Quarantine center for helpers failsto go down well

A centralized quarantine center for foreign domestic helpers is discriminatory, concern groups said, as they revealed some employers had even failed to provide helpers with food during the 14-day period.

This comes a day after the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies called for such a center for some 10,000 helpers arriving in the next three months, citing many employers' refusal to isolate them at home.

Mission for Migrant Workers general manager Cynthia Tellez said the government should provide quarantine facilities for helpers and employer families, like with other Hong Kong returnees. "But helpers should not be put in camps and loathed because they are in quarantine. Besides, that is a possible violation of the anti-disability discrimination ordinance," she said.

Bethune House Migrant Women's Refuge executive director Edwina Antonio-Santoyo said it recently provided at least three quarantined Filipino workers with three meals a day, masks and other necessities, and this problem would worsen following a surge in arrivals as pandemic measures are eased here.

She said the three, who have tested negative and started work, asked for help, as they had not been provided with food after their first day of quarantine in hotels paid for by their employers.

"Isn't it also the government's responsibility because the government has shouldered all the expenses - food and accommodation of returning locals," she asked.

"Why don't they give the same benefits to migrant workers?" she asked.

Philippine consul general Raly Tejada said it would assist helpers who ask for help, but that "the responsibility lies primarily with the agencies and employers."