Overseas workers in Hong Kong doing okay

THE recent hostage crisis in Manila that ended in the killing of eight Hong Kong nationals has not affected the state of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the wealthy Chinese territory.

This has been the statement of OFW returnee Annie Labi as she contacted her friends left in the former British colony after the incident.

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Labi, who went home recently to Baguio after working in Hong Kong for 26 years, said the Philippine Consulate has been working hard in extending help to Filipinos working mostly as domestic helpers there.

Every Sunday, during her day-off for more than two decades, Labi spends most of her time as an Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) volunteer, helping and advising Filipino domestic helpers with their employer problems.

Among the problems commonly faced by Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong are acting as guarantors or co-makers in bank loans by other Filipino domestic helpers by placing their passports as collaterals, Labi said.

By the time OFWs discover they have been fooled by those who loaned in the banks, their fellow Filipinos already left for home leaving them with huge debts in banks there.

Around 50 percent of Filipinos in Hong Kong fall victim to these scams aside from other common money-laundering schemes such as pyramiding and double-your-money investment scams.

Labi said around 30 to 50 cases of Filipinos terminated by their employees are being serviced by Owwa personnel in Hong Kong every day even before the hostage crisis.

Other problems that beset Filipino migrant workers include extramarital affairs of their partners in the country and non-closeness to their children, Owwa-Cordillera Administrative Region Director Evelyn Laranang said.

Laranang said with this, the agency has been extending help to OFWs and their families through trainings in strengthening family relationships, financial literacy and investment planning.

She said it is important to teach OFWs long-term plans of investing their hard earned money after they have stopped working abroad.

An average Hong Kong domestic helper earns around US$200 or P18,000 a month, Labi added which they send to their families back in the country.

Data from Owwa-CAR showed that there are 16,444 Cordilleran migrant workers in many foreign countries.

These Filipino migrant workers contribute around P1.5 billion a year to the country's economy coming from their remittances, which has kept the country's economy resilient despite the global recession faced by many countries last year. (JM Agreda)