As the Philippines braces for a big eruption of its most active volcano and on the eve of the first month after a most brutal massacre that shocked the world, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her family are enjoying a Christmas vacation in Hong Kong.

The Arroyos arrived in Hong Kong on December 20 after quickly leaving the climate change conference ahead of its formal closing ceremonies.

The callousness is not lost among Filipino workers in Hong Kong who assailed the Arroyo family’s holiday.

In a statement, the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-HK) said the Arroyo was being “a president in absentia” amid the Mayon evacuation and a month since the grisly Maguindanao Massacre involving her political allies, the Ampatuans.

Volcanologists say Mayon may erupt anytime now. Nearly 50,000 people from about 10,000 families are now cramped in evacuation centers in Albay and nearby provinces. They face the prospect of a grim Christmas.

As to the Maguindanao massacre, Arroyo unconstitutionally imposed martial law for a few days in a vain attempt to look hard against her allies, the Ampatuans, who may escape legal retribution due to the questionable manner by which they were arrested.

UNIFIL-HK’s Dolores Balladares wonders how much public funds the Arroyos are spending in their holiday.

The group said in a ditty:

Your holiday spree amidst the crisis should only be condemned
We suffer greatly while you enjoy and spend
When love, peace and joy is what we should be having today
You are the Grinch who stole everything away.

Tens of thousands of Filipinos work in Hong Kong, mostly as domestic helpers. Among them are teachers and professionals who were forced by mass unemployment and low salaries in the Philippines, to apply for such jobs abroad. Arroyo actually encourages the export of domestic helpers, who she once called “supermaids”.