Woman wins praise for defending migrant workers after video shows verbal abuse

When Ms Carmen Ortega, a 39-year-old private-hire driver, posted avideo on social media in response to a viral clip of migrant workers being berated at a void deck, she did so because she wanted to “share my truth”.

- Vihanya Rakshika Correspondent

In that earlier video, which emerged on social media platforms in mid-October, aman confronts at least three migrant workers resting on mats at the void deck of a Housing Board block.

He questions them repeatedly, asking who had allowed them to sleep there, saying: “Here is not your grandfather's place, OK. This is not nice, you know.” Before walking away, he adds: “Youall are allno use.”

Ms Ortega, a Singaporean who runs the Instagram page Confessions Of A Grab Driver, told The Straits Times she felt compelled to respond after seeing the clip.

“T feel for them,’ she said of migrant workers. “Grab drivers face the same stigma too. People have so many misunderstandings.”

Her Instagram reel, which was posted on Oct 26, has since received more than 11,800 likes, 585 comments and 1,400 reposts. On TikTok, the video has been viewed over 203,000 times.