A moratorium has been declared on sending Filipina domestic helpers to Singapore starting 2 September 2013. This news was carried by Channel NewsAsia (CNA) and the Straits Times (23 July 2013).


CNA said 150 maid agencies in the Philippines, members of a trade association, want employers in Singapore to bear more of the cost of employing domestic workers, and that together, they account for 70 – 80 percent of such Filipino workers here. The news channel said that currently placement fees average US$1,500, or S$1,900, equivalent to about four months’ salary.

Speaking in Manila, Lucy Sermonia, president of the Association of Licensed Recruitment Agencies to Singapore, says: ”Most of them still collect four to six months’ placement fee or salary deduction from each domestic helper. This has been prohibited under Philippine law since 2007. Last year we went to Singapore on a goodwill mission to talk to Singapore placement agencies. 50% agreed but there are still some that are not compliant and that’s what we want to influence with this moratorium.”

John Gee, immediate past president of TWC2, comments: “I think that one factor in this is that workers who return to the Philippines can sue agencies that place them in employment in conditions that are inferior to the standards they are meant to have: I’m not sure whether this means the actual standards promised, or the standards stipulated by [Filipino law]. There have been successful law suits that have forced agencies to make big payouts, so they now have a strong incentive not to collude with overseas agencies in cheating workers of promised salaries or days off.”

Last year, the Philippines deployed over 14,000 domestic workers to Singapore, reported CNA. There are said to be over 70,000 Filipina maids currently in Singapore out of a total of around 209,000.

The Straits Times’ story appears to play down the significance of this move. Reporting that an (unnamed) association is “temporarily barring” its members from sending workers to Singapore, it quoted K Jayaprema, president of the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) as saying that the move would only have “limited impact” because

the Philippine association has control over only its member agencies. “There are non-members which will still continue to deploy maids here.”

The newspaper also quoted Labour Attache Vincent Cabe from the Philippines embassy here saying that the embassy is not involved in the ban.

Janice Heng


The Straits Times

Publication Date : 23-07-2013



An association of recruitment agencies in the Philippines is temporarily barring its members from sending domestic workers to Singapore, starting from September 2.

It wants to convince agencies in Singapore to stop collecting placement fees from maids.

Association of Licensed Recruitment Agencies to Singapore (Alras) president Lucy Sermonia announced the move in a statement to media in the Philippines last Saturday.

It followed the association’s general assembly last Friday, attended by 120 of its 130 members.

The Philippine government’s policy is that employers, not the maids, should pay the placement fees - which, in Singapore, average S$2,000 (US$1,580) or four months of their salary.

The Philippine Embassy in Singapore has stepped up enforcement in the last year, blacklisting agencies that flout the rules.

But Philippine labour attache Vicente Cabe told The Straits Times that the embassy is not involved in the upcoming ban and has not heard of it.

The Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) has not been officially notified of the ban, said president K. Jayaprema.

But she said the move was likely to have limited impact, as the Philippine association has control over only its member agencies. "There are non-members which will still continue to deploy maids here."

She added that agencies can still hire maids who arrive on their own and those from other countries. About 70,000 of the 209,600 maids in Singapore are from the Philippines.

Orange Employment Agency owner Shirley Ng is one of those who will be hit - even though her agency does not charge placement fees. The two Philippine agencies she works with are Alras members.

"Why should you penalise those who are playing by the rules?" she said.

"You’re pushing people to use illegal means instead."

Hi,


Your story reminds me of my colleague. She had been through or should I say still ongoing a similiar lifestory as yours.

My colleague and her husband married young (around 20++), never play or party enough when he was young. This could be the reason why her husband till now still went drinking and ktv everyday without fail (Monday to Sunday) only return home during wee hours. Well… they are at their 40s now. She knew her husband had an affair outside because their kids spotted mushy messages (send by a woman) in her husband’s handphone. She know who the woman was when the vixen turn up at her father-in-law funeral. Her husband don’t care about the family, he will immediately dash out of the house once he receive call from his friend.

My colleague is upset, furious, heartbroken…etc. We can feel it whenever she talk about her husband even though she don’t admit it. Apparently she is pretending to be strong by ignoring her husband’s behaviour/attitude, give her full concentration to her kids and her own family (娘家). Maybe this could make her feel better.

Nowadays the helper cannot go without handphone.

Whenever I go around our housing estate, 3/4 of the helpers will always be on the handphone yakking all the way.
Ever since we allow our helper to own a handphone, most of the time she will lock herself in the bathroom for at least 20mins.
I don’t mind giving her the freedom she want but I emphasize in discipline & self-control.
I just applied phone lock with Singtel for our home phone, hopefully this may knock some sense to her nonsense.

pinkybear:

gumiho:

[quote=\"nms1\"]I think this is a tough one.


Maids have a right to a private life outside of our homes in the same way that we do but they need to conduct themselves in a proper manner i.e. no boyfriends or friends in the house, no wasting time chatting on the phone etc. The problem comes when they don't know where to draw the line.

In your case I would talk to her, tell her that you are aware that she has a boyfriend, that you don't think it is right given that she is married but it is her personal choice. Make it clear that the long phone calls need to stop and remind her of the consequences if she gets pregnant. Not only will she be sent home but she will need to explain the pregnancy to her husband.

My maid's cousin managed to get pregnant within a few months of being here (no days off!) and ended up having to go back - she was trying to decide whether to lie to her husband and pass the baby off as his, have an illegal abortion in Manila before she went back or face the music.

Hi nms1,

In fact, I did thought of talking to her about her bf and phone call issue. However, she is a stubborn person. Ever since her first day in Singapore, I did warned her not to get involve in any bf/gf relationship. Right now, she is in a relationship it prove that she had turned a deaf ear in my advise. She is in a bad relationship with her husband. She want to divorce her husband but due to the strict religion's rules, she is stuck.

This incident happen so sudden and we has yet to save enough cash to employ a new helper. Just wondering if there are any preventive measure to be taken during her stay with us ?

Hi gumiho
My friend had the same problem years ago. Her helper is good but met a guy and the guy bought her hp, etc. Her helper is a stubborn person too. Her helper had divorced her husband as he had girlfriends in Indonesia. Her helper needs to support her young son and parents back in Indonesia. My friend had a heart to heard talk with her and explained all the consequences would happen. Her helper agreed to end the relationship. This year is her 13th year working for my friend.

I think can talk to her, knock some sense into her. You need to ask do you want her working for you another few years.[/quote]Hi pinkybear,

Thank you so much for your advise.

Initially, my helper had intended to end her contract with us in June'13 and one day she suddenly change her mind saying she want to finish her contract with us in Dec'13. Well...... The reason might be due to her bf.

All along she has no intention to continue her contract with us due to she cannot get along with my father and daughter. She renew her contract with us could be due to the we are bringing her to Hong Kong for holiday.

nms1:

I think this is a tough one.


Maids have a right to a private life outside of our homes in the same way that we do but they need to conduct themselves in a proper manner i.e. no boyfriends or friends in the house, no wasting time chatting on the phone etc. The problem comes when they don't know where to draw the line.

In your case I would talk to her, tell her that you are aware that she has a boyfriend, that you don't think it is right given that she is married but it is her personal choice. Make it clear that the long phone calls need to stop and remind her of the consequences if she gets pregnant. Not only will she be sent home but she will need to explain the pregnancy to her husband.

My maid's cousin managed to get pregnant within a few months of being here (no days off!) and ended up having to go back - she was trying to decide whether to lie to her husband and pass the baby off as his, have an illegal abortion in Manila before she went back or face the music.

Hi nms1,

In fact, I did thought of talking to her about her bf and phone call issue. However, she is a stubborn person. Ever since her first day in Singapore, I did warned her not to get involve in any bf/gf relationship. Right now, she is in a relationship it prove that she had turned a deaf ear in my advise. She is in a bad relationship with her husband. She want to divorce her husband but due to the strict religion's rules, she is stuck.

This incident happen so sudden and we has yet to save enough cash to employ a new helper. Just wondering if there are any preventive measure to be taken during her stay with us ?

It is common for maid to have facebook nowadays.

My maid has one… Initially I cannot be bother about her having FB as I believe in fairness.
We can have one, why not the maid. They are also human like us.

This morning, my father mentioned to me that my helper was using our house phone everyday for an hour plus chatting with her boyfriend (when all of us are not around except for my father).
We allow her to own a handphone, we even allow her to chat on the phone during working hour (-_-"") then she has no reason to utilize our home phone for personal call because we are paying for the phone bill.
Again, I login to her facebook today. Shockingly, her status is "In a relationship with XXXX" and there are even mushy comments between her and her lover. (She was married with 2 kids).

Well… I know I shouldn’t bother in her personal affair but when she is using our home phone to chit chat with her lover… It bothers me !!
All thanks to FB ! I know about her personal life when she is out of our house. It may not be bad for the maid to own a FB afterall.

Apparently, my main concern is to whether send her home or continue to tolerate her until her contract ends (Dec’13) ?

It is common for maid to have facebook nowadays.

My maid has one… Initially I cannot be bother about her having FB as I believe in fairness.
We can have one, why not the maid. They are also human like us.

This morning, my father mentioned to me that my helper was using our house phone everyday for an hour plus chatting with her boyfriend (when all of us are not around except for my father).
We allow her to own a handphone, we even allow her to chat on the phone during working hour (-_-"") then she has no reason to utilize our home phone for personal call because we are paying for the phone bill.
Again, I login to her facebook today. Shockingly, her status is "In a relationship with XXXX" and there are even mushy comments between her and her lover. (She was married with 2 kids).

Well… I know I shouldn’t bother in her personal affair but when she is using our home phone to chit chat with her lover… It bothers me !!
All thanks to FB ! I know about her personal life when she is out of our house. It may not be bad for the maid to own a FB afterall.

Apparently, my main concern is to whether send her home or continue to tolerate her until her contract ends (Dec’13) ?

Please advise us her Work Permit Number. Thanks !

shayden_mum:

Hi,


Anyone has problems with selecting maids? I really dunno which country maid to employ.

Any suggestions?

It really depend on your luck.

From my past experience, I had employed 2 Indonesians and 1 filipino helper. Our filipino helper work with us the longest but create the most trouble for us.

Apparently, thinking of trying out Myanmar Helper as understand from others that they are more down to earth. Since the population of Myanmar Helpers are not as much compare to Filipino and Indonesian therefore they won't spend most of their time at the void deck chitting with their \"friends\".