Coronavirus: travel ban keeps up to 30,000 Filipino workers away from Hong Kong jobs

Over 15,000 domestic workers and 10,000 holidaying Overseas Filipino Workers have been prevented from returning to Hong Kong

They are posting stories on the StrandedPH Facebook page about how their lives have been torn apart

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Stranded Overseas Filipino Workers have been sharing stories of how their lives have been affected by the Philippine government’s February 2 decision to ban all travel to and from mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong due to the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:00pm, 17 Feb 2020Updated: 9:36pm, 17 Feb 2020

Pregnant Filipino Natalie Mase, who lives and works in Hong Kong, is stressed. Her 70-year old mother, a Hong Kong permanent resident, was due back on February 4 for a blood transfusion which she regularly needs, but she is still stuck in Manila.

Another Filipino, Jennifer Silvano-Briones, runs a cargo company with her family in Hong Kong. Her husband and aunt have been stranded in Manila for more than two weeks now, and without their help business is suffering and the bills are mounting.

They are among the tens of thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) stranded in the Philippines by Manila’s sudden February 2 decision to ban all travel to and from mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong as a result of the new coronavirus outbreak.

As many as 15,000 newly hired domestic helpers and 10,000 holidaying OFWs have been prevented by immigration officials from travelling to Hong Kong, the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines told local media on February 5. Other estimates are that up to 30,000 Hong Kong workers are stranded in Manila.

Last week over 1,000 of the unwilling exiles joined a Facebook page, StrandedPH, posting stories of how their lives and livelihoods were slowly being torn apart by the travel ban. Many of the workers said they were the sole breadwinners for their families in the Philippines.

One helper said she was due back in Hong Kong on February 5. “My employer is waiting for me … who’s going to cook and clean while they’re working? And [for me] it’s no work no pay, who’s going to feed my family?” she wrote in Tagalog.

Another stranded worker wrote: “I am working in a pharmaceutical company in Hong Kong, I am a signatory of important documents, now that I am stranded … I have to send those docs through DHL or UPS. My company agreed to do this short term, but I might lose my work if the ban is extended, what about my expenses, can the [Philippine] government shoulder our bills?”