abandoned extradition bill proposed by government.

The protests were held despite police warnings that the gatherings were illegal as they were held without a permit, and violated social distancing regulations.

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Earlier, the Philippine Consulate issued an advisory, telling Filipinos to avoid places where protests are expected to be held. For today, the areas identified were Wanchai, Central, Tai Koo, Kwai Chung, San Po Kong, Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong and other areas on Hong Kong Island.

The advisory said protests are also expected to be held on Friday, Jun 12; Sunday, Jun 14; Tuesday, Jun 16; Friday, Jun 19; Saturday, Jun 20; and Sunday, Jun 21.

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The biggest gathering today was the one that started in the early evening in Chater Garden in Central, and spilled onto neighboring streets.

Police moved in with pepper balls and pepper spray after raising the blue flag warning as protesters blocked Des Voeux Road Central, bringing evening rush-hour traffic to a standstill. A number of people were arrested, but figures were not immediately available.

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The protesters also occupied Ice House Street and Queen’s Road Central, Queen Victoria Street, and all the way to Jubilee Street near Sheung Wan.

Reports say officers also fired pepper balls to disperse people who had set up an umbrella barricade at Queen Victoria Street.

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The police later said they seized umbrellas, paint thinner and empty bottles from an overpass on the adjacent Jubilee Street.

Earlier at lunch time, protesters also gathered inside the Landmark mall in Central and the APM shopping mall in Kwun Tong in commemoration of the huge protest against what many Hongkongers felt was a threat to their basic freedoms.

Lunchtime protest inside the Landmark in Central (RTHK photo)

This time around, protesters held aloft banners advocating Hong Kong independence.

They turned on the torches in their mobile phones, chanted slogans and held up the banners which read “never forget the heart when you started, persist till the end.”

At the APM mall, protesters gathered on different floors and sang protest songs that called for the “liberation of Hong Kong.”

 

Protesters in the APM mall called for independence for Hong Kong (RTHK photo)

Later in the evening, local television showed hundreds of people also gathered in Mong Kok, where they faced off with police in full battle gear.

Some of those who took part in the protests said they wanted to show their outrage now as it could become impossible to do the same once Beijing implements the national security law it has crafted for Hong Kong.

Others said it might be their last show of defiance since China appears dead-set on cracking the whip on dissent in the Special Administrative Region.

Protests were noticeably muted since China’s National People’s Congress passed the national security bill for Hong Kong last week.

Despite this, another big protest is being planned for Jun 19, when the rule limiting public gatherings to no more than eight people is expected to have been lifted.

Organizers said they decided to move by a week their plan to commemorate another turning point in the protests.

This was on June 12 last year, when the legislative council was forced to stop debating the extradition bill, after thousands of protesters blocked all access roads leading to the central government offices.

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Polo, DWC hold two more outreach medical missions

Libreng  checkup sa nakaraang outreach mission.

By Rodelia P. Villar

Hundreds of Filipino migrant workers in two churches have availed of the free medical and employment consultations during an outreach mission by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, with help from Domestic Workers Corner.

The latest outreach was held on May 12 at St Alfred Parish in Tai Wai, New Territories, where about 350 Filipino domestic workers received free basic medical check-up and more than 100 received help with securing overseas employment certificates.

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About the same number lined up for services at Holy Cross Parish in Sai Wan Ho on Hong Kong island on May 5.

Both missions were led by Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre who conceived the project of providing medical check-ups to FDWs in the wake of findings that a higher-than-normal number of the Hong Kong-based workers suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes.


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Labatt dela Torre also provides information to the parishioners on the projects and services that Polo offers for free to Filipino workers.

Catholic chaplain for Filipinos, Fr. Jay Flandez, helps coordinate the outreach missions with the parishes across Hong Kong, especially in far-flung areas where the workers don’t have easy access to most service providers.

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As part of the outreach, speakers are invited to give talks on employment-related matters and other issues concerning migrant workers.

At Holy Cross parish, The SUN editor and lawyer Daisy CL Mandap spoke on the rights of the accused, and how a migrant worker could get help when subjected to a criminal act like physical abuse.

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She said an accused can refuse to make a statement, much less agree to sign any document the contents of which she disputes, or are not made clear to her. When they are harmed, they should leave the employer’s house immediately and seek professional help.

If possible, gather evidence like photos or medical reports and other documents that could be used should the filing of a case become necessary.

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In Tai Wai, Gellin Byatt, program officer of PathFinders Hong Kong spoke on the rights of a pregnant migrant worker, and those of her child after she gives birth.

The mission was headed by Maan Tomagan of POLO, with help from volunteers, some of them registered nurses, midwives or therapists.



Here is the schedule for succeeding HealthWise Outreach missions::
Jun 2 – St Joseph’s Church, Central
June 30 - St. Vincent Church, Hang Hau
July 14 - St. Thomas Church, Tsing Yi
July 21 - St. Francis Church, Ma On Shan

The HealthWise services and OEC and BMOnline assistance remain available at Polo on Sunday to Thursday at 9am to 4 am, and on Saturdays from 10 am to 1pm. There will be no services on Fridays and public holidays.

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