President Rodrigo Duterte is assured of receiving a warm welcome when he sets foot in Hong Kong Friday (May 12) to meet with the Filipino community there.
Consul General of the Philippines in Hong Kong Bernardita Catalla said thousands of Filipinos working and living in Hong Kong have long been waiting for Duterte to visit them.
Duterte will speak with the Filipino community at the Royal Airport Hotel on Saturday (May 13) before he flies to Beijing for the Belt and Road Forum.
Of the estimated 210,00 Filipinos in Hong Kong, Catalla said 194,000 of them are migrant workers employed as household help.
She noted that significant number of Filipinos voted for Duterte during the elections saying that he got 66 percent of the 46,000 Filipinos who cast their votes in Hong Kong last year.
Duterte left for Cambodia on Wednesday (May 10) attend the World Economic Forum for ASEAN. From Cambodia, the President and his delegation will proceed to Hong Kong for a working visit from May 12 to 13.
In anticipation of the standing room only crowd who will listen to the President this weekend, Catalla apologized in advance that not all Filipinos will get to see him.
“So those who cannot be accommodated (on the Meeting with the Filipino Community) pasensiya na po because as I said, security is of utmost importance and we are not able to provide a big venue,” she said.
Meanwhile, Catalla discussed with the consulate’s efforts to improve the skills of Filipinos in Hong Kong by providing them trainings and seminars particularly on health and wellness and financial and foreign language literacy.
“I always tell the Filipinos, our countrymen to prepare for their return to the Philippines, that Hongkong is not their home,” she said.
“We have to go back to the Philippines, they are here temporarily to achieve their goals, their aspirations in life, like sending their children or their siblings to school, finishing school; putting up a small business,” she added.
Catalla likewise encouraged education graduates in Hong Kong to go back to the Philippines and practice their profession there to be able to help their communities.
“We encourage our people to shy away from vices, from debts because that’s one of the issues here; to learn how to save and prepare for the future,” she said.
