Hong Kong council rejects motion against foreign domestic helpers

MANILA, Philippines - Hong Kong’s Legislative Council denied yesterday a motion to publicly express its opposition to foreign domestic helpers’ campaign for right of abode, a newspaper here said.

The South China Morning Post reported that the motion was filed by Wong Ting-kwong, a lawmaker with the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

Wong said that he was concerned large numbers of foreign domestic helpers would come to Hong Kong.

According to the Post, Wong said his party had collected more than 90,000 signatures by people who opposed granting right of abode to foreign domestic helpers, many of them Filipinos and Indonesians.

“Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit opposed the motion, saying it would undermine Hong Kong’s judicial independence since the courts were now proceeding with such lawsuits,” the paper said.

Kah-kit added that even if the courts rule that foreign domestic helpers were eligible for permanent residency, it would not mean they would be automatically granted residency.

The motion had won a 16-4 vote from lawmakers in the functional constituencies, but was voted down by those in geographical constituencies. Eight legislators in the constituencies voted in support, two were against it and 14 abstained, the paper said.

The Court of First Instance is now hearing a judicial review brought by a Filipino couple, Daniel and Irene Domingo, who have been living in Hong Kong for almost 30 years and who have three children born here. They are challenging decisions by immigration officials to reject their applications for permanent identity cards.

In a landmark case last month, the court ruled in favor of Filipino domestic helper Evangeline Vallejos and said that the immigration laws were unconstitutional in preventing domestic helpers from permanent residency in Hong Kong.