Four Filipino boxers ‘used as houseboys’
The Sydney Morning Herald
Yuko Narushima, Immigration correspondent
October 20, 2010
A FAMILY recruiting Filipino boxers to fight in Australia is under investigation for allegedly keeping the men in slave-like conditions in a Sydney garage.
The immigration department yesterday confirmed it was investigating complaints against a stable of boxers in the western suburbs. The NSW government’s Combat Sports Authority is also aware of the complaints.
The four men bringing the complaint are originally from Cebu in the Philippines. They allege they were stripped of their passports on arrival and were forced into domestic servitude, washing dishes, cleaning toilets and child-minding.
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They say they lived in the family’s garage, eating the same rice meals day after day without a heater through winter, and were not paid proper entitlements from title bouts. They allege they were threatened with deportation and, in one case, death if they complained or defected to another manager. read more..
