Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung has been barred by Filipino
officials from hiring any more maids from the Philippines after he
fired too many them in recent years.
A Filipino activist Wednesday questioned Cheung's employment
practices and criticized the Philippine consulate, which must
certify all Filipino maid contracts in Hong Kong, for not acting
sooner to blacklist the singer.
The Filipino Globe newspaper?-- published for Hong Kong's
community of Filipino workers?-- reported the unusually high
maid turnover at Cheung's household in its September edition,
citing local consular records.
The report said only a few of the 21 maids Cheung hired over
three years completed their two-year contracts.
The newspaper said Cheung's wife, former actress May Lo, met
with Consul General Alejandrino Vicente but failed to appeal the
blacklisting, which prevents the Cheung household from renewing the
contracts of their current four Filipino maids when their contracts
expire.
Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper reported Wednesday that Cheung
and Lo live with their two daughters in a more than
270-square-meter apartment.
"We told them we're sorry, but given their record, this is our
policy and it's best we keep it that way," the Filipino Globe
quoted Vicente as saying.
Vicente also reportedly told Lo that she threatens the
livelihoods of her maids by firing them quickly.
"We also explained to her that when you terminate a contract,
it's not just the person who suffers. Her family back home also
suffers. She may have gone into debt just to raise the money needed
to come here and she expects to earn enough money to pay it back,"
the official reportedly said.
News of Cheung's blacklisting came after one of his former
maids, Preslyn-saga Catacutan, was sentenced in December to six
months in jail for stealing a letter and three photos from her
employer, a sentence maid organizers criticized as harsh at the
time. Local media had reported that Cheung testified against the
maid in that case.
Eman Villanueva, deputy secretary-general of the Filipino
Migrant Workers' Union, said Wednesday Catacutan has since appealed
and had her sentence halved.
Consul General Vicente was quoted as saying in the Filipino
Globe that Cheung's blacklisting wasn't payback for the Catacutan
case.
Villanueva said the consulate general should have acted sooner
against Cheung.
?
(CRI.cn September 28, 2007)