HK maids get wake up call

The decision of the Hong Kong government to cut the wages of our maids by HK$400 and tax their employers by the same amount should be seen as a wake up call. We simply cannot depend on this kind of employment for our people as a long-term solution to our jobs problem. The senators and Migrante and all sorts of people who love going up a soapbox can denounce the Hong Kong government for doing that but if we thought about it, it is their right. Our maids are still just visitors, subject to their laws.

Hong Kong is suffering a serious economic downturn and its government thinks that imposing the tax is one way of addressing the demands of their current economic crisis. We can call them ingrates for conveniently forgetting that our maids were there all these years, making it possible for them to achieve the high standard of living they now enjoy. But that gets us nowhere.

Hong Kong’s action isn’t even the first of its kind. Migrante reports that "OFWs in Taiwan had a 20 percent wage cut in 2001 while unskilled OFWs in Saudi Arabia had their wages slashed by 25 percent last year." Times have changed, the good times are gone and host countries are adjusting. Why should we begrudge them that?

The problem lies with us, and our government. Sending teachers and other professionals to Hong Kong to work as domestic helpers was supposed to be a temporary thing. It was supposed to just tie us over while we fixed our economy to enable it to provide good employment for our people. But the temporary became permanent. We failed miserably to move out of our hell hole. We dickered. We debated. We demonstrated and called it people power. We did everything except fix the economy.

So now the time has come when our temporary solution of exporting our women to work as maids in Hong Kong has expired. The tax decision aside, we failed to notice that the welcome mat for Pinay maids in Hong Kong has started to wear thin. I was watching a Chinese talk show on Channel News Asia last week which mercifully for me, had English subtitles. They were discussing the subject of Filipino maids in Hong Kong. I got the impression that they are having second thoughts about them and not just because of the money.

Pinay maids are being blamed for a new generation of spoiled Chinese children. One of the guys in the panel observed that Hong Kong middle class kids these days can’t do things for themselves anymore, not even to fetch a glass of water. That’s because they have a Pinay maid at their beck and call. They are also worried about the loss of traditional Chinese values. At least with Chinese maids, one of them said, traditional values could be imparted.

The talk show panel participants also expressed worry about the poor living conditions of Pinay maids. Hong Kong apartments as small as they are, leave little room for a maid. Such close quarters, it was pointed out, lead to abuses, including sexual abuses that disrupt families. In any case, it was said, having a Pinay maid has become a status symbol for upwardly mobile Hong Kongers, just like having a fancy car. In the process, the Pinay maid has been dehumanized.

On the whole, the panelists gave me the impression that they thought our maids are an unwelcome intrusion to their lives. They couldn’t hide that they feel threatened at having 200,000 of them in tiny Hong Kong. Dismissal time in most schools, one of them said, makes one think he is in Manila rather than Hong Kong or Taipei because of all the Pinay maids jabbering away in a foreign tongue as they wait to pick up the children.

The talk show participants, tried to but could not help betray the sense of superiority the Chinese feel over Southeast Asians. They didn’t say it explicitly but between the lines, they felt that they could better face their economic challenges today if they did away with our maids. Because of the Pinay maids, they are losing the self reliant go getting quality that made Hong Kong what it is. I have heard older Chinoys say something similar about younger Chinoys, also apparently spoiled by Pinay maids here at home.

I wanted to throw a flower vase at each of the talk show participants for failing to show appreciation for our maids. But then again, it is their country and our maids are just guests who can stay only for as long as they are welcome. I also just got a press release from someone who works for the United Arab Emirates. It announced a program to localize jobs now held by foreigners. That means our Middle East jobs also have an expiration date.

Instead of ranting and raving at the temerity of these Arabs for taking over jobs in their country held by our citizens, maybe it would be more productive for us to unite as a people in fixing our economy so all our people can find work right here at home. Fat chance our politicians, our communist agitators and vested interest groups can junk their narrow agendas for the greater good. That’s our tragedy. But something we can do something about if we put our minds to it.

Energy conservation

Petron’s spokesperson Rui Ruivivar speculated last week that given the trend in crude oil prices, a P7 a liter increase on top of the close to P1 they are contemplating this month could be in the realm of possibilities. Given that per liter price of gasoline is now over P20, this means we will be hitting the P30 per liter price level pretty soon.

At this rate, energy conservation will be imposed by market prices even before government gets its act together. Traffic will clear out in our streets and even the owners of gas guzzlers will think twice before they used their monsters.

This late in the day, there is still time for government to start harnessing the power of our people to meet enercon goals. The other week, a reader took the trouble of calling me to let me know that he is a Filipino inventor and entrepreneur who has devised a system of lighting offices efficiently. He uses a system of reflectors which make it possible to use less florescent lamps and therefore use less electricity.

He complained that he has gone to the energy department but somehow, they would not give him the time of day. I remember that when we had our own enercon program during the time of Ronnie Velasco, we encouraged such entrepreneurs not just with tax breaks but marketing assistance. Using this strategy again should help us get public participation in a vital program. Vince should try it.

Dream comes true

There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer.

When asked to define "great" he said, "I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!"

He now works for Microsoft, writing error messages.

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])