DOLE belies reports of domestic helper layoffs in Hong Kong

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has belied reports that foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, including Filipinos, are being laid off amid an outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“There is no report (of Filipino domestic helpers losing jobs because of COVID) from our Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Hong Kong,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said yesterday when asked about the article in the South China Morning Post.

According to the report, dozens of domestic helpers have been terminated as their employers have opted to leave the city.

“Very sad to read this. We’ve done good by you, Hong Kong. We expect you to do good by our people,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Twitter.

Misunderstanding over how long domestic helpers should be allowed to spend outside the house was also cited as among the reasons for the rising number of termination among domestic helpers.

Society of Hong Kong Recruiters Accredited to the Philippines (SHARP) president Alfredo Palmiery, however, said Filipino household service workers (HSWs) are still in demand in Hong Kong.

“The demand for Filipino workers is still there and has not been affected by COVID,” Palmiery told The STAR.

Seth Espiritu, an overseas Filipino worker in Hong Kong, said some of her colleagues lost their jobs after their employers got laid off.

She said the Hong Kong economy has suffered because of COVID-19 and the continuing anti-government rallies. But only few Filipino workers lost their jobs.  

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Hans Cacdac said the COVID problem was not projected to cause significant loss of jobs.

But he said the government is monitoring the situation in Macau as some of the workers have been placed on forced leave.  

So far over 8,000 Filipino workers have been affected by the temporary ban on travel to China and special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Taiwan, OWWA said.

OWWA said it has provided a total of P84.43 million to the 8,443 OFWs who were unable to leave when the government imposed a temporary travel ban due to COVID-19.

“P10,000 cash assistance, drawn from the OWWA Trust Fund of member-OFWs, was given to each stranded OWWA member-OFW,” OWWA noted.

Starting Feb. 3, OWWA’s different regional offices distributed cash assistance for all workers bound for China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan upon the orders of Bello.

OWWA stopped the release of cash assistance last Feb. 20 after the government lifted the travel ban to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

OFWs heading for China may still avail themselves of the cash assistance although OWWA said the workers are hopeful the travel ban on their destinations would also be lifted soon.

Of the 17 OWWA regional offices, OWWA-National Capital Region distributed the largest amount, at P36.87 million for 3,687 OFWs.

OWWA-Ilocos region released P7.16 million for 716 OFWs and Western Visayas with P6.82 million for 682 OFWs. – With Pia Lee-Brago