With regard to 'Passport ban drives maids to loansharks' (South China Morning Post, October 28). What nonsense. The report related to a so-called ban by the Philippine Government on its citizens depositing their passports as security for repayment of loans. Most of the citizens concerned are domestic helpers working here under the standard employment contract at a monthly wage of $3,670. The Philippine passport bears a warning: 'This passport remains the property of the Republic of the Philippines. It must be surrendered upon demand by an authorised representative of the Philippine Government'. Thus any transfer of possession of such a passport would be ineffective. The report included a statement to the effect that thousands of maids took out loans of between $15,000 and $25,000. While I think that might be an exaggeration, I can confirm many domestic helpers borrow more than is prudent in the circumstances. Among the thousands of Filipinas I interviewed in the past seven years or so in connection with labour, immigration, and other diverse problems, there have been a few hundred with problems over money lenders and similar institutions. Almost invariably I have felt compelled to give my opinion, which is that to borrow more than can be repaid in, say, three months is madness in the circumstances affecting a foreign domestic helper in Hong Kong. Those circumstances include the primary fact that the two-year employment may be terminated at any time by a month's notice or by payment of a month's wages in lieu of notice. However secure they feel in their employment or nice and kind the employer may seem, lightning may strike at any time. I say limit the first borrowing, repay it, and if they need more, borrow again, but applying a similar limit. Most of the women to whom I have said this seemed to see the sense of that advice. I also say that the lending institution is surely being improvident if it lends more than can be repaid within a limited period. I regret that I must place most of the blame in this matter on the institutions. The women are often without the kind of education that could help them see the problems they may create for themselves. The institutions, on the other hand, are supposed to be prudently run businesses, although clearly in some cases they are not. Naturally, greed comes into this, as it does wherever lack of prudence is encountered. The interest rates are set so as to provide for losses from bad debts. Through the unreasonably high interest rate, the prudent borrower is paying the price for the imprudence of the institution and the imprudent minority of other borrowers. Those demonstrating in the streets or outside the Philippine Consulate ought perhaps to think a little more deeply. DAVID PYOTT Kennedy Town
