Courage Under SARS 
Breaking the Silence, Overcoming the Fear

The modern hero becomes the outcast. With the scare of the SARS epidemic, overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong have been ostracized, maligned and unjustly tagged as harbingers of death. Although China – where Hong Kong is – has the biggest number of SARS victims, many migrant Filipino workers have not succumbed to fear. Instead, this difficult situation has pushed them to fight for their rights and livelihood.

By Rey Asis 
Contributed to Bulatlat.com

HONG KONG - Never a week passes here when one’s eyes fall on a Filipino leaving for sweet home. With luggages and Balikbayan boxes in tow, Filipinos would go to Central and share lunch with compatriots. From there they board an airbus going to Chek Lap Kok Airport. Coming home is always something to look forward to.

But not at this time.

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) seems to have caught the Philippines in near hysteria and not a few Filipinos believe that the whole archipelago has been infected by the dreaded virus.

After the virus struck and downed more than 1,500 people in Hong Kong several weeks ago, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed health and immigration authorities to quarantine anybody coming from Hong Kong and other  SARS-infected countries.

At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay, Metro Manila, the central air-conditioning unit was turned off by airport authorities saying it was meant to stop the spread of SARS. Air passengers arriving from Hong Kong were ordered to take a special route to prevent possible contamination of other people. Many passengers, mostly overseas Filipino workers, were quarantined for 10 days, reports said.

Because a returning domestic worker had died suspiciously of SARS in a barrio of Alcala, Pangasinan, the government had all roads leading to the whole town cordoned off to travelers. The residents protested in furor. A few weeks later, not one SARS victim was identified in the community.

If preventive and quarantine procedures in the Philippines bordered on near hysteria, those in Hong Kong have created an epidemic of fear among the populace. And thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are greatly affected.

Many OFWs in this Chinese administrative region have developed qualms over returning home, chiefly for two reasons: fear engulfing their loved ones back home; and, the ban policy of the Macapagal-Arroyo government.

Dismayed

Rather than return home many Filipino workers have tried to seek refuge at the Philippine Consulate to have their work contracts renewed. Much to their dismay, the consulate closed on weekends (when most OFWs have their days off). On weekdays, the consulate is open only till 4 p.m. forcing many OFWs to take several hours off their job in order to transact business there.

In the heat of the SARS epidemic here, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) in Manila once again banned the deployment of OFWs in Hong Kong. The ban includes those re-contracting and those who just went home for a short vacation.

As a result, the consulate did not allow the processing of “re-contracts” in Hong Kong for several weeks. Scores of OFWs whose contracts were terminated suddenly found themselves facing the prospect of not being able to come back to Hong Kong even if they found a new employer. Many OFWs are forced to fly back to the Philippines while their contracts are under process.

Bad luck also caught up with many OFWs destined in other countries. Taiwan and Singapore, both SARS-infected, and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait implemented a similar ban on OFWs going to their countries.

Here in Hong Kong, people wearing masks and gulping down several Vitamin C tablets each day are always on the lookout against potential SARS carriers inside buses, trains and elevators. OFWs have taken immediate precautions. Aside from wearing face masks and taking much Vitamin C, we stick to the systematic routine of washing our hands often, and arriving home, changing and washing clothes with bleach.

Chater Road

These days Chater Road, the Filipinos’ free land on Sundays, get less than half of the usual huge crowd of OFWs. Many others can’t make it not because they don’t want to but because they are not allowed to leave by their employers.

The epidemic of fear infects almost everyone. It has also changed one’s consciousness, manners and even relations with others. Which has led one observant Filipino to comment that SARS is not merely a health issue but also involves protecting one’s rights, livelihood, security of work and economic empowerment. Allowing fear and panic to overcome us would haze our rational thinking and conscious efforts against the SARS, he said.

But the epidemic of fear and rigid precautionary measures imposed by Hong Kong authorities have not deterred many Filipino workers from airing their grievances and protesting on legitimate causes in the streets and other public places. In recent years, Hong Kong has seen protest rallies by tens of thousands of domestic workers from many countries and they have won most of their demands against salary deductions and other issues. Thus hundreds of OFWs have held mass pickets and other protests outside the Central Government Offices (Hong Kong’s Malacañang), the office of the U.S. Consulate General and even marched for several hours from Victoria Park to Central.

Two weeks ago, United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK), an alliance of overseas Filipino organizations, concluded their anniversary celebration with a dance-for-all along Chater Road. More than 200 people joined in and danced.

SARS was never a reason for Filipinos to stop working in Hong Kong, either as a domestic helper, a construction worker or as an office clerk. Especially for those in institutions who give counseling to troubled OFWs, shelters receiving domestic helpers with cases and organizations of people who continue to link up with the migrant workers here, the SARS problem has even pushed them to work harder.

And, persistence really works. Sustained pressures and complaints by the OFWs prompted the Philippine Consulate to process the papers of Filipinos already in Hong Kong. Filipino workers have also called for the lifting of the ban on OFWs going to Hong Kong and are now awaiting an official response.

OFWs have also taken to the streets again to protest the Hong Kong authorities’ plan to implement the HK$9,600 tax levy on employers of foreign domestic workers and the recently-imposed HK$400 wage cut on the foreign domestic helpers (FDH), not to mention the illegal prevention of FDH from taking their day-off.  Bulatlat.com

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