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SINGAPORE (UPDATED) – My eyes flashed and I felt a rush of excitement as I searched for lunch on a rainy afternoon in April. While other food businesses have closed due to security concerns or a lack of customers, one of my favorite fast food chains in Singapore was still open.
“Buti hindi pa kayo nagsasara (It’s good they haven’t closed you), “I said hello to Mel (not her real name), a Filipina in her 20s who works at this fast food chain.
Mel’s face turned somber, and her response surprised me. “Sana nga magsara na muna, huh (In fact, I hope we will temporarily close), ”he said.
While most of the others in Singapore work from home, Mel is among the workers in “essential services”, like food establishments, who continue to travel every day. Mel said it is too risky for her to travel.
It also fears that Singapore is no longer paying the hospital bills of foreign workers with COVID-19, even when Singapore has repeatedly stated that COVID-19 treatment for foreign workers is free.
“Mas iri-risk ko na ang isang buwan naming sahod kaysa magbabayad ako ng sobrang mahal sa hospital bills just in case it’s a virusShe said. (I prefer to risk our one-month salary rather than pay expensive hospital bills in case I catch the virus.)
In many ways, Mel is different from other Filipino workers here. She is single, has no family to feed, and in fact describes her parents in the Philippines as financially stable. Mel said she has savings to last at least two months with no income.
Mel, however, shares something in common with thousands of foreign workers in Singapore: the feeling that they have been abandoned.
To be clear, Filipinos in Singapore, many of whom work as domestic servants, waiters and waitresses, and office staff, are generally in a better position compared to other foreign workers. Many Filipino domestic servants have stayed with kind employers for years, while other Filipinos enjoy benefits such as high wages, benefits and good times with friends from Singapore.
But Mel couldn’t shake the idea of thousands of dormitory migrant workers, mostly Indians and Bangladeshis, who now comprise most of the COVID-19 cases in Singapore. At least 85% of Singapore’s more than 16,100 COVID-19 cases are residents of workers’ dormitories, according to Singapore government data as of April 30.
“Pinabayaan nila (They neglected them), ”said Mel. “Ngayon ko nga lang napagtanto na wala silang put sa mga foreign worker nila ngayon (Only now I realized that they have no heart for foreign workers).
WORKER SLEEVES. Men watch from a dormitory used by foreign workers at Cochrane Lodge 2, which has been converted into an isolation area to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Singapore on April 15, 2020. Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP
The Singapore we met
The crisis can reveal the true identity of a person. The same is true for countries.
In the first months of COVID-19, the world met a Singapore that it was a “gold standard” for dealing with a pandemic.
On the one hand, there is no question about Singapore’s efficient health system. What else can explain the relatively low number of COVID-related deaths here? There have been 15 deaths in the country due to the pandemic as of April 30. In the Philippines, at least 568 people have died from the coronavirus on the same date.
There is also no question about the systems Singapore has put in place to prevent a repeat of 2003, when the SARS outbreak killed at least 33 people in this city-state.
MORE CASES A woman, wearing a protective face mask amid fears about the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19, is seen on a monitor as she passes a temperature screening check at Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore on February 27, 2020. File photo of Roslan Rahman / AFP
I have seen these preparations first hand as a graduate student in Singapore.
I remember how on January 26, just 3 days after Singapore received its first COVID-19 case, our school asked residents of a neighboring dorm to evacuate to new residences in less than 24 hours. Why? Because his bedroom would become a government quarantine facility. How long did it take for the Philippine government to realize the need for this?
I can give a litany of other things that impressed me in Singapore: the free reusable mask I got from the Singapore government last Easter; how even the Catholic Church was one of the first to act suspending public masses; and yes, the endless reruns of the speeches by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in our school’s food court.
This was the Singapore almost everyone knew about, until COVID-19 exploded in workers’ bedrooms.
Singapore’s dirty secret
The dorms of these workers have long been regarded as a bomb waiting to explode, and groups warned of this to no avail.
In these bedrooms, the men live in close proximity to each other, with 10-20 workers in one room, sleeping in double-decker beds that are one meter or less apart, according to Alex Au, vice president of the Singapore NGO Transient Workers Count. Too.
THE MIGRANT WORKERS. Residents queue to get their food in Tuas South’s foreign worker dormitory that has been placed under government restriction as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Singapore on April 19, 2020. Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP
In a Rappler Talk interview, Au said the problem goes beyond bedrooms. He cited other issues, such as unreasonable demands from employers. “So when the boss says I don’t care how sick you are, you have to report to work,” he said, “they’ll go to work even when they’re symptomatic.”
Singapore, Au said, faces the consequences of neglecting migrant workers for decades.
Migrant workers make up the majority of Singapore’s non-resident population. Non-residents, including workers, their dependents and students, represent around 29% of Singapore’s population of 5.7 million. In other words, about 3 out of 10 people you meet in Singapore are not residents.
“The systems worked for Singaporeans, but they did not work because they were the wrong systems for migrant workers. Telling them that ‘social distance’ is meaningless when they live with 15 people in one room,” Au told Rappler.
According to Au, Singapore’s policymakers tend to plan with only Singaporeans in mind, leaving migrant workers “at the mercy of employers.”
SECURITY MEASURES. A woman, wearing a face mask as a preventative measure against the spread of COVID-19, passes the building of the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) on April 7, 2020. Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP
However, the Singapore government claimed that they have tried to protect dormitory workers since the COVID-19 outbreak began. At a press conference in mid-April, Human Resources Minister Josephine Teo said they had asked dormitory operators, for example, to raise hygiene standards and close non-essential facilities like television rooms.
But she said they couldn’t have asked the dormitory workers to stop working much earlier, or until all of Singapore was put on “Circuit Breaker,” what they call the shutdown here.
“From the workers ‘point of view, this is a matter of subsistence. Now, to say that we could have done this much earlier, I think it really does not reflect an understanding of the workers’ own concerns. It would not have been so easy to tell them to workers: “Please don’t go to work because we want to protect you.” They must do so in the context of a circuit breaker where all work has stopped, “Teo said.
Still, for others, it is a case of inequality that raises its ugly head.
Tommy Koh, a veteran diplomat from Singapore, wrote on Facebook in early April: “The way Singapore treats its foreign workers is not the first world but the third world.” He said he feels angry, for example, every time he sees foreign workers sitting on the ground for lunch, or lying on the ground for rest.
“The government has allowed their employers to transport them in flatbed trucks without seats. They stay in overcrowded bedrooms and are packed like sardines with 12 people per room. The bedrooms are not clean or sanitary. The bedrooms were like a time bomb waiting to explode, ”said Koh.
Koh said the explosion of COVID-19 cases in workers’ dorms should be “a wake-up call to treat our indispensable foreign workers as a first world country should, and not in the shameful way in which are treated now. “
Shona Loong also wrote for The diplomat: “Migrant workers expose the boundaries between the beneficiaries of the Singapore coronavirus ‘success story’ and those who are systematically excluded from it. Unfortunately, this is the usual business in a system that pursues growth at the expense of the well-being of Workers “.
“Many will lose their jobs”
Filipino workers have long been part of the migrant community in Singapore. Along the popular Orchard Road, there is even a “Philippine Mall”, Lucky Plaza, where you can find remittance centers, Filipino dishes like sinigang and kare-kare, and not one but two branches of Jollibee. Here and there you can also see Filipinos filming TikTok videos.
The Philippine embassy said around 200,000 Filipinos work in Singapore: 40% as domestic service workers, 60% as professionals and service workers, including food and beverage (F&B) workers.
“Somehow, the Filipinos fit in very well. In other ways, they are highlighted, mainly because many of the Filipinos in Singapore take jobs that Singaporeans can believe belong to them properly, “Au said.
He said that Bangladeshis or Burmese, for example, are mainly engaged in jobs that Singaporeans consider “dirty, dangerous and degrading”: manual jobs such as those in the construction or sanitation industries.
Filipinos, by contrast, can take these jobs and more, as architects, web designers, nurses, and bankers.
However, jobs, or at least wages, are inevitably at risk because of COVID-19.
Prime Minister Lee himself said in his May 1 speech: “Workers must accept wage sacrifices for companies to continue operating. And employers must do everything possible to keep their workers and help them through this difficult period. ”
The Singapore Monetary Authority (MAS), in its macroeconomic review published on April 28, said it expects wage cuts and job losses, especially in retail, F&B and recreation services, as a consequence of COVID-19.
“I think that unfortunately is true, even after the pandemic ends, the economic consequence may be much more,” said Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Joseph Yap in another Rappler Talk interview.
“Many will lose their jobs,” said Yap.
How the embassy can help
Filipinos in Singapore have begun to feel the effects of the pandemic.
Yap said around 300 Filipino workers, mosty from the aviation industry, were recently repatriated from Singapore at the expense of their employers. He said that these Filipinos were given an unpaid leave for 3 months, while planes in Singapore remain on the ground. While they have not been canceled, they will only be withdrawn once the planes fly again, Yap said.
AVIATION SECTOR. A man in a face mask walks past a blank screen on April 30, 2020, in the departure lounge of Terminal 2 at Singapore Changi Airport, which will suspend operations for 18 months from May 1, 2020. , as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts The aviation sector in Singapore. Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP
For Filipinos fired from their jobs, the embassy can help but only up to a point. “The Philippine government is not in a position to replace your salary if you lose your job. What we can do is provide assistance while you are looking for another job, “said Yap.
Yap noted that the Philippine national government has allocated P1.5 billion (US $ 29.68 million) in cash assistance called “Akap” (Embrace) for all Filipino workers worldwide. Under the Akap program, qualified foreign Filipino workers (OFW) can get a one-time grant of $ 200 each. (READ: GUIDELINES: OFW Eligible for DOLE Coronavirus Assistance)
However, the government has imposed strict requirements to receive Akap funds, and only those who have lost their jobs, among others, can qualify. The Philippine embassy in Singapore has distributed this cash assistance to more than 500 people who have applied.
For those who are not eligible for Akap funds, Yap said the OFW may also request other assistance, drawn from the Philippine government’s National Assistance Fund. This is the regular fund for distressed Filipino workers worldwide.
“The government budget is not unlimited,” said Yap. “There is a limit in terms of how much assistance can be given. But within that limit, we can assure you that we will do everything we can to help you.”
Yap is also hopeful about the 3 supplemental budgets that Singapore has deployed, totaling S $ 60 billion, to reduce the negative effects of the pandemic. “WWhile there will be people who will lose their jobs, hopefully due to the S $ 60 billion that the Singapore government will put into the economy, the impact will be far less than would otherwise be the case, “said the ambassador.
Anxiety state
The fear of unemployment and the feeling that they have been neglected have compounded the anxiety of many Filipinos in Singapore when facing COVID-19.
I sat down with Jenny (not her real name), another Filipino worker in Singapore, on the eve of her 29th birthday in late March.
Jenny has been working as a waitress for the past 5 years in Singapore. Fortunately for her, Jenny’s boss promised her and her colleagues that they will receive their regular wages even if they have fewer clients.
Many of his friends have not been so lucky. Her friends at a previous workplace, for example, suffered a cut in wages of S $ 300 (P10,700). She said the average minimum wage for F&B employees in Singapore is S $ 2,700 (P96,300), so a cut of S $ 300 is not a joke.
Other friends of hers have had worse. One of them even lost his job.
Jenny’s birthday wish? To get things back to normal.
SG UNITED. The letters and the SG Love symbol illuminate the facade of Marina Bay Sands on April 10, 2020, as a message of hope as Singapore battles COVID-19. Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP
As for Mel, she has had enough.
Mel said, “Alam ko naman na foreign worker lang ako dito but the nila form i-treat na ano, wala talaga. Kaya siguro tatapusin ko na lang ang contract ko and then babay Singapore. “(I know I’m only a foreign worker here, but the way they treat us is really useless. That’s why I could end my contract here, then goodbye Singapore.)
However, many other migrants will have to stay, working hard for their families at home, while waiting for Singapore to have learned its painful lesson. – Rappler.com
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