Pinoy activists in HK stage protest vs Duterte

HONG KONG – Filipino activists in Hong Kong took to the streets on Thursday to protest against President Duterte, blasting him for failing to fulfill his promises, including creating more jobs to bring his countrymen back home.

Mr. Duterte is in Hong Kong to meet with members of the Filipino community.

The activists, joined by members of a Hong Kong human rights group, also denounced Mr. Duterte for the killings in the administration’s war on drugs, as well as his “rising tyranny and dictatorship.”

“You are not welcome in Hong Kong,” said Lee Cheuk Yan, a former Hong Kong legislator and a member of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. “We in Hong Kong do not want any mass murderer.”

Eman Villanueva, chair of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Hong Kong and Macau, said the group wants to send the government the message that Filipinos are frustrated in his failure to bring about his promises to overseas workers.

These include the creation of more jobs back home so that OFWs could return to the country and the crackdown on illegal recruitment.

“Many had pinned their hopes on his promise to send the OFWs back to the Philippines, but what we heard is even those who were sent back home to Kuwait cannot be given new jobs and were asked to go to China and Russia,” Villanueva said.

He also said the government is not addressing problems with recruitment agencies, while his group has learned that Mr. Duterte had met with the representatives of recruiters in Hong Kong.

“So who is the President working for? Filipinos or these recruiters?” he said.