SINGAPORE: A local employer has decided to send her maid back to the Philippines after discovering she had borrowed money from loan sharks.
In a post on r/askSingapore, a Reddit forum, the employer explained that she found out about this issue while preparing for an overseas trip scheduled for early December.
“I found out that my maid couldn’t find her passport when preparing for the overseas trip with her in early Dec. She looks very calm and keeps saying she doesn’t remember where she put the passport,” the employer wrote. “In view of the upcoming trips, I asked her to go report [to the] police and contact [the] Philippines embassy [for a] new one asap, though I think it won’t be in time.”
However, things took a darker turn when she started getting threatening messages from loan sharks.
“They threatened my family and asked my maid to pay the loan,” she said. “I began to connect the dots and suspected that she probably gave her passport to the loan sharks, but she insisted that she lost her passport.”
Alarmed, the employer reported the threats to the police and decided that the best course of action was to send the helper back to the Philippines. However, the lack of a passport presented a significant obstacle, as the helper could not travel without it.
Seeking solutions, the employer turned to Reddit for advice, writing: “Any advice or suggestions to sort out this case? I’m checking the process to apply new passport or this one-way Travel Documents to send het back asap. Cannot take this non-sense anymore.”
“Cut her loose ASAP and do NOT engage with the loan sharks at all.”
The post drew responses from the online community, with many Reddit users urging the employer to report the matter to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
One user wrote, “Your employment contract should have something to do with termination. Then you should be contacting MOM for assistance with the matter. Cut her loose ASAP and do NOT engage with the loan sharks at all. Just ignore them.
Do not repeat the mistakes of other soft hearted employers and pay. The loan sharks will NOT leave you alone even after payment because you’ve just marked yourself an easy target.”
Others advised her to work with the embassy or file a police report. One user said, “For passport, you can usually request the embassy to do a rush, it’ll cost you more but ultimately, it’ll probably be better for both you and the maid.
“If you’re going to send her home, don’t tell her. Just get the passport processed and tell her anything you’re doing is to expedite the replacement.”
Another commented, “If she insist that she cannot remember where it is, just bring her down to make a police report about since she has “lost” the passport.
“Don’t expect her to do it herself. From what I read, you are asking her to report and trust that she will do it. Instead bring her down yourself.”
According to the Ministry of Manpower, domestic helpers are not allowed to borrow money from unlicensed moneylenders, like loansharks. Those who are caught will have their work permits revoked and will be banned from future employment in Singapore.
Employers who discover that their helper has borrowed money from an unlicensed source are strongly encouraged to report the matter to both the police and MOM immediately. Furthermore, employers should refrain from complying with any demands made by unlicensed moneylenders.
Read more: MOM warns it will revoke work permits of helpers who borrow money from loansharks
Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)
