Photo: Remi Yuan / Unsplash" width="100%" />
The Taiwanese government yesterday turned down a request from the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to send home a Filipina caregiver for publishing a Facebook post that allegedly attempted to “discredit and malign” President Rodrigo Duterte.
On Saturday, Labor Attaché Fidel Macauyag said in a statement that a certain Elanel Ordidor, a resident of Taiwan’s Yunlin County, committed cyber libel “for [the] willful posting of nasty and malevolent materials against President Duterte on Facebook [that was] intended to cause hatred amidst the global health crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The three-minute video, which has since been deleted from Ordidor’s account, shows the caregiver complaining about the military-like lockdown that Duterte imposed over parts of the country to curb the spread of COVID-19. She said that due to severe measures, people in the Philippines “would not die from the virus but from hunger.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeTd5TIJUH8
Read: More than 2 million workers laid off due to COVID-19 lockdowns, says Labor Department
Macauyag said that they reprimanded Ordidor on April 20 and that the Filipina had complied to take down the post in question, but the attaché was apparently miffed when the caregiver’s peers expressed their support for her online.
“Ordidor was cooperative and cordial at first and committed to delete all her uploaded videos against the President and promised not to do it again. She also promised to upload a video of her public apology to the President and to the people in the government at 9pm of the same day. However, hours after the visit, several posts were seen on the POLO [Philippines Overseas Labor Office] Taichung’s Facebook page from several fake accounts assuring Ms. Ordidor’s cause and further giving her assurance of support,” Macauyag complained.
“It has come to our knowledge that Ms. Ordidor is using several social media accounts, among which are Lenale Elanel Egot, Mha Lan Dee, Linn Silawan and Hampas Lupa and has a group organized to discredit and malign the President and destabilize the government,” the attaché added, reiterating that cyber libel was the basis for the caregiver’s deportation.
However, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) didn’t seem to think this was the case.
MOFA yesterday said in a statement sent to Taiwan News that the island “is a sovereign, independent country where foreign workers enjoy ‘citizen treatment,’ and their rights and interests are protected by relevant laws and regulations, including freedom of speech, which should be respected by governments of all countries.”
“[N]o person or institution, in this case, has the right to pressure her, her employer, or broker, nor shall she be deported without consultations held between both governments,” the ministry added.
Before MOFA released its statement, activist-labor group Migrante International also condemned DOLE’s actions, which they called out as bullying.
“Migrante International denounces in the strongest terms the harassment being done against Elanel Egot Ordidor, an OFW caregiver, by DOLE and its POLO officials in Taiwan including Labor Attaché Fidel V. Macauyag,” the group said.
“There are thousands upon thousands of distressed, abused, stranded and neglected OFWs needing to be rescued and assisted but these overseas POLO officials opted instead to expend all their time in the world to gang up on Ordidor on the mere basis of her critical views against President Duterte,” Migrante added.
