Once you are in Hong Kong you need to have a Hong Kong ID and being a domestic helper, I pay only 350 Hong Kong dollar.This Filipina paid HK$35,000 to obtain her fake Hong Kong ID card in the hope that she could get a better-paying job. Although she initially enjoyed the benefit of the HK ID Card by being employed as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Sai Ying Pun, A.B. Balingao ultimately paid a heavier price – 17 months in prison – for the two charges of using a forged document, her Hong Kong ID. As well as breach of the conditions of her stay in Hong Kong.
Balingao was handed the sentence on June 30, after pleading guilty to the three charges. The defense lawyer asked the court to give her a lighter sentence, because Balingao is the sole breadwinner of her family consisting of her parents, four sisters, and three brothers – who are all farmers here in the Philippines, and her two daughters, aged 13 and 11. Balingao's husband has left her for another woman. The reason she committed the crime is because she was trying to earn more money. She knew it was a foolish act and she is remorseful. She has no other means to support her family, and her children will lose their schooling, so she decided to to work as dishwasher at restaurant.
However, Eastern Courts Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai rejected the defense’s statement, saying that besides Balingao’s “voluntary surrender”, there was no humanitarian ground cited that could lighten the her sentence. Chainrai then handed 15 months for the charge of using a fake HK ID, and two months for the breach of the condition of her stay. We all must be very careful of our actions. Hong Kong really follow the rules and they implement it. She is already earning being a domestic helper, if her family know how to handle their finances the Hong Kong's domestic worker salary is big enough. And besides her family is not disabled and they can find work to help her for their daily needs.
The judge was supposed to give three months of imprisonment to Balingao for the breach of conditions of stay charge, but discounted one month after the she pleaded guilty. Balingao, 31 and from Baguio City, was initially employed as a domestic service worker when she arrived in the territory on March 26, 2014. She then initially worked as a part-time cleaner at the restaurant in Sai Ying Pun, and started working full-time there a few months after. It was unclear whether Balingao was terminated by her original employer or broke her original contract. On February 6, 2015, Balingao tried to en-cash a P12,000-cheque at the HSBC branch on Bonham Street using her fake HKID. A bank official then alerted the authorities after noticing that Balingao’s HKID had a prefix “R”, instead of “X” or “WX” used for foreign domestic workers. She know that she is using a fake HKID but she did not check it very well.
She also know that every transaction we made in Hong Kong, we need to use our HKID. Even if you want to buy sim card for cellphones. Hong Kong is very strict, we must know it. So to all those who want to work abroad, in any country make sure to know what you can do and what you cannot do. We are responsible to our own. Once they find and catch you, you cannot say that you don't know. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. So it is better that we are aware of what we are doing.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Senator Bongbong Marcos Jr. seeks agency focusing on OFW's.
Senator Bongbong Marcos Jr. on Wednesday stressed the need to create an agency that would solely tend to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their concerns. “Many have suggested, and I agree, that it’s time we have a Department of OFW so we would have a Cabinet Secretary who is dedicated to the task of addressing issues of OFWs,” Marcos said in a press statement. This is good news to all OFW's because we really need help and assistance from our government. They called us "modern day hero" but once we encounter problem in our work, in other country, it is really hard to find help. He said that although there are various government agencies that deal with specific OFW concerns, these are loosely coordinated. He added that some agencies often issue regulations that make life more difficult for OFWs. The senator noted the imposition of terminal fees that OFWs have to pay when they make an airline booking, and to think we are exempted from payment of such fees.
He said even if OFWs are entitled to a refund, many of them fail to get their money back either because they don’t know about it or because of the complicated refund procedure. “We need somebody—say the Secretary of the Department of OFW—to coordinate the delivery of services of all these agencies dealing with OFWs, study all the problems of our workers abroad, and find solutions to their problems,” Marcos said. And he is right about this. We need a government agency that will focus only for the welfare of all OFW's. He said a separate department for OFWs is necessary because overseas workers have their own unique concerns that pertain only to their sector.
However, Marcos said efforts to push for the creation of a department for OFWs will not prosper without Malacanang’s support. “We may be able to pass such a measure in Congress but if the President refuses to sign it, it won’t become a law,” he said. All OFWs deserve a better treatment from the government. He stressed that during the global economic crisis, the Philippines managed to weather the storm with the help of OFW remittances.
Bongbong seeks agency focusing on OFW's. we contribute a lot in our Phillipine government. We hope that this will soon to happen and the President will sign it.
He said even if OFWs are entitled to a refund, many of them fail to get their money back either because they don’t know about it or because of the complicated refund procedure. “We need somebody—say the Secretary of the Department of OFW—to coordinate the delivery of services of all these agencies dealing with OFWs, study all the problems of our workers abroad, and find solutions to their problems,” Marcos said. And he is right about this. We need a government agency that will focus only for the welfare of all OFW's. He said a separate department for OFWs is necessary because overseas workers have their own unique concerns that pertain only to their sector.
However, Marcos said efforts to push for the creation of a department for OFWs will not prosper without Malacanang’s support. “We may be able to pass such a measure in Congress but if the President refuses to sign it, it won’t become a law,” he said. All OFWs deserve a better treatment from the government. He stressed that during the global economic crisis, the Philippines managed to weather the storm with the help of OFW remittances.
Bongbong seeks agency focusing on OFW's. we contribute a lot in our Phillipine government. We hope that this will soon to happen and the President will sign it.
US hits abuse of Filipino Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong
As all of us know that domestic helpers all over the world especially in Hong Kong suffered abuse from their own employer. Not all but so many. Our family back home did not know really what is happening to us, it is because we just post nice and happy pictures in Facebook. For me, my reason is I really don't want them to see and know how hard to work abroad especially being a domestic helper. The United States has criticized the abuses suffered by foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong and urged the territory's government to enact a comprehensive anti-trafficking law to prevent these from happening. In it's 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department said Hong Kong was a destination, transit, and source territory for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.
More than 320,000 foreign domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, and Bangladesh work in Hong Kong; some become victims of forced labor in the private homes in which they are employed. It is because recruiters in the Philippines and Indonesia generally charge excessive job placement fees, which may lead to situations of debt bondage in Hong Kong. And those that their contract is being terminated by their employer or the domestic helper will be the one who break contract have a hard time to find new employer because some domestic worker employment agencies in Hong Kong charge fees in excess of the maximum allowed under Hong Kong law. And the accumulated debts sometimes amount to up to 80 percent of worker's salaries for the first six to seven months of employment. And some worker's are unwilling to report abusive employers for fear of losing their jobs and being unable to repay their debts; some employers or employment agencies illegally withhold passports, employment contracts, or other possessions until the debt is paid. And even if you don't have debt from employment agency, there is really employers who take the passport and employment contracts. Even though it is illegal, me myself cannot do anything about this in fear that my employer will terminate my contract.
The US State Department also noted that domestic workers have also reported working 17-hour's a day, and that is really true. Some is available 24 hours a day because the employer will call even if it is one o'clock in the morning and you just go to bed to rest. Some is receiving less than minimum wage, experiencing physical or verbal abuse and confinement in their employer’s home, and not receiving a legally required weekly day off. And I have my own experience that. For two years in Malaysia, I never have my day off. This is some of the things that domestic helper suffered from the hands of their employers. Sad to say but the only thing that give courage to all OFW to continue their work even if it is really so hard is the love for their family, the dreams that one day soon, they/we can give brighter future to our children in the highest form of education. This is the life that OFW endured, I hope that through my blog, I can reach out some family that they have relatives in other country. For them to know that life for us here working abroad is like a bed of roses but full of thorns.
More than 320,000 foreign domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, and Bangladesh work in Hong Kong; some become victims of forced labor in the private homes in which they are employed. It is because recruiters in the Philippines and Indonesia generally charge excessive job placement fees, which may lead to situations of debt bondage in Hong Kong. And those that their contract is being terminated by their employer or the domestic helper will be the one who break contract have a hard time to find new employer because some domestic worker employment agencies in Hong Kong charge fees in excess of the maximum allowed under Hong Kong law. And the accumulated debts sometimes amount to up to 80 percent of worker's salaries for the first six to seven months of employment. And some worker's are unwilling to report abusive employers for fear of losing their jobs and being unable to repay their debts; some employers or employment agencies illegally withhold passports, employment contracts, or other possessions until the debt is paid. And even if you don't have debt from employment agency, there is really employers who take the passport and employment contracts. Even though it is illegal, me myself cannot do anything about this in fear that my employer will terminate my contract.
The US State Department also noted that domestic workers have also reported working 17-hour's a day, and that is really true. Some is available 24 hours a day because the employer will call even if it is one o'clock in the morning and you just go to bed to rest. Some is receiving less than minimum wage, experiencing physical or verbal abuse and confinement in their employer’s home, and not receiving a legally required weekly day off. And I have my own experience that. For two years in Malaysia, I never have my day off. This is some of the things that domestic helper suffered from the hands of their employers. Sad to say but the only thing that give courage to all OFW to continue their work even if it is really so hard is the love for their family, the dreams that one day soon, they/we can give brighter future to our children in the highest form of education. This is the life that OFW endured, I hope that through my blog, I can reach out some family that they have relatives in other country. For them to know that life for us here working abroad is like a bed of roses but full of thorns.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)