Money laundering, illegal recruitment and/or human trafficking - the two main scams affecting migrant domestic workers – will be the focus of the talk that The SUN editor and lawyer Daisy CL Mandap will give on Sunday, July 19, at St Patrick’s Church in Lok Fu from 2:30pm to 5pm.
Atty Mandap will be
joined in the seminar, “Guarding Your Future and Your Family from Money Trap”
by Fr. Franco Bellami, PIME, who is parochial administrator at St Patrick’s.
The event is co-organized
by St Patrick’s Parish Diocesan Commission for Integral Human Development and
the Mission for Migrant Workers.
Almost every day, a Filipino
is brought to court to face this serious charge. Money derived from crimes
amounting to tens of thousands of dollars to a staggering HK$8 million has been
found to have passed through bank accounts of Filipino migrant workers.
In nearly all of these
cases, the migrant workers received only a tiny fraction of the money that passed
through their accounts, but were ultimately meted long prison terms.
Illegal recruitment which often results to human trafficking is another prevalent problem, but is rarely brought to public attention because the transactions are mostly done in secret. Victims often do not seek help, until it is too late.
Hong Kong does not have
laws on illegal recruitment, so prosecuting illegal recruiters who are often
based overseas and operate only through social media make prosecution
difficult.
While the Philippine government
expressly prohibit cross-country migration, Hong Kong’s porous borders and the
sophisticated operations of illegal recruiters and human traffickers have led
to many MDWs falling prey to their fraud, exploitation and abuse.
In her talk, Mandap
will tackle ways of avoiding these two most prevalent scams, and others that
use romance, investment and bargain shopping as baits.
Mandap, a journalist
and a lawyer admitted to the Philippine Bar, has been a resident of Hong Kong
for 38 years, and is a known advocate of migrant workers’’ rights.
She has worked for
various media groups both in the Philippines and in Hong Kong, including Hong
Kong Standard (now The Standard), Asia Television HK and CNN Hong Kong, and has
been the editor of The SUN since 1999.
She is a recipient of various
awards and recognitions, including the HK Chief Executive’s Commendation for
Community Service, the Distinguished Alumna in Public Service by the University
of the Philippines Alumni Association, and the “Made It In China” award by the Philippine
Embassy in China.
To participate in the
talk, please scan the registration form in the poster.
