In my previous column, I mentioned that the Indonesians very recently have overtaken the number of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong who used to dominate in the past. Does it mean there are now fewer Filipino DHs in Hong Kong?
The answer is no. Hong Kong immigration records show that the number of Filipino domestic workers had actually increased from 124,903 in 2008 to 126,357 in 2009, with a higher leap in 2010 which numbered to 131,332 and rising.
In the past, Filipino domestic helpers were more sought-after because they are hardworking, can speak English, and can assist in the school assignments of their wards.
Now, the Indonesians get more the labor market because they are considered more subservient, can speak Cantonese, and are willing to accept lower salaries.
Moreover, the increasing number of elderly who cannot speak English would need the Cantonese-speaking Indonesians more.
The growing preference of Chinese employers for Indonesians poses a problem to Filipino domestic workers needing work but who cannot find employment in other countries.
This is not to mention the competition among Filipinos themselves who wish to be employed in Hong Kong because it is closer to home.
According to the study of Graziano Battistella and Maruja M.B. Asis titled Protecting Filipino Transnational Domestic Workers: Government Regulations and Their Outcomes (2011), and published by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, some of these workers actually wanted to remain in the Philippines if they could only find a decent job with a better pay.
The current popularity of Hong Kong to Filipinos for employment is seen in the presence of several overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) associations, mostly of domestic helpers, which numbered to 160 when I was in Hong Kong then.
The memberships are either by place of origin in the Philippines, ethnicity, religious orientations, interests and activities, professions, and locale of employment in Hong Kong.
This does not mean, however, that all the domestic workers in Hong Kong belong to organized groups; some only have cliques, or more interested to socialize to be able to cope with homesickness or with other problems.
Incidentally, the presence of two or more associations from one town, province, or region mirrors the differences in personalities and principles among some leaders and groups. There are also cases of the existence of two alliances or federations of associations from the same geographic area in the Philippines.
This social phenomenon is not unique to the OFWs in Hong Kong or even among Filipinos in the Philippines; this is true to any human groups anywhere in the globe where there are struggles for identity, competition for recognition and limited opportunities.
But despite the bickering of organized OFWs, they can always be mobilized for activities that the Philippine Consulate and the church where they belong may wish to undertake with, or assign to them.
These were seen during the annual Philippine Independence Day Celebration, interfaith rallies, intercultural presentations, and other several celebrations that require the involvement of the Filipino community in Hong Kong.
The saying that there is unity in diversity still holds true among Hong Kong-based OFWs.
Perhaps not known to many, the organized OFWs in Hong Kong have projects in the Philippines, but are specific to people or places where they originated.
They either take the money for their projects from their monthly dues, from the contributions of members, or from whatever they are able to solicit from Filipino business groups in Hong Kong such as the door-to-door service providers, financing institutions, and telecommunication groups which flourished in Hong Kong because of the OFWs.
For example, from Negros Oriental, there is the Valencia Association in Hong Kong which was originally organized to extend assistance to any member who needed help. It has been sharing some goods through their Pamaskong Handog project, with former domestic workers in Valencia, to the indigent households in some barangays. The VAHK had also sent financial support to families badly-affected by calamities such as the recent earthquake and typhoon Sendong.
Another example is the Mindanao-based Samahang Migrante ng Lebak (SMiLe). This was also envisioned to benefit only its members, but is now providing school supplies to day care centers in remote barangays of their town. The SMILE members empathized with teachers who usually shoulder the needed school supplies in teaching. They also gave financial assistance to their town mates, not only to their families, during calamities. I serve as co-adviser of SMiLe despite the distance, but made possible with Facebook.
Why are these groups willing to help despite their meager income compared to professionals and skilled workers? Not only that pagtabang (helping) is culturally embedded among Filipinos and is part of our national character, but because this act also reinforces the self-respect of domestic workers, some of whom happen to be college graduates but who were economically-displaced in our country, and later treated as second class people in Hong Kong.
Thus, helping the less-fortunate katagilungsud (one from the same town) is a way of regaining dungug (honor) or dignidad (dignity) and of sharing grasya (blessings) amidst the competition of working in Hong Kong.
