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| Naong, Cerdina, Ramos and Patiga leave court during the lunch break |
Two Filipina domestic helpers were acquitted Tuesday at Shatin Magistrates Court on charges of breaching their visa conditions by practising dentistry without a licence, in a case that brought to light questionable practices employed by law enforcers in arresting people suspected of engaging in illegal work.
Rowena M. Cerdina,
46, and Jucen L. Naong, 40, were both teary-eyed but relieved when Deputy
Magistrate Pang Leung-ting ruled that there was not enough evidence against them,
mid-way through their scheduled seven-day trial.
Outside court,
both Cerdina and Naong said they were lucky that their respective employers
have stuck with them throughout their ordeal, and have kept them in their
employ.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The Migrant
Workers Office at the Philippine Consulate have also supported them by hiring
two teams of lawyers to handle their defense.
Naong said she has
worked in Hong Kong for 15 years and has never had any brush with the law. She
was grateful for the support of her employer, who even accompanied her to
almost all her court hearings.
But the nightmare
of being arrested and questioned by immigration officers for three days before they
were released on bail would stay with her for a long time. Naong called the
detention center “the worst place” she has stayed in.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Before they were
discharged, the magistrate expressed frustration that four days after the trial
began, he had yet to see any evidence related to the supposed illicit dental practice,
and instructed the prosecution to seek advice from the Department of Justice to
clarify the basis for the prosecution.
On questioning by
defense lawyers, immigration officers who conducted the raid on the suspected
dental clinic in Sham Shui Po on Aug 17, 2025 admitted that they did so without
a search warrant, and that they were not in uniform.
They also admitted
questioning the six Filipinas they arrested in the premises without any
Filipino interpreter around, and held them for questioning for three days, not
giving them the chance to talk to anyone, including their employers.
It also emerged that when the lead immigration officer took the defendants out of the unit he arranged for them to be filmed as they were led to a waiting vehicle in three neat rows. The scene was filmed again after the officer said the first video did not come out well.
By this time, the immigration officers were already wearing their official vests.
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| Defense said this photo of the arrest was posed |
When the trial
resumed Tuesday, the prosecution said it would not offer any more evidence
against Cerdina and Naong, but would continue the case against their two
co-defendants, Carles Lie Ramos, 34; and Cherrie Mel Patiga, 37.
Magistrate Pang again
asked for a clarification of the basis for proceeding with the case, saying that
no dental tools were presented as evidence and that “except for some defendants
who were accused of making verbal admissions, we know nothing about the
prosecution.”
Prosecution
replied that it would still rely on the evidence by the immigration officers
who conducted the operation on the flat where the alleged illegal dental
services were conducted, the defendants’ verbal admission of guilt, and photos
taken of the tools used in the illicit practice.
The bail of $2,000
each posted by Ramos and Patiga were extended until the continuation of their
trial today, Wednesday.
The four were among
six Filipinas arrested during the immigration raid. They said a total of 19
people were inside the flat at the time as someone was celebrating a birthday,
but it was not clear how they were singled out.
The two others
arrested with them were sisters who had admitted to operating the unlicensed dental
clinic: Marites Guiang Bohol, 48; and Marissa Guiang Necesito,
60, both FDHs.
Bohol pleaded guilty
to practicing dentistry without registration, and establishing a business in
breach of her condition of stay.
Necesito
admitted breaching her condition of stay, practicing dentistry without registration,
and three counts of employing persons not legally employable.
The trial of the two remaining defendants continues.
