Jinggoy Estrada: Dispatch medical teams to Hong Kong to help OFWs
Hong Kong-based Filipina domestic helpers welcome former Senator Jinggoy Estrada during a recent visit to the former Crown Colony.
MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, a fierce advocate of OFW (overseas Filipino workers) welfare, urged government on Tuesday to swiftly dispatch medical teams to Hong Kong to take care of Filipino domestic workers suffering from COVID-19.
Estrada, UniTeam candidate for senator, said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should also open isolation centers and treatment facilities to address the medical needs of OFWs as China’s financial hub faces a COVID-19 outbreak.
“We need to send teams of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel before the situation gets worse. I think we can do this now since the COVID-19 situation in the country has started to stabilize,” said Estrada, former chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor.
The president of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino said families of thousands of Filipino domestic workers are worried about the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. Many of them have contacted his office for help.
“I’m convinced that the Duterte administration will spare no effort in addressing the concerns of our kababayans. But the situation should be treated with urgency; we must save our OFWs from the worrisome public health situation in Hong Kong as soon as possible,” said Estrada.
OFW sendoff. Former senator Jinggoy Estrada sends off a delegation of OFWs bound for Dubai.
He said DFA, DOLE and the Department of Health should tap emergency funds to enable them to act with dispatch.
“In the meantime, I appeal to employers of our OFWs in Hong Kong to protect their workers against COVID-19 by keeping them indoors instead of abandoning them in the streets,” Estrada said.
OFWs, mostly women and usually breadwinners in their respective families, comprise majority of the estimated 370,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.
The current pandemic situation in the Hong Kong has turned for the worse in the past several days that authorities decided to cancel the Chief Executive election that was scheduled on March 2 to allow government to concentrate on addressing the public health problem.
“The situation is aggravating and quite critical, and in order to protect the health of Hong Kong’s people, the government should focus all resources to fight the epidemic,” said HK Chief Executive Carrie Lam the other day.
