A Filipina who overstayed and had her three minor minor children brought to Hong Kong hoping they
could bolster her claim against non-refoulement or against being sent back home, has failed in her bid to convince the High Court to alow her to challenge Immigration's decision to reject their application.
In the ruling dated Mar 12 on the
consolidated cases of Mylene Navarro and her children Ma. Trisha, Michael and
Ma. Jisella, the Court of First Instance rejected their leave to apply for a
judicial review of the decisions by the Immigration Director and the Torture Claims Adjudication Board denying their applications.
“Having considered the decisions of both the Director and the Board with rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny, I do not find any error of law or procedural unfairness in either of them, nor any failure on their part to apply high standards of fairness in their consideration and assessment of the Applicants’ claims,” Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan said in his decision.
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| PINDUTIN PARA DETALYE |
Navarro,
47, last arrived in Hong Kong on July 20, 2010 as a domestic helper.
When her
contract was terminated less than a month later, she did not leave until she
was arrested almost three years later, on May 27, 2023. She was convicted and
sent to prison for two months.
After she
served her sentence, Navarro was sent to the Immigration Department for
deportation but she raised a claim for non-refoulement, saying that if he was
returned to the Philippines, she would be harmed of killed by her live-in
partner, Roger.
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| TAWAG NA! |
In her
application, Navarro said Roger had been having affairs with other women,
resulting in frequent quarrels between them. Roger
would become violent and hit her. However, she did not complain to police.
She
had also sunk into debt because of expenses related to her court case, and her
creditors had threatened to kill her and her children because she was unable to
repay them.
On Jan. 19, 2015 the Immigration Director rejected Navarro's claim for non-refoulement. Some three months later, or on Apr 17, 2015, her children, then aged 13, 11 and 10, arrived in Hong Kong as visitors. They did not leave when their visas expire on May 1, 2015, and instead they joined their mother in raising a non-refoulement claim.
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| PINDUTIN ITO |
The Director also rejected the children's claims, so they joined their mother in appealing their case to the TCAB.
In its ruling dated June 15, 2017, the Board dismissed all their appeals, saying their claim for non-refoulement protection failed on all applicable grounds, including threat to life, threat of torture or harm and persecution risk.
Judge Chan upheld the decision, saying that the risks, even if real, are localized and the family can relocate to other part of the Philippines to avoid them, Judge Chan said,
Navarro’s
claim was instead based on a domestic dispute and “there is
simply no evidence of any intention of Roger to harm his own children,” Judge
Chan said, quoting the board’s decision.
“I do not find any reasonably arguable basis to challenge the findings of the Board in either decisions,” he added.
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| PADALA NA! |
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