MANILA - The government honored two Filipina workers in Taiwan for taking care of two kids suffering from cerebral palsy who have been abandoned by their parents.

Joylyn Catulos Camilote and Joyce Ann Cudal Bonilla were hired by the kids' mother who got into financial trouble and was forced to flee from loan sharks last June.

The mother's husband, meanwhile, took custody of the children and promised the caregivers that he will honor their contracts. However, he also left, leaving the children to the Filipinas.

The local social welfare and development department asked Camilote and Bonilla to continue taking care of the kids until a nursing home becomes available for them.

The Pinay caregivers decided to stay even though they no longer have employment contracts, risking deportation for violation of local migrant labor laws.

Their story reached the Manila Economic and Cultural Office after it was published last June by Asia Times. The government helped the Pinays get their unpaid salaries and fix their employment status.

MECO said the Filipinas, who have been working for different employers in Taiwan since 2008, have found new employers after they got help.

Filipinos make up the second largest group of migrant workers in Taiwan, next to the Indonesians. Most of them work in factories and as caregivers to the elderly population of the island.