Filipino OFWs in HK to protest against imposition of mandatory insurance


Published 
By Chito Chavez
Filipino domestic workers are up in arms over the mandatory insurance being imposed by the Philippine government on them.
Describing it as “merely a money-making scheme,’’ Dolores Balladares chairman of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) said their right to maximize their hard-earned income is being trampled with this imposition.
UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK / FACEBOOK)
UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK / FACEBOOK)
To show opposition, the group will lead a protest march to the Philippine consulate on January 27 as they called on other Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and employers who oppose the new fee to join the protest.
In airing the grievance of the OFW, Balladares accused the Philippine government of concocting “a new way to extort from us through the mandatory insurance’’.
“They are not satisfied with all the fees they have been overcharging us and is desperate to collect some more at the expense of overseas Filipino workers,’ Balladares said.
Balladares explained that officially, the mandatory insurance will be paid for by the employer per contract.
She asserted the insurance will be a burden to the employers and is actually redundant as “our employers already have purchased insurance for us’’.
“This makes the new insurance unnecessary,’’ she added.
Balladares said that the OFWs in the area are one in saying that “such new scheme may create friction between employers and the domestic workers’’.
She asserted that “in the end, it may most probably mean that the domestic workers will be the one to shoulder the payment as employers already paid for the insurance under Hong Kong policies’’.
The OFW official said that “in truth, the Philippine government does not care who will finally pay for the insurance as its only concern now is how to accumulate the largest fund at the soonest possible time.
With Philippine elections nearing, the group insisted funds have become a necessity that may “come from the public coffers or contributions from businesses including companies that may benefit from this compulsory insurance’’.
“As usual, the convenient cash cows are the Filipino overseas workers whose vulnerability is exploited by the Philippines for its money-making schemes,” said Balladares.
“Show our rage. We demand for the revocation of the mandatory insurance,” the group ended.

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