Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong were forced to sleep on the streets, including train stations, after being terminated for testing positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) amid a surge in infections in the region.
Dolores Balladares, chairman of Migrante- Hong Kong, confirmed that some overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are staying outside the hospitals after being denied accommodation because their employment contracts have been terminated.
“The past few days, mayroong mga nagpositibo, nagpunta sa hospital, dahil terminated yung kanilang employment, hindi sila pinapasok or i-na-accommodate kasi wala nang employment visa (The past few days there have been OFWs who tested positive for COVID. They went to the hospital because their employment was terminated, they were not admitted or accommodated because they have no employment visa),” she said in an interview with DZBB on Monday, Feb. 21.
“Medyo hindi po maganda ang sitwasyon dahil po araw araw tumataas ang bilang noong mga nagpa-positive sa Omicron (The situation is really not good as positive cases continue to increase daily),” she added.
Balladares noted there are at least 30 to 40 Filipino workers who already asked for their assistance.
“Ang problema talaga is ‘yung matutuluyan ng mga na-te-terminate kasi wala namang designated accommodation 'yung Hong Kong government ngayon para sa terminated workers at saka 'yung nagpa-positive (The real problem is the accommodation for the terminated because the Hong Kong government does not have a designated accommodation now for terminated workers and those who are positive for COVID)," she stressed.
“Kaninang umaga (merong) humihingi ng tulong, tumatawag sa hotline ng consulate pero ang hotline ng consulate ay hindi raw ma-reach. Yan po ang kinakaharap namin dito (Earlier this morning, there was an OFW who was asking for help. She was trying to call the hotline of the consulate, but it could not be reached),” she said.
The Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong denied this and said that its hotline can be readily contacted.
"Our numbers are always available,” Consul General Raly Tejada said in a separate interview with DZBB.
Some Filipinos were displaced because their employers let them go due to fear of the virus so they were forced to leave their homes, he said.
“They had to go to the hospital po kasi COVID-positive nga sila, ngunit sa dami po ng COVID-positive ngayon sa Hong Kong hind sila maasikaso agad so they had to wait sa labas ng ospital (but with the number of COVID-positives in Hong Kong now, they could not be treated so they had to wait outside the hospitals),” Tejada said.
"‘Yun po ata ‘yung sinasabi nilang napabayaan sila ngunit hindi naman po sila technically pinabayaan... that time hindi po maka-cope ang Hong Kong authorities (I think that’s what they are saying that they were neglected but they weren’t technically neglected... that time the Hong Kong authorities could not cope)," he added.
Tejada also said that there were only a few Filipinos who were terminated for having COVID but stressed that terminating those who are sick is prohibited under employment laws.
Under China's direction, Hong Kong is sticking to a policy of trying to isolate everyone who tests positive for the coronavirus and has rejected calls to shift to a strategy of living with COVID.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Friday, Feb. 18, announced that testing for Hong Kong’s entire 7.5 million population, including foreign domestic workers, will become mandatory starting next month. (With a report from AFP)