MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 10, 2013) – Hundreds of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong on Sunday protested Manila’s inaction to the moratorium on deployment of household helpers in the former British colony.
The demonstrators trooped to the Philippine Consulate General and held a rally to protest President Benigno Aquino’s inaction to the moratorium imposed by Philippine-based private recruitment agencies.
“We are victims already of Aquino’s incompetence in creating decent domestic jobs. Now that the livelihood of Hong Kong-bound Filipinos is caught in the crossfire of the war for profit between HK and Philippine recruiters, he still refuses to act and protect us Filipino migrants,” said Eman Villanueva, Secretary-General of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong.
Villanueva, also the 3rd nominee of Migrante party list, said that the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines, Inc. in their declaration of the moratorium on February 27 admitted that OFWs have been paying more than what they should only be charged.
“In their demand to return the placement fee that is equivalent to one month salary, they let it slip that OFWs will be paying 75% to 80% less than what they are paying now. Wasn’t this enough admission to mobilize this sluggish Aquino government to act on abuses of recruitment agencies to OFWs?” Villanueva asked.
He said that direct hiring will give an option for Hong Kong-bound Filipinos to get a job without passing through private recruitment agencies. “This is the only option left for us to not get squeezed dry by recruiters,” he said.
The protesters also hit the Philippine Consulate General, particularly the Labor Office, for its ineffectiveness in curbing overcharging and pursuing prosecution of erring agencies.
Migrante also launched a petition to demand the Aquino government to lift the ban on direct hiring and prosecute private recruitment agencies proven to have overcharged OFWs and illegally collected placement fees from Filipino migrating for work.
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