JDV: Mission for 153,000 HK maids a success

Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr. has succeeded in securing an assurance from the Hong Kong government that the new wage policy in the territory, which imposes a HK$400 ($51) levy on the monthly pay of foreign maids, will not be imposed on workers with existing contracts.

This means that 153,000 Filipino domestic servants currently working in Hong Kong will be spared from the levy until their contract expires.

The wage cut will, however, be applicable on their next contract and those who will be hired starting April 1.

Noel Albano, House deputy secretary general and De Venecia’s spokesman, said that the 24-hour mission of the Speaker to Hong Kong this week was taken out of context by several sectors who criticized the House leader.

During the meeting with Hong Kong’s chief executive Tung Che-hwa last Wednesday, De Venecia, he said, argued that it is not fair and just for Filipino workers.

"He issued an appeal on behalf of the Filipino maids in Hong Kong and he did not return empty handed," Albano said.

Philippine consul general to Hong Kong Victoria Bataclan, who accompanied De Venecia to his meeting with Tung Che-hwa, also said that "no deal detrimental to the welfare of Filipino workers was ever struck."

De Venecia, she added, also secured Hong Kong’s assurance that it would not set a cap on the employment of Filipino maids "despite a powerful domestic pressure."

The House leader promised further efforts to seek a review of Hong Kong’s wage policy, expressing hope that an upturn in Hong Kong’s economy, which the International Monetary Fund (IMPF) has predicted, "would lead to the ending of the salary cut."

Filipino maids in the territory are part of the Philippine’s seven million-strong overseas work force that remit $8 billion annually to the country.