Envoy wants Pinay helpers exempt from window cleaning

MANILA, Philippines - Filipina household workers in Hong Kong should be exempted from cleaning windows on the outside of their employer’s apartment, a labor official said recently.

Lawyer Jalilo dela Torre, labor attaché to Hong Kong, said he will insist that employers asking for new maids adhere to a new provision he will insert in employment contracts starting this year: that window cleaning should not be part of a maid’s chores.

“Window cleaning should be left to professionals or the building management,” he said in a speech before members of the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines last Friday.

Dela Torre made the proposal following the death of Renalyn Dullog, who fell from the 49th floor while cleaning the outside of her employer’s windows. Her skull was smashed in half and her torso was separated from her body.

Her remains arrived in a closed casket at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Friday night and was brought to her hometown in Isabela by representatives from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Last January, an Indonesian fell to her death while cleaning the windows of her employer in Hong Kong, where police recorded at least six to eight deaths annually due to window cleaning chores ordered by employers.