OFW claims to be Indonesian, skips night-outs to avoid attacks in Taiwan

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — An overseas Filipino worker in Taiwan had to say she is Indonesian while another Filipino worker could only go to work riding a company truck to be safe from irate Taiwanese.

Upon the advice of her employer, she identified herself as an Indonesian whenever asked for her nationality.

She has also limited going out in public especially when alone at night.

“I have to be careful because I’m the only Filipino in this neighborhood,” the woman told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone from Taipei on Wednesday.  (The Inquirer is withholding her identity to help ensure her safety in Taiwan.)

The 41-year-old works as a caretaker of a house in Taipei and is among at least 87,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan who have been facing the threat of attacks by Taiwanese following the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by Filipino coast guards on May 9.

A native of New Lucena town in Iloilo, she is the vice chair of the Taiwan chapter of Migrante International, an organization of Filipino migrant workers and their families.

She said several of their members and other Filipino workers have reported being treated “coldly” by their employers after the killing of Hung Shih-chen, 65, by the Philippine Coast Guard in the waters off Balintang Island in northern Philippines.

The Philippine Coast Guard has claimed that they fired on Hung’s fishing boat, the Guang Ta Hsin 28, after it tried to ram their vessel.

But protests against the Philippines have erupted in Taiwan over the Taiwanese government’s claims that the killing of the fisherman was intentional.

The house caretaker, who has been working in Taiwan since 2004 and would be finishing her contract by December, said she also had debates with her employer on the killing but the discussions have been civil.

She regularly contacts her family in Iloilo to reassure them that she is safe and well and attends Migrante meetings and visiting their members and other OFWs.

She lamented that overseas Filipino workers stationed in Taiwan have been caught in the diplomatic row between the two countries and urged the government to resolve the issue quickly. –With a report from Jhunnex Napallacan