HONG KONG - It's been a bad week to be Filipino in this city.
A landmark lawsuit launched by a maid from the Philippines, with opening
arguments heard in the High Court on Monday, has brought Hong Kong's usually
dormant racism to the ugly surface. Evangeline Banao Vallejos, who has lived
and worked here for 25 years, is asking the government to grant her the same
legal path to permanent residency for which every other foreign worker may
apply after seven years in the city.
For her temerity, she and the nearly 285,000 other foreign domestic workers -
who do the cleaning, the cooking and a big part of the child-rearing for many
Hong Kong families - have been roundly vilified and told to mind their place as
second-class
citizens. Hong Kong's largest political party, the pro-government Democratic
Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, has spearheaded the
campaign against right of abode for foreign domestic workers.
While the Vallejos case continues - and is to be followed later this year by
two similar suits from other maids from the Philippines - on Tuesday Hong Kong
grimly marked the anniversary of last year's botched hostage-rescue operation
in Manila, which left seven Hong Kong tourists and their guide dead and seven
others injured. Armed with an M-16 assault rifle, Rolando Mendoza, a former
policeman who was dismissed for corruption, had seized a Hong Kong tour bus and
demanded his job back in return for the release of his 25 hostages.
After hours of negotiations broke down, a SWAT (special weapons and tactics)
team stormed the bus, attempting to break through its windows with
sledgehammers. Finally - after 90 clumsy, hapless minutes - the team boarded
the bus and killed Mendoza, but not before he had exacted his revenge on the
tourists and their guide.
To top it off, the whole tragic fiasco was filmed like some perverse reality
show and watched live on Hong Kong television.
Hong Kong raged: Newspaper headlines cried out for justice and accountability
from inept Philippine officials, protesters marched on the Philippine
consulate, nasty Internet postings called for employers to sack their maids as
an act of retribution and relatives of the slain and injured hostages demanded
an official apology and financial compensation from the Philippine government.
In response to the rising anger, the Hong Kong government issued a black travel
alert against the Philippines - the most severe warning possible.
A year later, that rare black travel alert remains in place, reaffirmed this
week by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, and feelings remain raw.
Remarkably, Syria, a nation that has been in perpetual turmoil for the last two
months as President Bashar al-Assad attempts to smash a growing revolt against
his rule, is the only other country that has been given such a dire travel
assessment by Hong Kong.
Represented by Hong Kong legislator James To Kun-sun, relatives of the eight
who were killed by Mendoza have seized on the anniversary to make a dramatic
pilgrimage to the death scene - Rizal Park, in the heart of Manila - to once
again demand an apology from Philippine President Benigno Aquino and
compensation for their lost love ones.
They have received neither. Aquino, who did not attend the commemoration
ceremony staged by the relatives in the park, expressed "deep regret" for the
loss of life and sympathy for the still-suffering families, but he blamed the
tragedy on a lone "deranged gunman" whom he likened to Anders Breivik, who
massacred 77 people in Norway last month.
"This was the act of one man," he stated. "In the same token that some of us
citizens have been affected elsewhere in the world, we do not blame the entire
population."
The president added: "We continue to sympathize with [the grieving families].
We really wish it didn't happen."
But those families were not appeased. At a press conference held at the Spanish
fortress where the hostage drama began, a tearful Lee Mei-chun, who lost a son
in the debacle, expressed her sorrow and outrage: "It has been one year, and I
still cannot forget my son. Every night I remember him. The Philippine
government has not done anything, and we cannot put it aside. I come here to
fight for my son."
Aquino's remarks, made on the day of the anniversary, only further incensed
hostage survivor Lee Ying-chuen, who scoffed: "What is the date today? Why does
he choose today to say such things? He does not know any basic manners at all.
Does he think we are not angry enough today?"
Family members insisted that the Philippine government was responsible for the
deaths of their relatives because of the incompetent rescue bid and complained
that the official investigation of the incident, ordered by Aquino, was a
farce. That investigation resulted in mere hand slaps for four of the policemen
involved and no punishment at all for senior officials.
So the rage continues. But where do we go from here?
Hong Kong's reaction to the tragedy has bordered on hysteria - and, when the
black travel alert was issued, the city stepped over that border into a scary
realm of illogical vengeance, where no responsible government should go.
Syria and the Philippines? Assad and Aquino?
These comparisons could pass for a bad joke perhaps, but for a year now Hong
Kong officials - as a sop to a still-angry, still-mourning population - have
kept a straight face while pretending that their black-alert designation was
based on rational analysis of travel risks in the Philippines. Meanwhile, local
media report an 80% drop in the number of Hong Kong residents flying to the
Philippines and a 10% to 20% drop in those flying from the Philippines to Hong
Kong. City officials may be savoring their cathartic revenge, but the prolonged
catharsis is proving costly to both sides.
Many people in Hong Kong say Vallejos should be given her fair day in court
without insults and the condescension. And neither she nor any other Filipino
workers in the city should be punished for the incompetence of the Manila
Police Department.
Kent Ewing is a Hong Kong-based teacher and writer. He can be reached at
kewing56@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KentEwing1
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