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| Atty Mandap (4th from right) and Fr Ballati (middle) with the engaged crowd that took part in the talk on avoiding money traps |
Overseas Filipino
workers were told to avoid getting entangled with money laundering that will
surely get them in jail in Hong Kong, or scams offering overseas employment that
will leave them losing hard-earned money, or worse, stranded
overseas with no job and nobody to call for help.
This was the gist
of the talk delivered last Sunday, July 19 at St Patrick’s church in Lok Fu by
The SUN editor and lawyer, Daisy CL Mandap.
Mandap said these
are the most common deceptions or scams affecting Filipino migrant workers in Hong
Kong, and both have devastating results. Others, like love, investment and telephone scams are not as pervasive although one should remain wary of them.
Almost everyday,
she said a Filipino is hauled to court charged with money laundering, or the
act of “knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that such property in
whole or in part directly or indirectly, represents any person’s proceeds of
drug trafficking or an indictable offence, respectively, deals with that
property.”
To put it simply,
she said it is the act of dealing with property (or cash in most instances) even
while knowing, or should have known, that such money came from crime.
In nearly all of
the cases linked to OFWs, charges were brought after huge sums of money, sometimes
in the millions, were seen to have passed through the bank account/s or the
accused.
Often, the OFW was
paid only a small sum – sometimes as low as HK$200 – so she would surrender her
ATM or agree to supply her HKID card so a bank account could be opened in her
name. Shortly afterwards, huge sums of “dirty” money are funnelled through
the bank account/s they no longer control.
To emphasize her point,
Mandap cited the case of a Filipino who was sentenced to 57 months in jail
after three bank accounts in her name were found to have received a total of
HK$8.7 million in dirty money over two months.
The Filipina told
the court she was enticed by two Mainland men to show them her HKID card, and
allow them to take her photos ostensibly for a “game”. She was paid HK$400 for
taking part, but claimed to being unaware that the men had already opened bank accounts in her name.
In all such cases,
the OFWs were immediately imprisoned, and except for one, were ultimately found
guilty of money laundering.
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| Participants who were all ears came from as far away as Fan Ling |
Given all these cases,
Mandap said OFWs must never pass on their ATMs and PINs (personal identification
number) to anyone, as this could easily facilitate money laundering. Neither
should they allow any unauthorized person to have their HKID details for whatever
reason.
Equally disturbing,
according to Mandap, is the prevalence of the often unheard or unseen cases of
human trafficking and/or illegal recruitment.
In these cases,
OFW victims do not end up in jail, but incur huge financial losses, often in
hundreds of thousands of pesos.
Human trafficking
involves the transportation of people by use of threat, force or deceit, for
the purpose of exploitation. Illegal recruitment in the broad sense is defined
as the procurement of people for overseas work, whether for profit or not, by
unlicensed agents or persons.
In Philippine law,
the two offences are often intertwined. In contrast, Hong Kong does not have a
law on illegal recruitment, nor does it have a single piece of legislation that punishes
human trafficking. Thus, it is often hard to file a complaint against those who commit these offences against OFWs.
In many cases
involving OFWs, the offered job is non-existent, but victims are lured by promises
of fast processing and unusually high pay and benefits, even if all these are too good to be
true.
Such was the case
of dozens of HK OFWs who were enticed by a Filipina tourist to apply for supposed work-study visas in
Canada two years ago, but after paying Php132,000 each, were told to comply
with requirements that were impossible to meet.
Mandap also cited
the case of Filipinos who were lured to go to Poland for jobs but had to pay
between Php300,000 to Php400,000 just to get there.
She quoted Administrator PY Caunan of the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration who shared recently that despite holding jobs in Poland, these Filipino
workers who fell for cross-country recruitment – meaning they are undocumented
according to Philippine law – are hard-pressed to earn enough to pay for the high
placement fee.
One of those who
attended the lecture also shared of having been nearly lured to go to Armenia,
another Eastern European country, for which she would have paid hundreds of
thousands of pesos, including a USD600 processing fee charged by a “friend” who was already
there.
Her goddaughter
and the latter’s husband took their chance, but upon getting there, found out
that there was no work available for the husband, while the wife struggled with
a pay of just USD10 to USD20 a day. Both have decided to return to the
Philippines, but only after their relatives and friends pitched in for the more
than Php100,000 each needed for the air fare.
Mandap said that OFWs
in Hong Kong should avoid crossing over to a third country where they will not
be protected and left vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. At the very least,
they should ensure that they have valid work contracts that spell out clearly their
salary, benefits, and conditions of employment.
If they need
advice or validation of any job offers abroad, they must consult non-government
organizations like the Mission for Migrant Workers or the Migrant Workers
Office of the Philippine Consulate General.
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| Fr Ballati says saying 'no' does not mean being selfish |
Summing up, St Patrick’s
parochial administrator Fr Franco Ballati, PIME, echoed the talk’s theme, “Wise
as a serpent, innocent as a dove.”
Fr Ballati told the
OFWs in the audience that they must learn to say “no” when needed, and not to trust so easily to avoid being deceived. He said turning down requests for
help, especially when it involves money, does not necessarily mean one is being
selfish.
The event was co-organized
by the Diocesan Commission for Integral Human Development and the Mission for
Migrant Workers.
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