Hong Kong’s Filipinos pray for typhoon-hit homeland

HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s Filipino domestic workers made emotional pleas Sunday, November 17, to citizens of the wealthy city to give generously to their homeland ravaged by super typhoon Yolanda (international codename Haiyan), as hundreds attended memorial services to seek comfort in prayer.

In the city’s Central district, where thousands of Filipino maids gather on their only rest day, calls for money and goods were made over loudspeakers while some began singing “Amazing Grace”.

Worshippers, meanwhile, flocked to the city’s churches. About 500 people attended a Sunday mass and memorial service at St. John’s Cathedral where they wept for their loved ones in shattered regions in the central islands.

The official Philippine government death toll from super typhoon Yolanda now stands at 3,681 and the United Nations says more than 3 million have been displaced. 

Tacloban City in Leyte island was especially hard-hit. (READ: Tacloban Diary: I saw death, I fear anarchy)

The slow pace of relief and rescue operations has angered many Filipinos in Hong Kong, with President Benigno Aquino singled out for criticism. 

“When you are talking (about)… no roof, no food, no water and no electricity, and you responded 5 or 6 days later, I think it’s not just slow. I think it’s crime against the people,” Eman Villanueva, who heads a migrant workers’ organization, told AFP. (READ: World media in PH; Cooper slams slow Haiyan response)

Cynthia Jaca, a 45-year-old domestic worker, added: “(Aquino) is not capable of ruling the country. He is only good at talking but not action.”

“He went to Tacloban so late and he is blaming the local people,” added Jaca, whose relatives in Samar island survived the storm. (READ: Palace aware of slow relief: ‘We’re moving’)

More than 150,000 Filipinos work as domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city. – Rappler.com