HONG KONG—Every night in Yuen Long, a far-off area in the New Territories, she rummages through garbage bins for soda cans, cardboard boxes, and other recyclables that can earn her HK$38 (P228.00) on a nice day.
Poverty drove Mildred Perez, 38-year-old Filipina, like 126,000 other Filipinos here, to come and work in Hong Kong as a helper, leaving behind her two children in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.
But her dream to build a decent life for her family was crushed when her employer, a pastor, sexually assaulted her in 2007. She lost her job, and being a complainant in a pending court case, is barred by Hong Kong laws to take up employment.
She has since been unable to support her family, so her children were forced to drop out of school. There are days when her life, it seemed to her, was useless. But on April 29, Perez found something that could have ended her misfortunes. After renewing her visa at the immigration department, she noticed a thick packet just slightly bigger than an airmail envelope, in a trash bin on the corner of Pottinger Street and Des Voeux Road.
Perez picked it up and handed it to her companion, a man identified only as David, who opened the packet. Inside were cash and checks amounting to HK$350,545 (P2.1 million). There was $176,000 in cash (in denomination of $1,000) and four checks: one for US$13,000, another for US$5,000, a third for US$3,250, and another for HK$10,920. One of the checks was clipped to the envelope, she said.
Instinctively, they called the Hong Kong Information Centre to get the number of the company indicated in the documents. Because it was past office hours, they just left a message on a recorder, saying they found the money and wished to return it to the owner. “Of course, I couldn’t sleep. It’s money. That would have allowed me to go home. But I was thinking, who left the money? What if he is just another worker? He would lose his job. How many people depend on him? I couldn’t keep it. My conscience would have bothered me no end if I did otherwise,” Perez said.
That person, it turned out, was Kitty (Perez did not get the full name—Ed.), an ordinary employee tasked by her company to deposit the money in the bank. Kitty said she realized she had lost the envelope around 2 p.m. on April 29. At noon on April 30, Kitty and her superior Yvonne Tsang met Perez and David at Fairwood in Tin Shui Wai for the handover. Philippine Overseas Labor Office officials, who got wind of Perez’s exceptional deed through Perez’s friend Merly Bunda, had wanted the turnover to be done at the Philippine Consulate for proper documentation, but Perez acceded to the company’s request to have it at its premises.
More here :
Jobless maid in HK returns P2.1M - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Jobless RP maid in HK returns P2.1M
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