RP plans to provide loans for returning maids<\/p>\n
Helen Luk, Associated Press, Hong Kong<\/p>\n
The Philippine government will offer loans to Filipino
\nmigrants who want to return home and start businesses because of
\na proposed tax on foreign maids working in Hong Kong, a Filipino
\nunion spokeswoman said Sunday.<\/p>\n
Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople met with union
\nrepresentatives here Sunday, after meeting Friday with Hong Kong
\npolitical leader Tung Chee-hwa to lobby against the proposed tax.
\nHe failed to get any assurance from local officials it would not
\nbe imposed.<\/p>\n
Ople told the Filipino union representatives that maids
\naffected by the proposal could go home and apply for a loan, said
\nConnie Bragas-Regalado, chairwoman of the migrant workers' group
\nUnited Filipinos in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Bragas-Regalado, however, was unimpressed.<\/p>\n
"This can't improve the conditions of the migrant workers
\nbecause it's a loan," Bragas-Regalado said. "We have to earn
\nmoney to pay for the loan, so it's just giving false hope to us."<\/p>\n
An estimated 153,000 Filipinos work as live-in maids in Hong
\nKong, along with 70,000 Indonesians and smaller numbers of Thais
\nand Nepalese. All four nations have been angered by the proposed
\ntax, as the maids typically send money home.<\/p>\n
Some Hong Kong political parties have proposed taxing migrant
\nmaids between HK$400 (US$51) and HK$750 a month to help ease the
\nterritory's ballooning budget deficit. Local media have also
\nreported that instead of a tax, foreign maids might have their
\nwages slashed by 5 percent.<\/p>\n
Thousands of foreign maids have joined numerous protests,
\nfearing a cut in their minimum monthly salary of HK$3,670.<\/p>\n
"We can bear no more. We are workers, not slaves," Bragas-
\nRegalado said at a small rally on Sunday. "It is the height of
\ncruelty to ask those struggling to make ends meet to bear the
\npain of Hong Kong economic problems."<\/p>\n
The Hong Kong government hasn't announced a decision on any of
\nthe proposals.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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