​The REAL impact of the Duterte regime.
Going into Rodrigo Duterte’s third year as the controversial President of the Philippines it is worth reflecting on the way he is seen both inside the Philippines and by the rest of the world.
In the US and other developed countries, he is seen as a lawless warlord, killing at will and paying no regard to human rights. Unpunished summary executions, usually on the spot, of alleged drug pushers are referred to as evidence of his disregard for law and order and of his ‘warlord’ mentality.
He openly advocates the extrajudicial killings of those involved in dealing drugs and protects and praises those carrying out his ‘policies’. Those affected are usually at a lower level as the ‘higher ups’ have ways to protect themselves and are usually close with politicians, military or police (many of which are, or have been, active drug ‘lords’.)
Additionally, many police and politicians have seized the opportunity to settle scores and even to take over drug operations from competitors, and there is no doubt that many killings have had nothing to do with drugs, but are family feuds, business disputes etc. But by mentioning drugs the perpetrators usually go without any punishment.
However, there is another side to this story. The criticisms and outrage by foreigners who do not know the Philippines, who live in ‘safe’ countries and do not need to worry about being killed or victimized by the drug culture that used to exist is largely misinformed. There are few families in the Philippines who have not been affected with a family member being killed by drugs or by drug pushers.
Because of this, despite of the anomalies and ‘mistakes’ Duterte still enjoys great support among Philippinos here and abroad because, at least in respect of drugs, things are improving. In some areas drug dealing has greatly reduced and even disappeared.
People do feel safer now than before. Duterte has tackled the problem in a way no western leader would have got away with, and it does seem to be working, while in the US the drug problem increases, and no-one seems to have a clue how to address it. All the western politicians can d it re-has old, failed policies. It is difficult to see how it will end.
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​Domestic helper abuse in Hong Kong is not news anymore. The abuse goes on – no-one in authority cares, or is too frightened to act.
In the last two years two very high-profile cases have brought the plight of overseas domestic helpers in our supposedly progressive city to the attention and scorn of the world.
Erwiana Susistyaningsih was an Indonesian maid who worked for a cruel Chinese employer who beat her, starved her and committed many other atrocities. Her case only came to light because she collapsed at Hong Kong airport when trying to get home. She spent nearly a month in hospital and left in a wheelchair. Her employer is now serving a prison sentence.
​​More recently Baby Allas, a Philippina single mother with five children discovered she had stage three cervical cancer and needed urgent medical treatment. When her employer found out she was ill, instead of helping her she immediately illegally terminated her employment, depriving the ailing mother of medical treatment in Hong Kong. Among other abuses she was made to sleep on the floor and not use the bed that was in the room. Last week a Hong Kong judge awarded her just HKD 30,000 and showed no sympathy causing members of the public to walk out of his courtroom in disgust.

Domestic workers, mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia come to Hong Kong to work for several reasons – all of them financial.

Primarily, they want to earn money to send home to support their family – education and health care are not free there, and the cost of quality health care and education is well beyond the reach of the average filipino.

In Hong Kong they will earn at least HKD 4,410 – less than half the wage that a Hong-Konger or other foreign worker will earn, but more than twice as much as they could expect in their home country.

Many of them will have an ulterior motive for coming here. Some will be using it as a stepping stone to get to Canada – who will only take ‘live-in caregivers’ with a certain educational level and one year’s experience of working overseas.

Others will come with the intention of finding a new husband – who will give her and her children much better prospects. It may be a US guy they meet here or online, or a local Hong-Konger. If they marry a local they can change their visa status to dependent and stay here indefinitely as well as being able to get jobs which pay three times as much.

A third, and often overlooked category or girls come here, or stay here, for sex work. This is rarely discussed and often swept under the carpet.

Imagine you are a 20 something girl with young children to support and you have come to Hong Kong so you can send them money. Everything goes well until your employer terminates you for no reason (under the unfair laws here it is easy for the employers to do).

​Under the law you must return to the Philippines within 14 days. You have no time to find a new job, you cannot work without a visa, and your family still needs your help. What do you do?

Many girls take the risky option of overstaying their visa so they can cruise the bars in Wanchai looking for customers for sex. Sometimes they can get away with this for many years, but immigration officers often pose as clients and we frequently read of girls deported or imprisoned.

Some working domestic helpers here legally will also ‘moonlight’ on a Saturday night and Sunday to earn a little extra money.

​Other girls will come into Hong Kong on a 14 day visitor visa and ‘work the bars’ before they have to go home, or even overstay instead of going home. They have little to lose.

I accept that this has always been the case and probably always will, but until Hong Kong improves salary and conditions for it’s helpers it is certainly not going to get any better.

Let’s start with the good news. A crowdfunding campaign to finance medical treatment for a domestic worker who was fired for having cancer has now raised over HK$ 700,000 – nearly double it’s original target. Thanks to the generosity of the Hong Kong people and her unsung hero, an American lawyer living here who has championed her cause and provided her with accommodation.
Baby Jane Allas made front page news when she was fired after being diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer. The 35-year-old mother of five was left without healthcare following her dismissal in January as her insurance was terminated because of her dismissal.
​Unfortunately, most of the abuses that happen do not have a ‘white knight’ to rescue them. Cases like this surface regularly and are only the tip of the iceberg – many cases of abuse go unreported or dealt with badly when they are reported. It doesn’t have to be like this.

​Here is a THREE point plan to help to prevent or minimize these problems

1. End the 14 day stay limit for end of contract or dismissed workers. Give
end-of-contract workers and finished workers 6 weeks to leave Hong Kong
instead of the statutory 14 days. The Government knows they cannot find a job in that time and will have to go home.
2. End the rule that the helper must live in with the employing family. There
are many instances where this is inconvenient to the Employer as well as the
employee. Because of this, ‘Living out’ goes on all the time, but if the girl is
caught, she is sent home.
3. Inspection and enforcement of the existing law. Many employers keep their helper’s passports, make them sleep in a kitchen or toilet and do not give them a full day off. No-one checks, and these abuses go unrecognized and unpunished.

There is much more that can be done, but this would be a start. The international
human rights community has long criticized the Hong Kong Government for not helping, but rather making it extremely difficult for these workers to obtain fair treatment.
Helpers put up with abuse, bad treatment and long hours because they cannot afford to be sacked. Their families back home are relying on them for support, education, and
medical bills, so they are frightened to complain to anyone, because they will almost certainly lose their jobs. It is all too easy for the employer to sack them without reason.
Many caring Hong Kongers and foreigners living here realise this situation is not right.
Let’s make as much fuss and noise as we can until someone in the Government takes their moral responsibility seriously.