XN000022-1995-12-14 — Page 34

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Question: Governor, regarding on Paul Au's case, you said that you would send one of the Hong Kong officials to the prison to visit Paul Au. What is the purpose of the visit and what message will the Hong Kong official bring to him?

Governor: Well, I am asking one of the officials who is travelling with me, who speaks Cantonese, to visit Mr Au and Mr Wong with the British Consul, and he will be relaying what I have said in my discussions today. He will be relaying the concern of the community in Hong Kong, not least the Legislative Council, who as you know have raised the issue a number of times, and he will be undertaking to keep in touch with Mr Au and Mr Wong.

Question: How about the issue of Filipino maids did you discuss it with President Ramos?

Governor: Yes.

Question: And did you or Mr Ramos detail a programme of action of the plight of Filipino maids after 1997?

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Governor: It is not for me to say what the status of domestic helpers - which I think is a fairer description will be after 1997. What I did was first of all explain to him what the situation is today. That we are, I think, one of the perhaps minority of communities which has regulations governing the employment of domestic helpers which are entirely in line with the International Labour Covenants. I pointed out that we would apply those covenants faithfully and accurately as far as the Filipino community was concerned.

I also told him that today our Commissioner on Administration, that is our Ombudsman, has produced a report on improving the living conditions and the accuracy of the contracts of Filipino domestic helpers, and that we would be accepting the main thrust of those recommendations.

And I pointed out, as well, that we were grateful not only for the contribution of 129,000 Filipino domestic helpers but about 1,000 other workers who come in under our various Labour Importation Schemes on contract, and to the 10,000 or so professionals and managerial staff from the Philippines who work in Hong Kong, about 1.000 of them from Cathay Pacific.