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Showing posts with label Headlines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Headlines. Show all posts

Alleged DH predator in TKO said to be on the prowl again

Posted on 16 December 2020 No comments

By Vir B. Lumicao

'Gordon' is said to have lured several Filipinas into his trap over the years with fake job offers

A Hong Kong man who has allegedly been luring foreign domestic helpers into his flat in Tsueng Kwan O for a job interview, then talking or forcing them to bed, is said to be on the prowl again, with at least nine women claiming to be his latest victims.

The nine helpers who had responded to a recent job offer reportedly fell into the trap laid by the alleged predator, who uses various names, but employs the same modus. Victims say he has used the names Gordon, Martin, Achilles, Mr Poon, Yarra and Kenny, but has given the same telephone number to all of them.

The informants, who confided their predicament to the Facebook group Domestic Workers Corner, said they separately met the man in Tseung Kwan O’s shopping malls. 

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Others who had complained about him previously said he often hung out at the Hang Hau MTR station to look for prey.

The complainants say the man often hangs out near the Hang Hau MTR station

The glib-tongued, short but chubby fellow who has reportedly been targeting domestic workers for years, was reportedly able to convince them to go for an interview and an ocular inspection of his flat.

They said he sometimes advertised his supposed need for a domestic helper to look after his two children. In at least one offer he made last year, the salary was $5,500. For part-timers, he offered $300 per hour just for babysitting.

Once inside the flat, he would then tell them his intention is to find a girlfriend. Unfortunately, some of the women fell for the suspected predator’s sweet talk, got hooked up with him and ended up pregnant.

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Others resisted but said they found the man too physically strong to fight off and ended being raped, they confided to friends and support groups.

But they did not have the courage to file a formal complaint with the police reportedly because of the scandal and stigma that came with coming out in the open.

PathFinders Limited, a nongovernmental group championing the rights of migrant domestic workers who had fallen prey to predatory men, brought up with police the sinister activity of the Hang Hau man in April, said its chief executive, Catherine Gurtin.  

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Gurtin said the NGO met with the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre of the Hong Kong Police about the alleged rape cases.

The authorities could not act as there were no witnesses as the alleged offenses took place in the confines of a private home, Gurtin said.

Gurtin says police could not act on the complaints as there were no witnesses, no evidence

She said police could not build a case based on a "he said, she said" situation without any hard evidence to prove that rape indeed took place. 

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“It is very difficult to prove what we know about what he is doing,” Gurtin said about the alleged rape incidents. She said it would have been easier to pin down man had the offenses been financial, as there would be a paper trail that the police could follow.

In one case, the alleged victim said she loved the man and believed he loved her, too. He sired a child who he did not acknowledge as his, so, PathFinders found it difficult to file for child support. Both mother and child are now in the Philippines, Gurtin said.

The Consulate said it was approached by three alleged victims of the man several months ago, but the women have not returned since, according to Consul Paulo Saret, head of the assistance to nationals section.

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The women had told him they had reported to the police before they came to see him and he said it was the right thing to do.

But Saret admitted that, as the women were alleging a private crime, it would be their word against the suspect’s word, and it would be difficult for the police to build a case.

“What we can only do so far is to warn our women to avoid men who invite them to their homes because when a man and a woman are together, anything is possible,” he said.

Saret says the Consulate has warned Filipinas not to go with a man alone to his house

He said that, in fact, before he was posted in Hong Kong, the ATN had already issued a warning about the same man and his modus but the police could not grab him because the police reportedly said the women had agreed to go with him to his house.

Many Filipinas living in Tseung Kwan O district who are very familiar with the alleged predator have warned their friends and fellow migrant workers to beware of him.

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They commented on a DWC post carrying his photos and screenshots of his messages that he would approach Filipinas in the malls, saying he had businesses in Cebu. His yarn was, he was in need of a helper, as the current one had finished her contract.

Hala! Na-meet ko yan one time sa escalator, nasundan nya ako tapos sabi uuwi daw helper nya, medyo nasa 30-plus pa edad nya, medyo chubby,” said one helper.

(Whoa! I met him one time on the escalator. He followed me, then said that his helper was about to go home. He’s in his 30s, a bit chubby.)

Naibigay ko ang number ko sa kanya, ire-refer ko sana ang kaibigan kong nasa Pinas, kaso nanligaw at nagmamayabang pa na madami daw siyang business. Sabi ko, ‘Well, good luck sa business mo,’ tapos block ko na siya sa aking phone,” she said.

(I gave him my number as I wanted to refer a friend who was in the Philippines. But he started courting me, and bragged that he had a lot of businesses. So I said, good luck with your businesses, then blocked him on my phone).

One suggested that whoever encounters that guy should take his photo so they could see if he is one and the same man and find out why he was preying only on Filipinas.

However, another commenter said the alleged culprit was also preying on Indonesian women.

Another helper said she had encountered the suspect twice in Tseung Kwan O and she was able to warn a would-be target of his evil deeds before they could meet up.

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Do not accept visitors while in quarantine, Labour Dept reminds FDHs

Posted on 13 December 2020 No comments

By The SUN 

Food delivery from outside to hotel guests will be limited to prevent cross-infections

The Labour Department has reminded foreign domestic helpers, their employers and employment agencies to take note of new restrictions imposed by the government on travelers arriving in Hong Kong from countries outside China. 

The advisory was issued on Dec 11, shortly after top government officials announced the new, more stringent measures.

The statement came with a reminder for FDHs to strictly comply with the rule that they should not leave their hotel room, or let anyone inside, while they are under quarantine.


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“Relevant FDHs are reminded that without the permission of an authorised officer, they are not allowed to leave the room and no one is allowed to visit them during the 14-day compulsory quarantine period. The hotels will provide three meals a day to the persons under quarantine,” said the statement.

The warning came amid reports in chat rooms that some FDHs were letting visitors into their hotel rooms while under quarantine. One hotel guest related how one quarantined woman was visited by three different people with staff hardly noticing, as people from outside are allowed to bring food and other stuff directly to the rooms of quarantined guests.

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“It looks like the 3 of them were planning a mini feast inside the hotel room (similar to what you would see on the streets and bridges in Central on Sundays and public holidays, if you know what I mean,” said the hotel guest.

Another man related how his “quarantine neighbor” had been visited by her friends and boyfriend, who stayed for about two hours. However, the man gave no hint of his neighbor’s  identity or profession, nor of the hotel they were staying at.

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Any violations of the quarantine restrictions could incur a penalty of up to $25,000 fine and a maximum jail term of six months.

Some hotels allow food couriers to go up to the rooms of quarantined guests

The new rules set out in the Prevention and Control of Disease Regulation (Cap 599H) also provide that from Dec 22, all new arrivals must only stay only in government-designated hotels, which will provide them with all meals. A preliminary list of 36 hotels that will cater exclusively to travelers under quarantine has been released to the public.

However, the government stopped short of prohibiting all food deliveries from outside to quarantined hotel guest.

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All incoming travelers who return a negative result for the Covid-19 test done at the airport will be moved to their quarantine hotels by government-arranged transportation, unlike before when they could choose their mode of transport.

The Labour statement also reminded FDHs that before they can check into their flight to Hong Kong, they must produce a hotel booking for no less than 14 days, starting from the day of their arrival in Hong Kong.

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“Employers and EAs (employment agencies, “if applicable”) are reminded to make necessary preparations for their FDHs beforehand. If an FDH is not able to produce the said confirmation, he/she may not be allowed to board the flight to Hong Kong,” said the statement.

The Labour Department reiterated that the full cost of the FDH’s quarantine must be borne by the employer.

"Employers are also reminded to comply with their obligations under the Standard Employment Contract, including bearing the accommodation expenses and providing food allowance to FDHs during the FDHs’ compulsory quarantine," the statement said.

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EAs, on the other hand, are told to help employers ensure full compliance with the regulations, and warns of penalties in cases of violations.

“If there is evidence that an EA has violated the requirements in the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies, the EA concerned will be penalized,” said the statement.

The list of designated quarantine hotels can be found here: www.designatedhotel,gov.hk. For relevant inquiries, call the Department of Health hotline, 2125 1122. 

All matters concerning employment rights and benefits could be directed to the FDH hotline of the HK Labour Dept at 2157 9537 (manned by "1823") or by email to:

fdhenquiry@labour.gov.hk

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Agencies should not force OFWs to undergo training, Labatt says anew

Posted on 07 December 2020 No comments

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Dizon (in pink shirt) with his key officers and the Filcom leaders

Labor Attache Melchor Dizon has reiterated that recruitment agencies cannot compel overseas Filipino workers to undergo training as this violates the  Philippine Overseas Employment Administration 2016 Rules. 

Labatt Dizon made the clarification during a meeting requested by Filipino community  leaders mostly coming from the group, Rage, or Rise Against Government Exactions, to get answers related to the training fee issue.

Rage leader Dolores Balladares-Pelaez said OFWs welcomed the reopening of the training fee issue as it has long been a sticking point with many newcomers, who mostly complain of being charged excessively for something that hardly benefits them.

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Asked for an update on the claims filed by about 170 OFWs to recover the training fees charged them, Labatt Dizon said his office had already begun scheduling conciliating meetings between the workers and their agencies.

But he warned that Polo could only mediate and not adjudicate or render judgment on the complaints. “Bawal magbigay ng opinyon sa conciliation, dapat nasa middle ka lang,” he said.( We're forbidden from giving an opinion, we should just stay in the middle).

If conciliation fails, he said the case will be endorsed to POEA for further action.

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He also reminded the leaders that complaints should be filed within three years under Philippine labor laws.

“Kapag hindi mo na i-file sa loob ng 3 years, hindi na pwedeng mahabol,” said Dizon.

The latest that a complainant could file a case is no later than one month before the end of the prescription period, he said. That will give his office enough time to forward the original complaint to the POEA for docketing.

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He said it is the docketing in POEA that will stop the three-year time bar from running.

Thus, he was surprised to learn on assuming the post of labor attaché that an amount had been pre-set for the training fee that agencies in the Philippines could collect from the OFWs they deploy to Hong Kong.

Dizon gave a background of the 2016 Rules, which he said was an offshoot of an agreement between the POEA and the recruiters to define what constituted overcharging. He said he was a director at POEA at the time so he was part of the talks.

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It was in this context that he expressed an opinion during a zoom meeting with the agencies earlier this year that domestic workers must not be required to undergo training, and if they are required as such, it is the employer who must bear the cost.

Dizon did a power point presentation of relevant POEA Rules 

That prompted Alfredo Palmiery, head of the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines (Sharp), to write to POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia to seek his opinion on the issue.

Dizon distributed copies of Olalia’s letter-response to Palmiery dated Jun 19 this year, in which the prohibition against compelling OFWs to undergo and pay for training, is explained succinctly.

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In the letter, Olalia cited Sec 76 of the 2016 POEA Rules which explicitly states that a recruitment agency commits an act constituting illegal recruitment if it requires an OFW to undergo training in a specified center or institution.

The same section provides that the cost of “recommendatory trainings mandated by principals (employers) should be shouldered by said employers.

Another section of the law cited by Olalia provides that administrative sanctions should be imposed on a licensed recruitment agency that commits such a violation.

OFWs undergoing training they paid for at an elderly home 

Dizon pointed to parts of Olalia’s letter enumerating costs chargeable to OFWs, including the Tesda certificate of competency (NCII).

However, the leaders said the POEA Rules do not specifically say the items listed, including for passport, birth certificate, and others, should be paid to the agency, because in reality, such costs are paid directly to the government agencies concerned.

Janette Carnay of Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge said no OFW would agree to undergo training if there was no law that compels them to do so. Thus, the question of whether the worker had volunteered to undergo training or not should not even be an issue.

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The leaders also said the failure to stop agencies from collecting illegal fees had spawned a lot of malpractices, including forcing an OFW who still has a valid NCII to undergo training again, to submit themselves to repeated medical examinations, or take out a loan to pay for their placement.

Marites Palma of Social Justice for Migrant Workers, said she was even told to undergo pre-departure orientation seminar again even if she had already worked for years in Hong Kong and was just moving to a new employer

In the end, she said she just agreed to pay a small amount so she could skip the redundant seminar.

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Covid-19 outbreaks reported in AsiaWorld-Expo, public estate

Posted on No comments

By The SUN 

AWE is a treatment facility that is also used to quarantine residents from care homes

Hong Kong reported 95 new coronavirus cases today, Dec 6, as outbreaks at the AsiaWorld Expo community treatment facility and at a public housing estate in Kwai Shing sparked fresh alarm.

In a press briefing, Albert Au, principal medical and health officer at the Centre for Health Protection said a staff member at the AWE treatment center who was in contact with quarantined persons tested positive on Saturday, but had no symptoms.

Two other staff members were found preliminary positive, prompting the evacuation of about 100 people to other parts of the facility.

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The three worked in Halls 5 and 7 and had attended to quarantined residents of the Tung Wah Ho Yuk Ching Willow Lodge for elderly people.

Au said other workers from the same halls will have to be tested. However, he said the risk of outbreak among the staff was low as all the staff wore adequate personal protective equipment.

Another outbreak occurred on the fifth floor of Block 8 at Kwai Shing West Estate in Kwai Chung, which left 12 members of five families on the same floor positive of the virus.

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Au said there was probable environmental contamination on that floor, but when asked whether compulsory testing could be enforced on residents of the block, he said not at the moment.

“We shall first hand out sample bottles. However, we shall require all residents, especially those on Block 8, to give the samples [as soon as possible]. As for the residents of the other floors, [if they] start reporting untraceable cases, we won’t rule out requiring all residents to undergo testing,” Au said.

12 residents on 5th floor of a Kwai Shing block all tested positive for Covid-19

Of today’s new cases, 87 were locally acquired - 51 were linked to earlier infections while 36 were untraceable. The eight remaining cases were all imported, including a 23-year-old Indonesian domestic worker who arrived on Dec 4.

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Six other imported cases who arrived on Dec 4 were a 15-year-old girl from Britain; a 55-year-old man from the United States; two women aged 25 and 64 as well as two men aged 17 and 47 from Pakistan.

Another Pakistani man aged 41 who arrived on Nov 22 tested positive yesterday while nearing the end of his 14-day quarantine in a room on Block A of Chungking Mansions in Tsimshatsui, the CHP said.  

The local cases also included a 75-year-old male patient who tested positive after going to United Christian Hospital’s accident and emergency department at 11pm on Friday due to fever and cough.

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Eighteen more patients were linked to the dance club cluster and five to the Ho Yuk Ching Willow Lodge, where 10 residents and five staff members are now confirmed to have contracted the virus.

In the Lohas Park construction site, four more workers and five family members were found infected, bringing to 45 the total number of patients linked to this cluster. They comprised 32 workers and 13 of their family members.

Au also reported that health authorities at the Henry G. Leong Yaumatei Community Centre were unable to identify the owner of a saliva sample that tested positive, as the person’s information was not uploaded onto the system.

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He called on anyone who got tested at the centre on the morning of Dec 4 to do so again if he hasn’t been notified by SMS of a negative result.

Also found positive was a chef at the M&C Duck Japanese restaurant in Causeway Bay, while two other chefs there were preliminary positive cases.

Dr Lau Ka-hin, chief manager of the Hospital Authority, said that as of 9am today, 56 Covid-19 confirmed patients were discharged from hospital, bringing the total number of recoveries to 5,567.

A total of 1,087 confirmed patients are confined in 22 public hospitals and community treatment facility. Lau said 31 patients are in critical condition, 31 are in serious condition and the remaining 1,025 patients are in stable condition.

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Labour Dept calls on FDHs not to eat together, or just stay at home on day-off

Posted on 04 December 2020 No comments

By The SUN

LD staff and the police remind Filipino DHs about the gathering ban

The Labour Department has issued a new advisory calling on foreign domestic helpers to avoid eating together, and if possible, to just rest at home on their day-off.

The call was made in a statement published in the government news website this evening, Dec. 4, along with a reminder on the higher penalties for violations of the gathering restrictions.

"We remind FDHs to observe and comply with the regulations and appeal to them to avoid meal gatherings, food sharing and other social activities on their rest days and stay at home for rest as far as possible to safeguard their personal health,” said the statement.

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It also called on employers and workers to try to arrange rest days on a weekday instead of during the weekend, when most migrant workers gather together for their weekly holiday.

At the same time, employers were warned that it is illegal for them to make their domestic helpers work during their day-off. If they do, they can be prosecuted, and upon conviction, fined a maximum of $50,000.

The advisory also reminded employers that if they compel their helper to work on a rest day, they must substitute another rest day for the FDH within 30 days after the original rest day. They must also notify their helper of the arrangement within 48 hours after he/she is required to work.

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The statement was meant to primarily remind FDHs and employers about the increased penalty for violators of gathering rules. From the current $2,000, the fixed penalty will go up to $5,000 starting next Friday, Dec 11.

The fixed penalty is imposed outright on those found violating stricter gathering rules.

Currently, no more than two people could gather in public; or eat together in a restaurant. Everyone is also required to wear a mask while in a public place, indoor or outdoor, including on public transportation and in shopping malls.

37 FDHs have been issued fixed penalty tickets so far for violating gathering rules

So far, said the statement, a total of 37 FDHs have been charged with the fixed penalty for violating Cap 599G, or the gathering regulation.

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“The Government will continue to conduct mobile broadcast at popular FDH gathering places across the territory to call upon FDHs to comply with the latest requirements,” said the statement.

A call was also made for FDWs who are staying in boarding houses while waiting to move in with new employers to take the free Covid-19 test provided by the Labour Department until Dec 24.

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Those who need to stay in the boarding facilities for an extended period are advised to “retake the test as appropriate, especially before joining the new employer’s family.”

Specimen collection packs for FDHs are available at a temporary distribution/collection point at the Wan Chai Sports Ground.

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Employment agencies are advised to assist the workers in taking the test, and to ensure that they do not stay in crowded boarding facilities so they remain healthy prior to joining their new employers.

FDWs or employers with enquiries about the testing service may call the dedicated hotline, 2157 9537 (manned by 1823), by email to fdh-enquiry@labour.gov.hk or through the online form on the dedicated portal (www.fdh.labour.gov.hk). 

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