Filipina dead in HK after suicide falls on her

TACLOBAN CITY—It was a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

A Filipina domestic helper was killed in Hong Kong after a Chinese woman, who jumped off the rooftop of a building in an apparent suicide attempt, fell on top of the Filipina OFW instead.

According to a report from Hong Kong received by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) office in Eastern Visayas, Lourdes Rabi, 49, was just passing by a building in Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong, about 10 a.m. on April 4 when a distraught Chinese woman jumped from the building’s rooftop.

But the Chinese woman, identified only as Yee, landed on top of Rabi, a native of Hilongos town in Leyte who had been working as a domestic helper in the former British colony for 10 years.

Rabi, the Owwa report said, was rushed to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital where she died a few hours later due to severe head injuries.

As of yesterday afternoon, it wasn’t clear if Yee was dead, too.

Rabi’s remains now lie at Victoria Mortuary in Kennedy, Hong Kong. Her last known address in Hong Kong was Flat 6/F Hsia Kung Mansion, 24 Taikoo Shing Road.

Alberto Peñaflor, regional Owwa administrative officer, said the report from the Owwa office in Hong Kong described Yee, 55, as “emotionally distressed” following an argument with her boyfriend the night before she jumped off her building’s rooftop.

He said no other details were provided on Yee and Rabi.

Peñaflor, however, said Owwa was providing all the needed help for Rabi’s family.

He said Rabi’s family would receive P200,000 in financial assistance on top of P20,000 in burial expenses from Owwa.

Her remains were expected to be repatriated after the processing of documents, said Peñaflor.

Hundreds of Filipinas are employed as domestic helpers in Hong Kong and have been tagged as a key contributor to the growth of levels of remittances that bring in foreign currency to the Philippine economy.

Protection for many of them, however, is all but nonexistent. Some persist in working in the Chinese territory despite low wages sometimes equivalent to wages of teachers in the Philippines. Many others suffer abuses in the hands of their employers.

The exodus continues, however, because of the sheer lack of opportunity in the Philippines. Some of those who flee to Hong Kong for jobs are teachers or nursing graduates in the Philippines who found no jobs for them at home.