MANILA, 15 March 2003 — The Department of Foreign Affairs has asked China’s help to get Hong Kong to reverse its decision to cut the salaries of Filipino maids.
Foreign Secretary Blas Ople made the appeal during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Wang Chungui.
“In the interest of our close friendship, we hope and expect that the Chinese government will intervene to avert such unjust treatment of the Filipino workers in Hong Kong,” Ople said.
“It’s the decision of the Hong Kong government and we (China) can only convey the Philippines’ appeal,” Wang told reporters afterward. He refused to give any commitments.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said last weekend her government will sue the Hong Kong administration over its decision earlier this month to cut the foreign maids’ minimum wage by 400 Hong Kong dollars ($51) per month to HK$3,270 ($419).
Last week, Arroyo said the government will stop approving new employment contracts for the maids until their wage minimum is restored to 3,670 Hong Kong dollars ($470). The Philippine government also plans to refer the matter to the International Labor Organization, she said.
Amid the dispute, opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara yesterday reiterated his recommendation that Filipino domestic helpers go to other countries, preferably in Europe, and abandon the Hong Kong market.
Angara said sending Filipino caregivers and domestics to Europe, especially in the developed countries, would be preferable because of higher pay, good working conditions, and relatively better treatment.
He said he believed that the government was only trying to help the Filipinos by boycotting the sending of domestics to Hong Kong. “Unfortunately, some of our people will accept whatever the Hong Kong government does because of lack of work opportunities in the country,” he said.
He said it was right to send a strong government position to Hong Kong, but the ban on deployment should not have been imposed by the Philippines without consulting the Filipino workers. “We must gradually phase out the deployment of caregivers and domestics to Hong Kong, but it should not be prohibited because some people prefer a reduced salary to no income at all,” he said.
