HK court backs Filipino woman's fight for residency

[inxss4]

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I think it's not final yet....still it has to settle on court.....

[DailyCore]

Hong Kong fights landmark maids’ residency ruling

Hong Kong's government on Tuesday launched an appeal against a landmark court ruling which grants thousands of foreign maids the right to seek permanent residency in the southern banking hub.

Government counsel David Pannick told the Court of Appeal the original ruling was mistaken as it restricted the authorities' ability to determine who can permanently reside in Hong Kong and who cannot.

The High Court ruling on September 30 gave Filipina domestic worker Evangeline Banao Vallejos the right to request permanent residency status, something that had been denied to foreign maids until then.

"It is our respectful submission that (this) decision was wrong as a matter of law," Pannick said at the outset of the hearing.

He said the city authorities should be given some discretionary power to decide who was eligible for residency, rejecting arguments that restrictions on maids were unconstitutional and discriminatory.

"There is no undermining of the rule of law if the legislature enjoys a certain margin of discretion," he told the court.

Most foreigners can apply to stay in Hong Kong after seven years of uninterrupted residency, gaining access to voting rights, benefits such as public housing and the right to live in the Chinese city without a work visa.

But that right had been denied to the city's 292,000 foreign maids, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, until Vallejos won her challenge last year.

High Court Judge Johnson Lam ruled the law unconstitutional in a decision that sharply divided opinion in the city of seven million people.

Officials warned it could open the floodgates to hundreds of thousands of residency requests from maids, some of whom have lived in the city for decades without access to residency status.

Vallejos' lawyer, Mark Daly, said the 59-year-old mother-of-five has yet to be granted permanent residency due to the ongoing legal dispute. She has lived in Hong Kong since 1986.

Filipino Migrant Workers' Union vice-chairman Eman Villanueva said the government was entitled to appeal but accused it of wanting to discriminate against foreign domestic workers.

"On our part, it's disappointing not because the government is appealing but from the beginning they expressively said that foreign domestic helpers should not be given the same right," he told AFP outside the court.

A small group of people protested at the court against the extension of residency rights to domestic workers.

Hong Kong fights landmark maids’ residency ruling | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere

[chris_bern]

I was just thinking, on the other hand, nganong gusto man jud ta or ipugos man jud nato maging resident sa usa ka nasud nga dili ta welcome?

its a way of grabbing the opportunity man gud na para sa mga pinay maids didto.. ana man jud ta mga pinoy.. kung unsa to nga country nga maayo ug civilization mag desisyon jud dayun ta nga mubalhin dira-a.. SEEKING FOR GREENER PASTURES gud.. as what others say pRActiCAL reasons..

[Zebastian rella]

agree ko nimo chris bern... daghan gani ko kaila who are abroad mas gusto na lang nga bakasyon na lang sa Pinas every year...

[chris_bern]

agree ko nimo chris bern... daghan gani ko kaila who are abroad mas gusto na lang nga bakasyon na lang sa Pinas every year...

hehe..sa ako mga kaila mas gusto nila mag settle diri sa pinas kay barato daw ug abunda sa supply..

[æRLO]

Let's not generalize. I don't think that is the ultimate reality sad that a country "does not like" our kind. I've been to HK and Singapore, and I don't find anything objectionable about how they treat me. I think much of this kind of thinking, that api-apihun lang tah, comes from how the media portrays the life of Filipinos living in those countries.

Trust me, there will always be people like Donald Tsang, anywhere we go. And with regard to how HK citizens or Singapore residents treat OFWs and helpers, the same is also true raman sad sa Pilipinas(not entirely, but substantially gihapon). We condescend and degrade on our helpers, what more pa ang mga amo sa lain nasud. I'm not saying its good, though.

Ayaw lang pa-api. Shed that mentality that we are somehow inferior because of our country's standing, therefore, we must be submissive. There is a proper place for proper piety.

[b1 huck]

Sometimes our fellow Filipinos will prefer to live to other countries because they feel no chance to survive and live well here in philippines. And perhaps they know they can provide their families a better life even if the live away from them. They are truly a living heroes.

[DEMONOCIETY]

angay ra sad tagaan na silang mga dugay na kaayo sa HK oi..para sad fare, abe diay og gamay ang sweldo wa na diay right?

agree angay ra na sa nagtarong ug d ni angay sa mga dh na hilabtanon

[DEMONOCIETY]

I was just thinking, on the other hand, nganong gusto man jud ta or ipugos man jud nato maging resident sa usa ka nasud nga dili ta welcome?

mao pud if ako py DH masmouli na lang kog pinas if moundang ug work ky mahal2x baya taxes didto unya gamay pa sweldo ok ra siguro if mabutang lang ta sa taas2x na profession hongkong is a nice place to stay if you have a big income.

[chris_bern]

mao pud if ako py DH masmouli na lang kog pinas if moundang ug work ky mahal2x baya taxes didto unya gamay pa sweldo ok ra siguro if mabutang lang ta sa taas2x na profession hongkong is a nice place to stay if you have a big income.

didto man gud sa HK dako ug taxes pero sulit man sad kay gamiton sa improvement sa ilang roads, infrastructures, health and public transportation.. ug isa pud dili ka makasulti na kung gamay ila sweldo pobre na jud imo lifestyle kung didto ka puyo..

sa pilipinas dako ug taxes pero dili sulit.... magbagolbol ka kay ang gobyerno nato is asking for their share of taxes but improvements for our country is less than what we actually see.. ang salary sa pinas is very low kay ultimo basic needs kulang pa jud para mabuhi ka..