HK scraps HK$9,600 training levy for foreign maids - DOLE


By: InterAksyon.com

Filipino domestic helpers gather in this public place in Hong Kong during their day-off. AFP FILE PHOTO

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA – The Hong Kong government has abolished the controversial Employees Retraining Levy effectively after the suspended fee charged against Hong Kong employers expires July 2013, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said Monday, welcoming the good news from Philippine Labor Attache to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Manuel C. Roldan.

"This is, indeed, welcome to us for it will be beneficial to our household service workers in the Chinese territory," said Baldoz in a news release.

In his report, Roldan said "The retraining levy was actually intended to support the training of Hong Kong nationals, not of foreign domestic workers, hence, it does not have any effect on our OFWs, but the amount could have affected the financial capability of employers to employ foreign household service workers.”

Philippine government figures show that some 174,000 Filipinos, mostly working temporarily as maids, reside in the former British colony.

Five years ago, the Hong Kong government charged Hong Kong employers of foreign domestic helpers the amount of HK$9,600 (P50,239) as a so-called Employees Retraining Levy for every two-year contract of a foreign domestic helper. Employers can pay the levy in four equal installments.

Employers of foreign household service workers vigorously protested the levy until the Hong Kong government suspended its implementation for five years. The suspension will expire on July 2013.

Roldan said that Hong Kong Chief Executive Cy Leung has announced the abolition of the levy paid by employers of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong during the his 2013 Policy Address entitled, “Seek Change, Maintain Stability, Serve the People with Pragmatism.” 

"The chief executive said that to ease the burden on families employing foreign domestic helpers, I have decided to abolish the levy when the suspension of its collection expires on 31 July 2013," he said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine ---By LAZAR BERMAN

New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who’s close to the US administration, says emerging doctrine would include Saudi-Israeli normalization, 2-state solution, and campaign against Iran US President Joe Biden’s administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state, The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman reported on Thursday. The plan, Friedman wrote, “would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.” White House officials “have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take,” revealed Friedman. What he termed the new “Biden Doctrin
Read more

In Cairo, senior Hamas officials discuss hostage deal with Egyptian intelligence chief ---By TOI STAFF, AGENCIES and LAZAR BERMAN

Delegation said led by terror group’s Qatar-based political leader Ismail Haniyeh; Wall Street Journal reports Hamas demanding 150 security prisoners for each female soldier A delegation of senior Hamas officials arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on a possible deal that would see the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza. The delegation was led by Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, and included senior members Mousa Abu Marzook and Khalil al-Hayya, the Qatar-based Al-Araby news outlet reported, citing an unnamed Egyptian source. The Hamas officials met with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Major General Abbas Kamel, to discuss the details of a hostage deal proposal that was presented to the Gaza terror group earlier this week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The outline of the deal was drawn up during a meeting in Paris last week in the presence of Israeli and US officials, as well as Qatari and Egyptian negotiators, a
Read more