Pinay maid is treated well in Tsao household - envoy

MANILA, Philippines - Despite threats from Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao that he will fire his Filipina maid should the Philippines take the Spratly Islands from China, the Philippine consulate there assured that the household worker is being treated well. Acting Consul General Kira Danganan-Azucena reported that "Luisa", the Filipina domestic helper Tsao identified in his 'racist' column, has indeed been working for the Chinese writer's family for 14 years. "We were able to verify that a household service worker goes by that name. She doesn't work directly with Tsao but is employed by his father," Azucena said in a Wednesday interview over QTV's Balitanghali. Azucena said Luisa was unaware of the controversy surrounding Tsao and maintained that she has good working relations with the columnist's family. The Filipino domestic helper was mentioned by Tsao in his fiery March 27 HK Magazine column entitled "The War At Home" where the Chinese journalist threatened to kick Luisa out of the house should the Spratlys become a Philippine territory. "I summoned Louisa [Luisa], my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell everyone of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China," wrote Tsao in his column. He added: "Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her Government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings." Tsao has issued a public apology on Tuesday evening regarding his infamous article (see related story here) a day after the Philippines blacklisted the Chinese national and deemed him an undesirable alien. Meanwhile, Azucena said the Philippine Consulate welcomes Tsao's apology but warned the Chinese journalist against making sweeping generalizations against Filipinos. She said that other nationalities have vouched support for the Filipinos in Hong Kong and frowned upon Tsao's racist remarks. Fortunately, Azucena said, Tsao's views is not shared by the rest of the Hong Kong community, which holds Filipino workers in high esteem. Former Labor Undersecretary Susan Ople, head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, had earlier asked the Philippine Consulate, to look into the work conditions of “Luisa", as she expressed personal concern for her safety and health. “Luisa deserves a sane and more humane employer while he [Tsao] deserves to clean up his own filth," Ople said. Ople also called the attention of the Philippine government to the last paragraph of Tsao’s column where he said that some of his friends “declared a state of emergency at home" wherein their Filipino maids were made to shout “China, Madam/Sir’ loudly" at the mention of the word Spratly. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV