Maria Editha Garma-Respicio fondly recalls her teenage years writing for her school newspaper, reading in the library and penning poems about love. Growing up in Tuguegarao, a city in the northern Philippines, she sought solace in the written word when all else seemed to be falling apart.
Maria Editha Garma-Respicio, a member of Migrant Writers of Hong Kong. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
“I wrote about everything,” Respicio, as she asked to be called, said. “I wrote about my emotions, being in love, everything.”
Decades later, writing continues to play a central role in Respicio’s life. The 45-year-old domestic worker in Hong Kong writes poems about life as a migrant worker, her two children back home and whatever inspires her at the moment.
“Writing is a kind of therapy for me,” Respicio said. “It’s healing.”
Respicio’s poetry has been published in a number of literary magazines. Most recently, two of her poems found a home in “Ingat”, a new anthology of poetry, photographs and sketches by the city’s migrant workers.
Released last Sunday, “Ingat” — meaning “take care” in Tagalog — is a collaborative effort by Migrant Writers of Hong Kong, photography nonprofit Lensational and independent publisher Small Tune Press. It features the work of dozens of domestic workers telling stories about family, hardship, love and sacrifice.
All the works in the book are accompanied by Chinese translations to make it more accessible to Hong Kong readers. The anthology’s dust jacket pays tribute to balikbayan boxes, or large cardboard boxes stuffed with food, clothes and other gifts that domestic workers send home to their families.
The city’s 340,000 domestic workers, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, are the backbone of many Hong Kong families. Research has shown that domestic workers contribute significantly to the city’s economy, freeing up parents from childcare and other duties so they can enter the workforce.
Respicio wrote two poems for the anthology: “Diaspora Spirit” and “Adios”. The first is a tribute to the courage of migrant workers, while in the second, she describes a tearful farewell to her family in the Philippines:
Goodbye’s a torture, my tears shedding / I’ll no longer witness my baby’s milestone / Others children I will be caring / Making me numb like an ice stone
Christine Vicera, one of the leaders of the project and co-founder of be/longing, an initiative supporting ethnically diverse communities, said the book aimed to carve out space for work that is “often forgotten or not as visible” on Hong Kong’s creative scene.
Born in the Philippines but having moved to the city as a toddler, Vicera — who co-edited the anthology — said she always wished there was more diversity in the literary scene:
Growing up, I’ve always wanted to see works by people in our communities on bookshelves. People from Hong Kong, people who are Filipino and of course, people who are migrant domestic workers.
‘A very powerful story’
Established in 2021, Migrant Writers of Hong Kong unites domestic workers with a common love for the written word. The group partners with universities to organize writing workshops, poetry exhibitions and arts events on Sundays, the sole day off for most domestic workers.
Maria Nemy Lou Rocio co-founded the group after being inspired by Migrant Writers of Singapore. Noting the absence of such a community here, the 42 year old set out to create a safe, inclusive space for domestic workers in Hong Kong to share their creations and hone their craft. Rocio, who has been a migrant worker in Hong Kong for six years, said:
Migrant workers are very talented. Every poem they write is a very powerful story.
Shortly after establishing Migrant Workers of Hong Kong, Rocio told Vicera that she wanted to produce an anthology to showcase the writing of domestic workers. The idea was soon expanded to spotlight not just written work but photos, art and other mediums.
Kristine Andaya Ventura’s contribution to “Ingat” is a sketch of a couple paddling a boat under the full moon. The 36-year-old Filipina has been working overseas as a domestic worker since she was 19, first in Lebanon and then in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Malaysia. She came to Hong Kong at the end of 2022:
[My sketch] is about two hearts saying goodbye. No matter how happy they are today, tomorrow they need to say goodbye to separate, to have a good future.
Ventura is as much a writer as she is an artist, having penned dozens of poems over the years. She published a book of her poetry called “She is a Lioness” in 2021, telling stories about heartbreak over a failed marriage, battling depression, and life as a domestic worker in a foreign land.
Her main writing inspiration, she said, was her two children, aged 8 and 17:
I want to dedicate [my poems] to them [to show] how I love them and miss them,” Ventura said. “When I miss them, I will express that I need to work outside the country for them… to give them financial support… Writing also helps me ease the pain.
A poem that Kristine Andaya Ventura dedicated to her daughter called “Please Let Me.” Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Used with permission.
Besides poems, “Ingat” also features around two dozen photos taken by members of Lensational, a non-profit that supports domestic workers interested in photography.
Felicia Xu, a volunteer at Lensational who curated the photo submissions, said photography was a powerful tool for migrant workers as it transcended the barriers of language.
Years ago, Lensational ran an event inviting domestic workers and their employers to view their work, she told HKFP. Some of the employers became emotional when they talked to their domestic workers, Xu said:
When [one of the employers] saw the photo, it raised her interest and she started asking questions. She got to know the struggles of the domestic worker that she basically spends every minute with, but she didn’t know anything about her emotions… and that photo broke the ice.
Defying stereotypes
For the migrant workers who contributed to the anthology, writing poems and taking photos is a way for them to express their emotions and prompt society to seek new perspectives.
A study by researchers at Lingnan University last year found that domestic workers were unfairly represented by the city’s media outlets. According to an analysis of almost 400 reports about the mistreatment of domestic workers in Chinese-language media, outlets tended to use language that highlighted the “positive personality traits” of employers.
The anthology’s launch also comes as the government continues to crackdown on what it calls domestic workers’ “job-hopping”, or prematurely ending their contracts to change employers. The government is slated to announce new rules by July that could make it harder for domestic workers to switch employers.
Vicera said influencing policy-making was tougher nowadays as the legislature lacked lawmakers who campaigned for domestic workers’ rights.
Since authorities overhauled the electoral system in 2021, only people deemed “patriots” by the government can run in leadership races. During previous legislature terms, when there was still an effective opposition, pro-democracy lawmakers worked with NGOs and activists to lobby for domestic workers’ interests.
Under these circumstances, visibility through projects such as “Ingat” is more important than ever. #
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This report was written by Hillary Leung and originally published in Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) on March 9, 2024. The edited version above by Global Voices is republished by Kodao as part of a content sharing agreement.
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/poetry.png11501728Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2024-04-03 10:11:072024-04-03 10:11:09Poetry as therapy: Hong Kong’s domestic workers muse about love and sacrifice
Migrant workers held a protest action in front of the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong on Wednesday against additional fees in government health, insurance and housing program fees.
The United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) led the picket protest against the new and mandatory fee increases it said it said are “undemocratic, unscrupulous, and unnecessary.”
They were joined by members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-HK, Gabriela and Filipino Migrant Workers Union.
In a statement, UNIFIL said the Consulate General prohibited them from entering the Consular office to properly register their opposition to the new impositions but failed to stop them from conducting a rally in front of the building.
UNIFIL chairperson Dolores Balladares Pelaez said the event on Wednesday was the first in a series of protest actions around the world as collection of fee hikes started.
“Imposing fees on a population who can ill afford it is undemocratic. Overseas Filipinos budget their salary to the last cent. Imposing more fees will mean a reduction in their family’s quality of living,” Balladares-Pelaez said.
“For OFWs, this is heart-breaking as we work overseas so that our families can be given a good life,” she added.
The outgoing Rodrigo Duterte government ordered a monthly Philippine Health Insurance premium increase of Php1,200 as well as an expanded mandatory insurance premium of Php8,000 per contract for OFWs.
A recent joint advisory between the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) also made securing Pag-IBIG Membership Identification Numbers and paying the monthly contribution of Php2,400 through the POEA’s system mandatory for migrant workers.
Balladares-Pelaez said they suspect that the new increases will again be misspent following the Php15 billion controversy involving PhilHealth as well as dubious purchases made by the Social Security System.
“With no moves to ensure that our hard-earned money will be taken care of, can anyone blame us for refusing to cough up these fees? If you multiply that by millions (of OFWs), just imagine how much that will amount to,” she added.
‘We demand that the mandatory fees be revoked. These should not be pre-requisites for getting an overseas employment certificate (before deployment),” Balladares-Pelaez said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
Herbert Bautista asks COMELEC to investigate reported anomaly in counting of votes
[UPDATED] Migrant workers in Hong Kong (HK) hailed the Commission on Elections’ (COMELEC) decision to increase the number of vote counting machines (VCM) from five to 10 following the outcry resulting from hundreds of overseas absentee voters turned away last April 10.
The group United Filipinos (UNIFIL) Migrante-HK welcomed COMELECs announcement to double the number of VCM it said may help prevent a repeat of Sunday’s “serious setbacks” on the first day of overseas absentee voting (OAV) in the Chinese territory.
“The prompt outcry of the vigilant members of the Filipino migrant community drew attention to the serious setbacks on the first day of voting which resulted in this positive development in OAV in HK,” the group said in a statement.
UNIFIL Migrante-HK said it was unfortunate that many overseas Filipino workers (OFW) had to experience long waiting times, long queues and being turned away before COMELEC finally acknowledged the problem.
Earlier, the group repeatedly raised alarms over the poll body’s decision to send half the number of VCMs it used to send over it added may result to “disenfranchisement and distress” to voters.
“In our calculation, only about 40% of the 93,000 registered voters (in HK) would be able to cast their vote with five VCMs operational,” it said.
It also criticized the decision of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to slash the budget for overseas voting by 80%.
UNIFIL Migrante-HK reported that snaking queues of OFWs formed at the Bayanihan Centre entrance last Sunday, resulting in voters queuing for about 4 to 5 hours before they could vote.
The Philippine Consulate in HK admitted that its personnel stopped voters from joining the queue as early as 11:30 AM as their attention has already been called by the local police at possible violations to health protocols.
HK is suffering another surge in the number of new COVID-19 cases in recent days.
“We will continue to closely monitor the OV in Hong Kong to ensure there will be no further disenfranchisement of our fellow OFWs. We demand clean and honest elections. We demand a government accountable to its people,” UNIFIL Migrante-HK said.
OFWs in HK queuing to cast their votes. (Migrante HK photo)
VCM ‘anomaly‘
Meanwhile, a video of a HK voter has gone viral complaining that her vote for senatorial candidate Herbert Bautista has been counted by the VCM to fellow aspirant Ibrahim Albani instead.
OFW Thelma Cornejo made the revelation in an informal exit poll video by vlogger Ironjock Jermice posted last April 12.
She said she does not know Ibrahim and did not vote for him.
She added that she was careful in filling up her ballot.
Cornejo said she has protested to the Board of Election Inspectors who told her it will be reported to the COMELEC.
The video has generated 103 thousand views, nearly 6 thousand reactions and more than 800 comments.
Bautista, reacting to the video, said he calls on the COMELEC to investigate the report.
“Early reports of voting anomaly should not be brushed aside as so-called isolated incidents. The integrity of the electoral process in all levels must be paramount,” Bautista said.# (Raymund B. Villanueva)
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Many migrant workers in Hong Kong who wanted to cast their votes on the first day of overseas absentee voting (OAV) were turned away, a Filipino migrant organization reported.
United Filipinos-Migrante Hong Kong leader Dolores Balladares Pelaez said in a Facebook broadcast the Philippine Consulate in the Chinese territory started refusing voters wanting to cast votes before 12 noon today .
Pelaez said that the five vote counting machines (VCM) sent by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to the territory could not cope with huge number of registered voters who turned up on the first day of the OAV.
“Five VCM are not enough to accommodate the 93 thousand of Filipinos here in Hong Kong. The 10 they sent us in previous elections were not even enough,” she said in Filipino.
Pelaez said they fear that many Filipinos in Hong Kong may be disenfranchised if the COMELEC fails to fix the problem.
“Those refused to cast their votes are very angry. Sunday is the only day they could exercise their right to vote,” Pelaez said.
The OAV in the territory is being held at the Bayanihan Center at Victoria Road, Kennedy town.
Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite called for an immediate investigation of the “chaotic and disorganized” voting in Hong Kong and raised fears of “potential disenfranchisement of thousands of voters.
“We cannot allow the potential massive disenfranchisment of our overseas voters due to the ineptitude and lack of proper organizing by these officials. The slashing of funds by the DBM for the overseas voting must also be looked into,” Gaite said in a statement.
Gaite saidthat he will ask the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms of the House of Representatives to summon the COMELEC, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Hongkong Consular office to investigate the incident.
The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has yet to issue a statement on the matter. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/voter-scaled.jpg17102560Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-04-10 16:02:582022-04-10 16:37:16Voters turned away on 1st day of overseas absentee voting in Hong Kong, Migrante reports
A number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who have tested positive of Covid-19 are being terminated, abandoned and forced to live in parks in cold weather in Hong Kong.
Migrante International (MI) and the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK) reported that several employers of Filipino domestic workers in the territory have refused to take back their employees who are sick with Covid-19.
“[They have] no immediate place to go as they were advised to stay home by the HK health authorities since they were found to be asymptomatic,” MI said in a statement.
Unifil and Migrante-HK secretary general Eman Villanueva said in a radio interview Friday that they received reports of OFWs staying in parks and sleeping on cold concrete floors surrounded only by their luggage.
“Some non-government organizations are trying to find temporary shelter for the sick OFWs but it should really be the Philippine government’s concern,” Villanueva told DZRH.
He added that not all Covid-positive migrant workers have access to NGOs or others for assistance.
5th Covid wave in HK
The HK-based Mission for Migrant Workers said it has assisted no less than 10 domestic workers who were “preliminary positive” (with Covid-19) and were left in the cold the past 2-3 days.
The humanitarian organization said the situation is “a developing crisis due to the fifth wave of COVID-19 pandemic” in the territory.
The mission added that HK hospitals and quarantine facilities are overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients, migrant domestic workers who have mild symptoms were told to isolate at home.
“With no assistance available, these workers are abandoned on the street overnight, stranded at hospitals, lacking food and supplies. Some are not eligible for public healthcare due to contract termination,” the mission revealed.
MI and Unifil-HK added the situation of terminated and sick OFWs is made worse by the apparent abandonment by the Philippine government.
“Clearly, government neglect is the trademark of the Philippine government whose one of the main sources of revenues is the mandatory collections of fees imposed by the PH government under its Labor Export Program,” MI said.
The groups demanded that the Manila government through its Consulate General in the territory to make immediate arrangements with the HK administrators to set up a free isolation center for COVID-19 positive Filipino migrant workers.
“We also demand the PH government for an immediate cash relief to OFWs who were terminated and affected by the pandemic in Hong Kong and other countries,” the group added.
The PH Consulate General in HK has yet to reply to requests for comment. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
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Civil Human Rights Front announced its disbandment on August 15, 2021
The following post is an English translation of a Chinese report published on Hong Kong-based CitizenNews on August 14, 2021. It is republished by Kodao through Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), a coalition of pro-democracy political and citizen groups for the mobilisation of large-scale rallies, announced its disbandment on August 15, 2021.
Many anticipated the group would eventually dissolve when the Hong Kong Police Force started investigating the group in April 2021, citing national security concerns
Throughout its tenure, the umbrella organization frequently hosted major mass rallies in Hong Kong, including the 2019 anti-China extradition protests. Since its establishment in 2002, the Hong Kong police had collaborated with the group to ensure rallies were orderly, safe and peaceful. Yet, upon the enactment of the national security law (NSL) on June 30, 2020, the Police Force banned the CHRF’s 2020 July 1 pro-democracy rally for the first time since the annual protests began in 2002, citing COVID-19 and security concerns. In May 2021 the coalition was flagged as an illegal entity.
CHRF has represented the rational, peaceful and moderate front of Hong Kong’s civil society since its establishment. For 18 years, it served as a platform for civic groups to communicate and build consensus on common agendas for positive social change. Though no protests have been organised since the NSL was implemented, police vowed to investigate key figures of the group for potential national security infractions.
The Civil Human Rights Front’s origins
The Civil Human Rights Front was established in 2002 by Rose Wu, a veteran feminist and a faculty member at CUHK’s School of Theology. The group hoped to provide a loose platform for civil groups to regularly discuss human rights and social justice. Eventually, more than 30 groups had joined the coalition, which was officially launched on September 13, 2002.
At that time, the most pressing issue in Hong Kong was the legislation of Basic Law Article 23 — a local version of the national security law. The CHRF hosted its first rally in December 2002 against the proposed law and unexpectedly drew 60,000 demonstrators — ten times more than anticipated.
On July 1, 2003, the CHRF organized its second rally against local national security legislation. Around 500,000 people turned out, making it the second-largest protest in the city since the mass rally against China’s crackdown on the Tiananmen student movement in 1989. The rally forced the Hong Kong government to halt the legislation.
Since then, July 1 rallies have become an annual event for citizens to voice out their discontent. As the rally host, the CHRF would decide on the annual agenda while other organisations and protesters would use the occasion to voice their demands.
Between 2005 and 2013, the agenda of the annual rally covered a wide range of issues including universal suffrage, minimum wage, environmental concern, property bubbles, the introduction of a national education curriculum and more. The turnout ranged from 21,000 to 430,000 depending on the political climate at the time.
In 2014, 510,000 people joined a rally demanding genuine universal suffrage of the Legislative Council and the Chief Executive. After the rally, two student activist groups, Hong Kong Federation of Student Unions and Scholarism staged a rehearsal of ‘Occupy Central Protests‘, a massive civil disobedience campaign that advocates for democratic election reform with no pre-screening for candidates according to international standards of universal suffrage. During the sit-in, 511 protesters were arrested.
Since then, many started to question the effectiveness of the annual ‘ritualistic’ peaceful rallies organized by the CHRF and called for more radical forms of protest and civil disobedience.
CHRF: The rational and peaceful front of Hong Kong protests
Civil engagement ebbed after the Occupy Central sit-in protests in 2014 failed to bring democratic changes in the city. As a large number of activists were arrested for participating in the peaceful sit-in, some protesters became sceptical of orderly, symbolic acts of protest in favour of more disruptive resistance. The number of participants in demonstrations dropped dramatically until February 2019 when the government introduced an amendment to the Extradition Bill or The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019.
In response to the government decision to bypass the Bill Committee and submit the controversial bill directly to the Legislative Council for second reading on June 12, 2019, the CHRF organized the anti-China extradition rally on June 9. The government decided to proceed with the reading despite the 1 million demonstrators who had turned out against the bill. After the rally, some protesters clashed with police outside the Legislative Council.
On June 12, the CHRF hosted an authorized peaceful assembly at Lung Wui Road. On the same day, some protesters surrounded the Legislature and a few clashed with the riot police. The police force ended up firing tear gas, bean bag rounds and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, including thousands of peaceful protesters at Lung Wui Road. At the end of the day, the police justified its actions by labelling the protest a riot, a crime that could lead to a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. The CHRF called for another rally on June 16.
Although the government announced on June 15 they would suspend the amendment to the extradition law, the police operation on June 12 had turned the single-issue protests into a city-wide political movement with five demands: the withdrawal of the fugitive law amendment, holding the police accountable for the violent clampdown on June 12, the release of the arrested protesters, changing the ‘riot’ label of the June 12 protests, and stepping down of the Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Over 2 million people turned out for the June 16 protest, which madeheadlinesworldwide.
After the 2019 July 1 rally, which ended when a few dozen radical activists stormed the Legislative Council complex, the anti-China extradition movement evolved into a series of decentralised protests hosted by different activist groups. Very often, these protests ended in clashes between riot police and protesters.
In response to the violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators and between pro-Bejing and pro-democracy protesters such as the Yuen Long subway attack incident on July 21, the CHRF hosted a ‘be water assembly’ at Victoria Park on August 18, 2019, condemning the collusion between the police and the pro-Beijing mobs, more than 1,700,000 joined the protest.
The Hong Kong government and the pro-establishment groups condemned the CHRF and the pro-democracy political parties for not cutting ties with the radical protesters.
Since March 2021, when Singapore-based Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported that the Hong Kong police had launched an investigation on the CHRF, many coalition members have cut ties with the group. One month later in April 2020, the Hong Kong police accused the CHRF of violating the Societies Ordinance for failing to register as a legal entity. The last convenor of CHRF Figo Chan was sentenced to jail for participating in an illegal assembly on October 1, 2019. The umbrella group was left with no leadership.
The final disbandment of the CHRF was announced on August 15 through a statement:
CHRF originally hoped to continue to face the challenge with everyone in the existing ways, but convenor Figo Chan is already in jail because of several cases, and the secretariat can no longer maintain its operations. With no members participating in the next secretariat, we can only begrudgingly announce our disbandment.
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Freelance and student journalists could be arrested when reporting from protest sites in proposed new law
Screen capture from a video taken by reporter Leung Pak-kin from online media Rice Post.
The following post was written by Kelly Ho and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) on September 23, 2020. This edited version is published under a content partnership with Hong Kong Free Press.It has also been published by Global Voices that Kodao is now republishing under a content-sharing agreement.
Hong Kong police announced a controversial decision on September 22 to redefine “media representatives” by limiting them to government-registered and “internationally recognised” agencies, newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations. As a result, press cards issued by local journalist groups would no longer be accepted as valid accreditation.
Under the new policy, freelance journalists, journalists from student press outlets, documentary filmmakers, journalists who work for local media organizations which have not registered under the Government News and Media Information System (GNMIS) and journalists who work for foreign media outlets which are not “internationally recognised and reputable” will not be recognized as media representatives. This also implies that the police could arrest them when they are reporting from protest sites.
The police force said the proposed change of the Police General Orders, a set of guidelines for Hong Kong police officers on law enforcement, would help facilitate frontline policing and reporting. It would also help them identify members of the press and bar “self-proclaimed” journalists from protest sites.
The new guidelines drew widespread criticism from journalists, as eight press unions and associations slammed the move as “seriously impeding press freedom” in the city.
They asked the police to scrap what they consider a de facto accreditation system, stressing that:
Police unilaterally made such a major amendment without discussion and consultations, destroying a relationship that was built over many years.
Journalism schools from seven local universities also issued a joint statement expressing their “gravest reservations” over the new policy presented by the police force:
In our view, the police have every right to take action against anyone engaging in illegal activities; however, this proposed policy is in effect restricting the freedom of reporting. We are concerned that the new policy would amount to giving clear instructions to officers to disperse non-mainstream journalists who have done no wrong and are only exercising their right to gather information.
Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club said the new scheme would deliver a “serious blow” to freelance journalists and student reporters, who had provided “compelling reporting” during last year’s large-scale unrest.
Eight key protest moments captured by freelance and student journalists
Many of the clips gained viral traction and were shared freely with local, as well as international media. Student and freelance reporters often faced great personal risk in capturing iconic protest moments, yet received little reward, lacked protection from large news outlets and bore the brunt of police-protester actions. Here are some of the main key moments of the protests covered by such media.
Warning: some of the videos include graphic scenes of violence.
September 6: riot police tackle a teenage girl
The HKUST Radio News Reporting Team captured footage of riot police pinning a young girl to the ground after she tried to flee during a demonstration in Mong Kok on September 6.
Although the teenager was not arrested, the police reaction sparked outrage from children’s rights groups who demanded the force apologise. Police later defended the response, saying officers had used the “minimum necessary force” to subdue the girl.
August 31: police pepper spray pregnant woman
The online website NineTeen Media filmed a pregnant woman who appeared to have been affected by police pepper spray at a demonstration in Mong Kok on August 31. Independent outlet Studio Incendo, which shares its images under a Creative Commons license, also shot widely-shared photographs of the incident.
July 1: protester stabs police officer
The Hong Kong Baptist University Students’ Union Editorial Board captured the moment when a protester stabbed a police officer in the arm on July 1, the 23rd anniversary of the city’s handover to China. Thousands of Hongkongers had defied a police ban to march between Causeway Bay and Wan Chai in protest of the Beijing-enacted national security law.
November 11, 2019: police fire three live rounds in Sai Wan Ho, striking a protester
Cupid Producer documented a police officer firing three live rounds at two protesters at close range in Sai Wan Ho on November 11, 2019, during a general strike action across the city. One of the rounds hit a protester, who had a kidney and half of his liver removed as a result.
October 1, 2019: police shoot an 18-year-old with live round at close range
Last year, on October 1, the campus TV of the University of Hong Kong recorded graphic footage of police shooting an 18-year-old protester with a live round in Tsuen Wan. The teenager – Tsang Chi-kin – who appeared at the time to have a rod in his hand, was shot in his left lung. He was left in a critical condition and underwent surgery to remove the bullet, which was three centimetres from his heart.
October 1, 2019: National Day turmoil in a 360° view
HKFP freelancer Thomas Broader shot a 360-degree video on October 1, 2019, presenting an all-immersive view of the citywide turmoil. Hong Kong saw clouds of tear gas, petrol bombs and vandalism that day as protesters “mourned” the Chinese National Day.
August 31, 2019: police storm Prince Edward Station
Reporter Leung Pak-kin from online media Rice Post shot a video inside Prince Edward MTR station on August 31 last year, which showed police beating people with batons and deploying pepper spray while making arrests. Journalists and medics were expelled from the station, according to local media, leading to unverified rumours of civilian deaths during the incident.
July 27, 2019: police beat protesters inside Yuen Long MTR station
An HKFP freelancer, who does not wish to be named, captured chaotic scenes inside the Yuen Long MTR station on July 27, 2019. In the video, Special Tactical Squad officers were seen beating crowds as protesters set off fire extinguishers. There appears to be blood on the floor.
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A fishers’ group is up in arms over reports of another collision incident involving a Chinese vessel that led to the disappearance of 14 Filipino fishermen off the coast of Occidental Mindoro Sunday, June 28.
“We strongly condemn this collision incident in our territorial waters involving our Filipino fishermen and a Chinese vessel. We call on the authorities to expedite the search and rescue operations for the missing fishing crew and, as much as possible, must be returned to their families safe,” the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) in a statement this morning said.
The group also demanded that the Hong Kong-registered cargo ship Vina Moon be held accountable for endangering the lives of the missing fisher folk.
Other reports however said the name of the Chinese ship is MV Vienna Wood.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said the 14 crew members of the local fishing boat Liberty Cinco, including two employees of the Irma Fishing Corporation, owners of the vessel, remain missing.
The PCG also reported that the capsized Liberty Cinco, with a badly-damaged hull, was found off the coast of Cape Calavite in Mindoro Island but the crew are nowhere to be found.
It was not indicated whether the Vienna Wood/Vina Moon has reported the incident to the coast guard after it happened.
The Chinese crew professed ignorance of the incident when questioned by authorities, the PCG reportedly said in interviews by the media.
PCG however said the Chinese vessel also sustained damages on its prow, indicating it rammed the capsized local fishing boat.
In a statement, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson Fernando Hicap likened the recent incident to the ramming and sinking of the F/B Gem-Ver1 by a Chinese vessel that endangered the lives of 22 fishermen in Recto Bank last year.
Hicap said it is the very same month last year that another Chinese vessel almost killed 22 Filipino fisher folk in a hit-and-run incident at Recto Bank, an underwater reef formation in the West Philippine Sea that is internationally-recognized as part of the exclusive economic territory of the Philippines.
Hicap lamented that the 22 fishermen who hail from San Jose, Occidental Mindoro have yet to be fully compensated by the Chinese vessel Yuemaobinyu 42212 that hit and abandoned them last year.
“One year of no justice and yet another tragic incident happened,” PAMALAKAYA said.
“We do not want a repeat of the injustice against our fisher folk. The owner and captain of the the Chinese ship must be held into account for ramming them and for their violation of the rights of our Filipino fisher folk in our own seas,” the group added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/pama.jpg720960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-06-29 09:05:582020-06-29 09:20:46Group condemns another Chinese ‘hit-and-run’ incident on PHL waters; calls for search and rescue for 14 missing fishers
Hong Kong domestic worker Eleveneth
Baldero said she fears losing her job due to the travel ban imposed by the
Manila government to the Chinese territory. Contractual workers like her may be
fired if unable to return back to their employers on time as Philippine
authorities have prevented Filipino citizens from travelling to Hong Kong and
the rest of China.
“My contract is set to expire on 6 March that is why I’m really worried. Financially, I am running out of money to sustain my stay here in the Philippines. This is why I really need to return back to Hong Kong,” Eleveneth said in a press conference held at the Migrante International office in Quezon City last Monday, 17 February.
Eleveneth and other migrant workers demanded
that the Rodrigo Duterte government lift the corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19)
travel ban it imposed last February 2 and grant exemption to returning migrant
workers, students and residents.
Rowena Lee was unable to hold back her
tears thinking about her recuperating mother in Hong Kong recently discharged from
a hospital from another ailment. “This is a very big problem for us since my
75-year old mother in Hong Kong still needs medical attention and I really want
to return so I can be with her. She is all by herself,” Rowena said.
Rowena took a short leave from work 28
February and is being prevented to return to Hong Kong by the travel ban. Aside
from worrying for her mother and her job, she is also anxious about bills and
house rents that she needs to pay. “Our family needs us. It will be very hard
for us if we get forced by the situation to borrow money just to extend our
stay here. I am pleading to the government to lift the travel ban so we can
return to our normal lives. We are struggling because we are not earning anything
here,” she said.
Tess Aquino is a permanent Hong Kong
resident and had been for 23 years. Aquino went home to the Philippines last 15
January for her annual leave and was set to fly back on 9 February. She heard
about the travel ban on last 2 February and received an email notice from
Philippine Airlines informing her about her flight’s cancellation. “I have
attempted all possible ways to return back to Hong Kong. I was told by my
company to try travelling to Hong Kong via Vietnam. Travel agencies refused to
book my flight because of the travel ban and I was told that I will only be
wasting my money because even if I make it to Vietnam, they would still not
allow us to get to our final destination which is Hong Kong. For now, my company
allowed me to temporarily work as home-based but for how long? I don’t think
our employers will wait for us forever if this continues,” she narrated
Former Filipino Migrant Workers’ Union
(FMWU-Hong Kong) chairperson Feliza Guy Benitez explained that overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong are usually given two-week annual leaves,
an opportunity they take to visit the Philippines. The leaves are often non-extendible.
“If OFWs get terminated because they
exceeded the 14-day leave, it will be hard for us to get back again to zero
just to process all the application papers and the government won’t even pay
for it,” Benitez said.
(Migrante Hong Kong photo)
Urgent
appeal
Benitez said 131 Hong Kong-based
Filipino organizations already issued their Urgent Appeal Joint Statement calling
on the Duterte government to lift the ban. The statement estimated that
there are around 25,000 overseas Filipino workers who have been unable to
leave the country because of the ban. “We all feel that the travel ban which
was imposed without a warning or consultation is unjustified and oppressive. It
was decided upon without a comprehensive understanding of how it would affect
us, and was not even in line with health protocols set by the World Health
Organization. The abruptness by which it was carried out also belied the
concern for Filipinos abroad that President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed in
numerous speeches and interviews,” the statement reads.
The statement added that an additional
1,000 OFWs are affected by the travel ban consisting of Filipino residents, students
and small business proprietors in Hong Kong. “Health-wise, we also feel safer
in Hong Kong where we are assured of excellent public health care at little or
no cost to us. Some of us who have private medical insurance get the added
bonus of being treated at private hospitals, also for free,” the statement
said.
Feliza Guy Benitez, another Hong Kong
OFW, decried the state of public health services in the Philippines. “People
who need medical attention are safer in Hong Kong because of their advanced
healthcare system. It will be harder for OFWs to settle back here in the
Philippines because of high unemployment, low wages and contractualization,”
Feliza Guy said.
The group also complained about the “miniscule
amount of compensation offered by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA)
to qualified OFWs. “Each stranded OFW was offered Php10,000 compensation from
the OWWA Fund, an amount that would not even pay for the expenses they had to
bear after being stranded at the airport. Moreover, non-OFWs were given no help
at all, when many of them don’t even have houses in the Philippines, and have
to pay for food and lodging while waiting for the ban to be lifted. They are
also in danger of suffering even more if they lose their jobs, as they pay high
rents and other expenses such as school fees for their children in Hong Kong,”
the appeal said.
“When I went to OWWA, I was told that
I am not covered because they are only processing compensation up to 16
February. I really do not know whether I will still receive any compensation
from the government,” Eleveneth said.
Surrendering
right to government assistance
The OFWs also object to proposals that
they sign a waiver freeing the government from any responsibility should they decide
to proceed with their travel to Hong Kong. Tess said the waiver is “problematic
because it is going to free the government from its responsibility towards us
OFWs.”
Migrante Philippines rights and welfare
coordinator Lao Castillo added, “The waiver requirement is tantamount to
obliging OFWs to surrender their right to receive government assistance. It is
a dangerous precedent especially in times of conflict or crisis situations.”
Pinoy
seafarer in trouble
Meanwhile, Victoria Lavado, daughter
of the Filipino seafarer on the cruise ship Diamond fears her father and around
500 other Filipino seafarers who were placed under quarantine in Japan after 10
foreign ship crews which include 1 Filipino contracted COVID-19. “It took a
long time before they received safety masks and they are still forced to work
as if it is business as usual. There is no separate quarantine area for those
who are already infected and they can still mix with other crews despite the
risks. This is why I was really worried when I found out from reports that there
are already 30 to 60 crews who are getting infected with COVID-19 daily,”
Victoria said.
“We really want the Duterte government
to work on medical repatriation for my father and for the other Filipino
seafarers. The government must find a way to provide quality medical services
for them here in the Philippines which is unfortunately notorious for its poor
public healthcare and medical facilities,” Victoria added.
The group United Filipinos (UNIFIL)-Migrante Hong Kong’s said that the OFWs predicament may only be blamed on the government’s labor export policy that has been in place for so long. “If there are only adequate employment opportunities here in the Philippines, there could have been no need for us to leave the country. The government is now telling us that we cannot return back to our work. This is almost akin to taking away our lives.,” UNIFIL said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/mig.jpg525700Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-02-18 15:57:182020-02-18 15:57:19Stranded OFWs urge lifting of HK travel ban; quarantined Pinoy seafarer's daughter seeks medical repatriation for dad
BAGUIO CITY — Cagayanos asked President Rodrigo Duterte’s help in stopping dredging activities at the mouth of Cagayan River they said is “disguised” magnetite mining.
The Cagayan Province Provincial Board approved last August 7 a resolution asking the president to suspend the dredging operations at the mouth of the Cagayan River in Aparri town.
This came after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) confirmed that it did not issue any dredging permit to the private firm involved in the dredging.
Pacific Offshore Exploration Inc. (POEI), a firm owned by a former Isabela town mayor, has been dredging the country’s biggest river system for months.
The company reportedly ships the dredged materials to a reclamation project in Hong Kong and may earn about $50 million monthly if it sells the sand at current local prices, according to the resolution.
A cubic meter of sand in Cagayan is being sold at P160 to P180.
The exportation of black sand to Hong Kong was met with protests from locals.
Provincial Board member and
resolution author Mila Lauigan said the deal with the dredgers has to be
investigated.
“That is why we are appealing to the President to immediately suspend the dredging operations and inquire whether the company has complied with all the requirements before it proceeds,” Lauigan said.
According to the provincial
legislator, “the contractor is only extracting black sand and leaves waste
(non-mineral sand) material back into the river.”
It is reason why environmentalists and locals are raising heaven and hell [while] Gov. Manuel Mamba had been defending POEI’s operations amidst the environmental mess it has been causing, she said.
Mamba’s camp had been
defending the dredging operation they said is meant to prepare for the
reopening the Port of Aparri.
Mamba said the port’s
reopening would improve economic and trade relations between Cagayan province
and China as well as neighboring Asian countries.
Mamba, who entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Pacific Offshore Exploration Inc. (POEI) under the authority of a resolution passed by the Cagayan Provincial Board last January, insists there is only dredging activities in the area and not magnetite (black sand) mining.
The provincial board has yet to be shown a copy of the memorandum of agreement between Mamba and POEI.
Mamba’s camp said there is
no economic value to the exportation and the dredging activities help clear the
river of heavy silt for free.
Engr. Mario Ancheta of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Mines and Geosciences Bureau
agreed with the governor that there is no mining but dredging operations that
should be sanctioned by the DPWH.
“There is sand extraction,
but it is not mining but dredging,” Ancheta said.
The Cagayan Export Zone
Authority (CEZA), meanwhile, had been silent on the controversial dredging and
“exporting” of the dredged sand to HK.
Immigration officials and the maritime police in Cagayan are also silent on the presence of foreign workers on the sand barges regularly approaching the shores of Aparri town. # (With additional reports from Raymund B. Villanueva)nordis.net / Photo from Gising Cagayan Facebook Page
