Palace vows assistance for COVID-positive Pinoys in HK

The Palace on Monday said that the government is providing assistance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong who tested positive for COVID-19, amid restrictions on them imposed by Hong Kong authorities.

"Our POLO [Philippine Overseas Labor Office] immediately provided them with food, hygiene kits and power banks to allow them to communicate while waiting for calls from the Center for Health Protection and HK Labour Department," acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.

"In addition to this, our POLO coordinated with a non-government organization to provide an isolation facility to accommodate several of our OFWs. It also coordinated with the HK Labour Department, which set up an isolation facility for our kababayans, pending admission to the quarantine facility,  apart from providing transportation arrangements," he added.

Nograles also said that the POLO provided US$200 for after-care financial assistance to those who recovered from COVID-19. 

Of 28 OFWs in Hongkong who tested positive for COVID-19 as of February 19, 2022, five have already recovered. Of these five, three were already able to go back to their employers.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will also provide $US200 for each COVID-positive OFW.

Sleeping outside

Amid the Omicron surge in Hong Kong, some COVID-positive OFWs have had to wait outside hospitals before they could be admitted due to full capacity, while at least three to 10 were made to sleep outside in public spaces by their employers after they were found to have the virus.

In a separate statement, labor leader and opposition Senate bet Sonny Matula said the Philippine government should not allow the OFWs to be discriminated and suffer from inhumane treatment amid the latest surge of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong.

"Wala nang patumpik-tumpik pa. Kailangang iligtas ang mga domestic workers natin sa Hong Kong. The Philippine Consulate confirms that Filipinos are among the many domestic workers being abandoned and being denied treatment after testing positive for COVID-19," Matula said in a statement.

(There is no debate about this. We need to rescue our domestic workers in Hong Kong.)

"Philippine authorities must acknowledge the serious problem and step in. After all, it keeps on harping that OFWs have saved the economy [due to their remittances. Magpakita naman tayo ng totoong pagkalinga at pagmamahal sa ating OFWs," Matula added.

(Let us show our OFWs we really care and our hearts go otu to them.)

Matula said that while  migrant groups and trade unions in Hong Kong are providing assistance to dismissed and abandoned OFWs by taking them in  as well as providing them food, shelter and health care, such efforts are primarily the job of the government.

"It's a pity [that] domestic workers are the frontline caregivers of those with COVID-19 at their employers' homes. Now that they have contracted the virus, they are being kicked out and being left for dead," Matula added. — BM, GMA News