Palace: Pinoys in Hong Kong getting assistance

MANILA, Philippines — The government is providing assistance to Filipino workers in Hong Kong who caught COVID-19, Malacañang said yesterday, as the Chinese special administrative region grapples with a surge in infections.

Acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Hong Kong immediately provided COVID-stricken Filipino workers with food, hygiene kits and power banks to allow them to communicate while waiting for calls from the Center for Health Protection and the Hong Kong Labor Department.

The POLO also coordinated with a non-government organization to provide an isolation facility to accommodate several Filipino migrant workers.

“(POLO) also coordinated with the Hong Kong Labor Department, which set up an isolation facility for our countrymen, pending admission to the quarantine facility, apart from providing transportation arrangements,” Nograles said in a statement.

The POLO has also provided $200 after-care financial assistance to those who recovered from COVID-19. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will also provide $200 for each COVID-positive Filipino worker.

Nograles said as of Feb. 19, five of the 28 Filipino workers in Hong Kong who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered, with three of them back to their respective employers.

More than 90 percent of hospital beds in Hong Kong are in use as COVID-19 infections rose sharply because of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, according to news reports. There are more than 130,000 Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III yesterday confirmed that 41 Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong who tested positive for COVID “were provided food, medicine and cash assistance of $200.”

He also belied reports that a number of Filipino domestic helpers were terminated after testing positive for COVID, as COVID infection is not a valid ground to terminate a worker under Hong Kong laws.

Labor Assistant Secretary Alice Visperas said more than half of the 41 COVID-positive domestic helpers have completed their two-year employment contract and are about to return home. They went straight to the airport and after testing positive for COVID, had to wait for the ambulance to pick them up.

Of the 41 cases, Visperas said only two are in hospitals, eight have recovered while the rest are in quarantine facilities. The Philippine government, she said, will provide an additional $200 to those OFWs staying in quarantine facilities to sustain their needs.

Visperas said the government would repatriate the OFWs who have completed their employment contracts as soon as they have turned negative from the infection, while those with existing contracts will go back to their employers upon completing the quarantine.

Visperas also reported that Hong Kong temporarily closed its door for returning migrants amid the surge in COVID cases. The government is yet to determine how many were affected by the temporary travel suspension. – Mayen Jaymalin