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| The 6 Filipino DHs after their arrest in unlicensed dental business |
Two domestic helpers who allegedly posed as dentists and hired four other DHs as dental assistants in an unlicensed all-Filipino “dental clinic” in Sham Shui Po, were returned to jail today after appearing at Shatin Court for a bail review hearing.
Marissa Necesito, 60 years old, and Marites Bohol, 48, made no bail application when they appeared before Magistrate
Jeffrey Sze, so he sent them back to jail to await the next hearing scheduled for
Sept. 16.
Necesito faces five charges filed by the Immigration Department
last Aug. 19, two days after the group was arrested in a raid on a subdivided
unit in Sham Shui Po while allegedly providing unlicensed dental treatments.
Thirteen other Filipinos were found inside the makeshift clinic, apparently customers seeking treatment. They were not arrested.
Necesito was charged with breach of condition of stay under a visa issued to her on June 30, 2025, which permitted her to work exclusively as a domestic helper – by establishing a business providing dental service in Sham Shui Po.
She is also charged with four counts of “employing a person not
lawfully employable” under section
171 (1)(a) of the Immigration Ordinance, by hiring fellow domestic workers to work in the dental clinic she had allegedly set up.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Bohol, for her part, is facing a charge of establishing a business while remaining in Hong Kong in breach of her condition of stay, by setting up the dental business with Necesito.
The four other domestic workers allegedly hired by the two to work as dental assistants were named as Carles Lie Ramos, 34; Cherry Mel Patiga, 37; Rowena Cerdia, 48; and Jocen Naong, 42. They each face a charge of violating their condition of stay by working in the makeshift clinic while under foreign domestic helpers' contracts.
The domestic helpers were arrested last Aug. 17 for
allegedly providing illegal dental services from a subdivided unit in Sham Shui
Po, which immigration officers described as dirty and unhygienic.
Chief Immigration Office Tai Koon-ho said at a press
conference that none of those arrested possesses professional dental
qualifications or training.
Some of them claimed to have learned dentistry through
online videos, while one said she had worked as a dental assistant in the
Philippines.
Yet, they provided dental services such as teeth cleaning,
orthodontic treatment and even denture making to fellow FDWs, charging between
$150 and $500 per procedure.
Seized in the raid were various instruments for teeth
cleaning, braces and denture making.
"The so-called surgery room merely contained a sofa,
distilled water, tissues, towels, air fresheners, a wash basin and rudimentary
surgical instruments,´Tai said. "When we arrested the so-called dentists,
they were wearing ordinary clothes. There was no evidence that their clothing,
medical supplies or tools had undergone any sterilisation.
"Medical waste was also discarded haphazardly, posing a
significant risk of cross-infection,” he added.
The widely-reported case prompted a warning from Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac for Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong to comply strictly with the city's laws to avoid arrest, and risk losing their jobs in the process.
