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Monday, April 14, 2003
Jobseekers shy away from Hong Kong, Singapore
DUMAGUETE -- Applicants for work abroad are shying away from Hong Kong and Singapore because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) scare, disclosed Kendrick Villaluz, local labor and employment officer.
Villaluz said Friday that another reason for the 50 percent decrease in the number of applicants for Hong Kong and Singapore is the halt in operation of two authorized recruitment agencies in this city.
To keep Sars out of the Philippines, the consulate in Hong Kong is hiring doctors to check Filipino domestic helpers returning to the country for the dreaded illness.
According to Villaluz, the Manwor Recruitment Agencies and Active Manpower Agency temporarily stopped operations following Malacaņang's order banning travel to areas with known cases of Sars.
But one other agency, Alcare Manpower Corporation, which holds office inside the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in Dumaguete City, is still accepting applications for jobs in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Alcare's records show 26 applicants for Hong Kong and 21 for Singapore for a two-week period.
Normally, said Villaluz, the three recruitment agencies receive 100 applications for Hong Kong and Singapore in a week's time.
The agencies are recruiting jobseekers in preparation for the lifting of the travel ban and clearing of Hong Kong and Singapore of Sars, he added.
Precautions
Aside from the travel ban, President Arroyo has also directed the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong to have doctors examine the OFWs OFWs before allowing them to return to the country.
"Our countrymen who are planning to return can first be examined by the Filipino doctors that were hired by our consulate," said Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye.
If found to be possibly infected, they would probably not be allowed to leave Hong Kong, Bunye said.
He stressed that Arroyo was not barring Filipinos from coming back home, but that she was appealing to their "sense of nationalism" to take precautions.
A 34-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who arrived in Dumaguete City last April 2 from Hong Kong was cleared of Sars, with the local health office saying she was only suffering from tonsillitis and this caused her fever, sore throat and cough.
Dr. Erlinda Cabrera of the city health office said Margarita Rodavites of Cervantes Street, Dumaguete City, an OFW from Hong Kong, is now recovering after being treated for her illness.
Rodavites worked in Hong Kong for seven years, and a week before returning to the Philippines she received antibiotics and other medicines for her fever, sore throat and cough.
Cabrera said her office referred the case "to the higher government health facility/hospital for admission/isolation" but that the facility refused the referral because it was full and was not ready to manage cases like Sars.
Directive
Cabrera has requested the DOH 7 office for a directive to hospitals regarding the immediate admission or isolation of cases already manifesting signs and symptoms of Sars.
"We would like also to request for a protocol and policies concerning Sars management to be distributed to our health personnel," Cabrera said.
The city health officer said her office is also monitoring a recently arrived foreigner from Hong Kong who is suspected to have Sars.
Dr. Jungie Zoasola, regional epidemologist of DOH 7, said he already directed the Dumaguete City health office to monitor and investigate the Rodavites case.
Zoasola said he was set to visit Dumaguete City to meet with hospital officials, doctors, nurses and attendants for the immediate admission of any Sars patient. Otherwise, he added, they would be violating the law.
Airport authorities went on alert on Saturday to prepare for thousands of Filipino workers who are expected to return for Easter vacations from Sars-plagued Hong Kong.
Quarantine centers have been established and those returning will have to answer a health questionnaire before they disembark from their planes.
In the past month Sars, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, has killed 36 people in Hong Kong and infected more than 1,100, reportedly including several Filipinos who make up the majority of the estimated 240,000 domestic workforce in Hong Kong. Sun.Star Dumaguete/With AFP
(April 14, 2003 issue)
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