Maids residency ruling sparks protest in HK

Around 500 Hong Kong nationals yesterday rallied to protest against a landmark court ruling which could allow thousands of foreign maids the right to permanent residency.

The successful legal challenge brought by Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a Filipino domestic worker who has lived in Hong Kong since 1986, has divided opinion in the Chinese city and prompted debate over equal treatment.

The High Court last Friday ruled that immigration laws barring domestic workers — mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia — from settling permanently violated Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law.

“We don’t want (the maids) to come to Hong Kong permanently, they will take away our social benefits,” protester Dennis Leung, 38, said after the demonstrators marched through the city center to the government offices.

“We don’t think this is discrimination. We have rules, they come to Hong Kong just to make money,” said the teacher, as he chanted slogans such as “We oppose permanent residency for foreign maids” and “We are worried.”

Foreigners can apply to settle in Hong Kong after seven years of uninterrupted residency, gaining access to voting rights and the right to live in the city without a work visa. Maids were specifically excluded.

With permanent residency a domestic worker would no longer be tied to an employer, could take any job and have access to benefits such as public housing.

The government is appealing against the court ruling.

Sunday’s protest was led by the pro-government Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which said the ruling could worsen unemployment and cost billions of dollars in social welfare spending.

The party has collected more than 90,000 signatures opposing granting foreign maids the right. Official figures showed 117,000 foreign maids are entitled to apply for permanent residency.

Despite the court decision, foreign maids — like other expats — must still fulfill other criteria before gaining residency rights, including proving they planned to make Hong Kong their permanent home.

Activists and the governments of the Philippines and Indonesia have hailed the ruling as a victory for equal treatment, with Jakarta saying it was “a benchmark” for other countries to follow.

Philippine senators, however, warned that the Hong Kong court’s ruling favoring Vallejos’ petition to apply for permanent residency in the former British colony would be put to naught if the government will not reciprocate this move by placing appropriate mechanisms.

“Her initial triumph is not only hers but for the entire OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) in Hong Kong who desire to obtain health, housing and educational benefits from the Hong Kong government,” Sen. Loren Legarda said.

The chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations added the ruling serves as a positive sign that OFWs might be provided with other benefits by the Hong Kong government.

In this light, she called on the Philippine government to ensure that its programs for OFWs are also well in place.

“If we expect other nations to treat our citizens well, then we must set the example by showing how we respect our OFWs through programs that would protect and benefit them. We must ensure that our consulates and embassies abroad are ready to extend assistance to our citizens anytime,” she stressed.

“As Filipino citizens working abroad support the nation’s economy, it is only proper and just that our government is able to reciprocate their sacrifices. We must join our OFWs in their triumphs, but more importantly, our government must always be there for them in their time of need,” Legarda pointed out.

“While we respect the appellate procedures of the judicial system in Hong Kong, we laud Vallejos’ for her determination in pursuing her crusade in seeking permanent residency in Hong Kong,” she added.

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III also welcomed the residency ruling describing it as a step at removing their vulnerabilities to abuse.

The decision, he said, will remove the stigma of discrimination against more than 100,000 Filipino domestic helpers working in Hong Kong and their fellow expatriates who have been denied the right to obtain permanent resident status even if they have worked there for many years.

“Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong have long suffered discrimination,” Pimentel noted, adding OFWs there have been considered as second-class foreign workers because domestic helpers were placed in a category that could not obtain residency status despite having lived in the Chinese administrative for many years.

“It’s about time our domestic helpers, who are the engines of most Hong Kong households, and a vital economic fuel to the Philippine economy, are treated justly and fairly and given their due,” he added.

Pimentel explained that once they obtain permanent residency status, Filipino domestic helpers would no longer be deprived of their basic right to a livelihood as they will no longer be forced to return to their homelands upon termination of their employment contracts.

As permanent residents, Filipino domestic helpers would be able stay in Hong Hong indefinitely, without fear of deportation.

Pimentel said Filipino domestic helpers have always been vulnerable to abuse by many employers who at times would whimsically terminate their contracts, thus forcing their abrupt return to the Philippines, still with debts to pay in the homeland. –Angie M. Rosales and AFP