MACAU has started testing all Filipinos for possible infection of Covid-19, triggering a protest from a group of overseas Filipino workers, branding the move as “racist” and “discriminatory.”
The Philippine Consulate General in Macau dismissed the complaint saying that the testing of Filipinos is “purely a health issue.”
Epidemiology research of Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) has found that 9.5 percent of the city’s total COVID-19 cases in this latest wave of infection are Filipinos. They ordered that nucleic acid testing (more popularly known in the Philippines as RT-PCR) be conducted on all Philippine passport holders starting Saturday.
“It’s likely that they have more interactions within their own ethnicity, so we need to find out whether there are hidden sources of infections among them via frequent testing,” Bloomberg News quoted Macau Health Official Leong Lek Sou as saying.
“Nakaka-hurt naman ’yun. Bakit ’yung 9.5 percent lang ang tinitignan nila? Nasan ’yung 90 percent? This is racist and discriminatory,” Jassy Santos, acting chair of the Progressive Labor Union of Domestic Workers in Macau, told the BusinessMirror.
[That hurts. Why are they only looking at the 9.5 percent? Where is the 90 percent?]Alarming number
CONSUL General Porfirio Mayo told the BusinessMirror that Macau statistics show “an alarming number of infections particularly in the last two weeks where one in four infections involve a Filipino.”
“MSAR’s monitoring app works insofar as determining those who failed to take the nucleic acid tests during mandated mass testing. And some Filipinos, including those who are permanent residents, have recently been remiss in this,” Mayo added.
He said that Macau had also done the same targeted testing on Vietnamese and Nepalese workers in October last year, and on Myanmarese workers last month.
“No issue of racism or discrimination was raised against MSAR (when other foreigners were tested). Are we now saying that because we have the numbers, we are better than our neighbors from these three countries?” Mayo added. There are 26,400 OFWs in Macau, representing four percent of the total population in the Chinese island territory.
Macau is experiencing its worst Covid cases since the pandemic began in 2020. Used to having zero case since 2020, Macau now has 1,357 cases, six of them died. This prompted the government to shut down businesses, including casinos, which drives the territory’s economy.
Do what’s right
SANTOS said there are Filipinos who lost their jobs due to closure of businesses. Since they are living together in boarding houses, they are being “seen” or “heard” as having gatherings inside their flats.
“Minsan nagkaka-karaoke, kasi nabo-bore eh. Isang buwang walang trabaho. Anong gagawin naman nila? Nakakulong na nga eh. Baka mas lalong ma-depress,” Santos said.
[Sometimes we do karaoke, because we’re bored. After a month without work, what will they do? They’re already locked up and maybe make them even more depressed.]She lamented that the Consulate does not protest Macau’s move because Macau residents would further treat Filipinos as the only ones spreading the virus.
“The last thing that we need is to make a political issue out of this decision of the host government. The Consulate strongly believes that this is solely a health issue. As the cliché goes, we are only as strong as the weakest link,” Mayo said. “I have asked every Filipino in Macau to do what is right during this crucial period in Macau when we need to lend support and cooperation as responsible members of the greater society.”