Pinayuhang huwag pasaway

Di sinasadyang nagkita sa MTR train sa Central sina Linda at Ella, na naging matalik na magkaibigan noong sila ay nasa Pilipinas pa, at nag-aapplay pa lamang na pumunta ng Hong Kong. Magkasama nilang nilakad ang mga kinakailangan na dokumento hanggang makarating sila pareho sa Hong Kong.

Nakakuha ng amo si Linda na taga New Territories samantalang sa Mid-Levels naman napunta si Ella. Hindi na sila nagkaroon ng pagkakataon na magkita muli dahil parehong naging abala sa trabaho.

Dahil ganoon lang lang ang saya nila nang aksidenteng magkita ay napalakas ang kanilang usapan sa tren, dahilan upang mairita ang isang matandang babae na katabi nila.

Pinagsabihan ang dalawa na dahan dahan sa paggalaw at hinaan ang boses dahil nakakasagi sila at nakakagambala sa ibang pasahero. Sa halip na sundin ang sinabi ng kapwa pasahero ay sumagot si Ella ng, “This is a public place at masaya ako”.

Dahil sa tinuran ni Ellen ay nagsalita bigla ang matanda sa Tagalog at sinabi na hindi lamang siya ang ang tao sa mundo at porke ba nasa pampublikong lugar ay maaari nang gawin ni Ella ang gusto na magsalita ng malakas. Dapat din daw niyang isipin ang mga taong nakapaligid,  matuto na umakto nang tama at hindi nakakasagabal sa iba.

Biglang natahimik ang magkaibigan dahil hindi nila akalain na Pilipino pala ang katabi. Nahihiyang humingi sila ng dispensa dito. Tinanggap naman ng matanda ang paumanhin, at bago ito bumaba ay pinagsabihan ang magkaibigan na maging halimbawa ng kagandahang asal sa kapwa at huwag nang dumagdag pa sa bilang ng mga Pilipinang pasaway dito sa Hong Kong.

Si Linda ay dalaga at tubong Bacolod samantalang si Ella ay laking Maynila na buhat sa Cebu. – Ellen Asis

Muntik makasunog

Hiyang hiya si Adel, 39, at taga Pangasinan, nang magising noong Nob. 23 dahil nakitang muntik na niyang nasunog ang bahay ng mga amo.

Ininit niya ang lemon na iinumin niya sana sa umaga, pero nakatulog siya at nakalimutan ang nakasalaang sa kalan. Sunog hindi lang ang lemon, kundi pati ang takure, at posibleng kumalat pa ang apoy.

Siya namang paglabas ng alaga niyang dalaga, sabay sabi ng “You fell asleep last night and forgot to turn off the gas, didn’t you? Fortunately I went to the kitchen to drink.”

Walang nasabi ang nanlulumong si Adel kundi, “I’m sorry.”

Wala ang mga amo niya noong araw na iyon dahil namamasyal sa Japan, at kinabukasan pa ng gabi ang dating. Nang makabalik na sa bahay ang mga amo ay pinakain muna sila ni Adel at nagligpit sa kusina.

Dahil alumpihit siya at ikot ng ikot sa sala, naalibadbaran ang among lalaki at tinanong siya ng, “Adel why you look so worried, anything bothering you? Can we help?” Naisip ni Adel na hindi pa siya sinumbong ng alaga, kaya agad na sinabi ang, “Sir, Sir I’m sorry for my negligence…it is a big mistake. I left the stove on unattended and fell asleep, the other night, please forgive me. Fortunately “mui mui” was around, saw it and turned it off for me.”

Biglang natigilan ang amo, bago sinabing, “It’s okay,  we understand, we forget things too." Pero bigla nitong sinundan ng, “You know, if this happened in a village of Chinese families, they will expel you for three years.”

Mula noon ay ayaw nang magluto ni Adel ng hiwalay para sa kanyang pagkain kapag mag-isa lang siya sa bahay, Nag steam na lang siya ng ulam, sabay sa sinaing sa rice cooker para siguradong hindi maulit ang nangyari. Laking pasalamat din niya na hindi siya nakasunog ng bahay. – George Manalansan

Ylagan returns to HK, claims she’s been duped yet again

By Daisy CL Mandap

Ester P. Ylagan

Elusive recruiter Ester P. Ylagan is back in Hong Kong, 15 months since she went into hiding in the Philippines amid an unfolding scandal over the fake jobs she offered to Filipino domestic workers in exchange for thousands of dollars in fees.

Ylagan. looking noticeably thinner, showed up at The SUN’s office in the evening of Dec. 13, claiming once again that she had been duped into parting with the money she meant to pay her irate job applicants.

She was apparently flushed out of hiding by a TV news report in the Philippines which aired early last month, in which she was branded an illegal recruiter while a video of her conducting a briefing for her job applicants in Hong Kong was shown.

 She said she wanted to speak up to clear the air, and also to seek advice.

She furnished a copy of the statement she gave to police on Dec 5 in which she accused a former friend of fraudulently taking over ownership of a flat on Yue Kok street in Aberdeen which she used to co-own with her recently deceased husband, Rick Ylagan.

Ylagan said the friend had caused her and her husband to transfer their joint ownership of the 2-bedroom, seaview flat to their 24-year-old son, Ridge Michael, on the understanding that the property would eventually be sold to satisfy the claims against her.

Instead, Michael was somehow tricked into transferring ownership of the flat to this trusted friend.

Ylagan also hinted that her MPF savings had been drained by the same friend who allegedly told her the money would go towards her legal defense and to pay off the claims.

While this was happening, Ylagan said she was advised by her former friend to go underground and to deactivate all her social media accounts while the case against her in Hong Kong was being sorted out. She was reportedly told she would be arrested and thrown in jail if she returned here.

Ylagan claimed that in the 15 months that she had stayed away from Hong Kong she was not aware that the claims against her by more than 300 Filipino job applicants in Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines were still being pursued.

She reportedly only learned of this when she saw the TV news report, and somehow finally managed to access reports published by The SUN in both its print and online platforms.

In an earlier statement she gave to police on July 8 last year, Ylagan, a 30-year-veteran of the recruitment business, said she had been tricked into offering the fictitious jobs by a certain “William Clinton”.

This Clinton guy supposedly caused her to send a total of $4.194 million to various recipients in places such as Burkina Faso and Nigeria in West Africa.

She claimed she was not to be paid any cash for recruiting for Clinton, but would be rewarded with a British passport, 15 air tickets to London, and “an opportunity to explore the UK market”.

She in turn, was to collect $15,000 from each job applicant for Canada, and $10,000 for those applying to work in Britain. Given the number of claimants running after her for a refund of their money, Ylagan could have collected as much as $5 million from the scam.

But with her flat gone and her once highly profitable Emry’s Employment Agency shut down, Ylagan says she has no money left to repay the applicants. In fact, she told The SUN she was applying for legal aid so she could claim back her house and sell it so she could satisfy the claims of all those running after her.

The fantastic claim has, however, already been rejected by most claimants who have remained firm in demanding a refund, and for Ylagan to be held to account for fraud for the spurious job offers.

Congress okays 1 more year of martial law in Mindanao

With a vote of 240 in favor and 27 against, a joint session of Congress overwhelmingly approved President Duterte’s request to extend martial law in Mindanao by one year.

The military has warned of continuing threats from the pro-Islamic State group militants and the communist organization.

This despite Duterte’s declaration in September of the defeat of the Islamist militants in Marawi City.

 Justifying Duterte’s request to Congress, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said remnants of the IS-linked militants were trying to regroup and recruit to recover from their defeat in Marawi City.

“The rebellion has not stopped, it has just moved to another place,” Lorenzana told senators and congressmen in a special joint session.

Duterte immediately thanked Congress for swiftly responding positively to his request. He spoke at a ceremony at an Army camp where hundreds of rifles and other weapons used by the extremists in Marawi were destroyed with a road roller. Asked by reporters about the prospects of martial law being imposed nationwide, the president said it cannot be ruled out if the country’s survival is at stake.

“You threaten the existence of the Republic of the Philippines, I am sure that everybody will react and do what he must do to prevent it,” he said.

Five months of intense fighting, including daily airstrikes and artillery bombardments by the military against hundreds of militants, left more than 1,100 combatants and noncombatants dead and displaced about half a million people, turning mosque-studded Marawi’s central business and residential districts into a smoldering war zone.

Lorenzana said it would take at least three years to rebuild Marawi, a bastion of Islamic faith in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

Opposition lawmakers questioned the constitutionality of the martial law extension, saying it was an “extreme measure” that can only be imposed when actual rebellions against the government exist. They expressed fears that such a move can be a prelude for Duterte to declare martial law throughout the country.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, president of Liberal Party, said the martial law declaration did not have a clear constitutional basis. He cited the government’s declaration that the terrorists have been defeated in Marawi, and said that major rebel attacks have been dealt with by past presidents without resorting to martial rule.

“We will be in danger of becoming the monsters that we seek to defeat, those who have no regard for law, order or respect for the constitution,” Pangilinan said.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao on May 23 this year to quell the rebellion of the Islamic State-inspired Maute extremist group.

Congress rushed approval of the martial law extension bill before it adjourned for a month-long holiday break on Wednesday, December 13.

But some senators see the proposed one-year extension of martial law in Mindanao as yet another attempt to place the entire country under authoritarian rule.

Senator Franklin Drilon, minority leader in the Senate, raised suspicions on the justification that the administration gave for extending the martial law period in Mindanao. It was originally declared to contain and defeat the Islamic State-inspired Maute group that attempted to take take over Marawi City earlier this year.

“The president cited the NPA for the first time in his extension. The NPA conflict was not cited in the original request. The NPA conflict has been there for the last four decades. Suddenly, the NPA has been cited as an additional ground for the extension of martial law in Mindanao,” Drilon cited during a joint session of Congress on the President’s proclamation..

“Is this now a prelude to declaring martial law nationwide?” he asked.

Opposition groups have raised concerns that martial law, which surveys suggest has the support of Mindanao residents, will be expanded to the Visayas and Luzon.

“Is this now a prelude to declaring martial law nationwide?” Opposition groups have raised concerns that martial law, which surveys suggest has the support of Mindanao residents, will be expanded to the Visayas and Luzon.

Drilon said there is no basis to further extend martial law since there is no actual rebellion in Mindanao following the liberation of Marawi City in October.

For her part, Senator Risa Hontiveros noted that the NPA has already been characterized as a spent force, and wondered why it is now being used to extend martial law in Mindanao.

But Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said NPA had recently staged attacks in Eastern and Southern Mindanao.

“NPA is not a main target of martial law. They are already branded as a terrorist organization because they have already alerted their troops on the ground to strengthen attacks,” Lorenzana claimed.

The Defense department said in February, when peace talks with communist rebels first hit snags over political prisoners still in detention and alleged continuing counterinsurgency operations, that the NPA had grown to about 5,000 members across the country.

Lorenzana said then that he had received reports stating that there had been a “surge” in recruitment by the NPA.

In his letter to Congress, Duterte cited continued threats from Islamic State-linked extremists, local terrorists and communist rebels as the primary reason to justify the extension of martial law for another year.

“A further extension of the implementation of martial and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao will help the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and all other law enforcement agencies to quell completely and put an end to the ongoing rebellion in Mindanao and prevent the same from escalating to other parts of the country,” the president wrote.

He dedicated five paragraphs out of 17 to detail alleged atrocities committed by the NPA.

Duterte said that NPA committed 385 “atrocities” in Mindanao, which resulted in deaths of 41 government personnel and 23 civilians.

NPA is also responsible for at least 59 arson incidents in the southern Philippines, he added.

On December 5, Duterte signed a proclamation classifying the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the NPA, as terrorist groups.

On November 23, Duterte formally terminated negotiations with communists through Proclamation 360, citing the rebels’ supposed failure to display sincerity to the peace process.

The New People’s Army, the armed wing of the rebels, has earned Duterte’s ire for staging attacks that killed civilians.

Martial law was declared on May 23, within hours of the Maute attack on the capital of Lanao del Sur. The extension was approved by Congress in July until December 31 this year.

Dead phone battery stalls trial of Pinoy in upskirt video case

By Vir B. Lumicao

Trial of Pinoy in upskirt video case
resumes on Dec 15

A magistrate in Kwun Tong Court was forced to adjourn the trial of a Filipino worker accused of taking an upskirt video of a woman when the phone with the contested footage failed to boot up on Dec. 5.

Magistrate Chu Chung-keung postponed the trial of defendant Nelson San Juan to Dec. 15 after the defense said the battery of the mobile phone with the video had drained.

The defense lawyer said the phone was kept by the police since it was seized in December last year, and its battery had gone dead.

He said the phone would need at least 25 minutes to recharge to 50% and be able to play back the video footage.

The magistrate adjourned the hearing after realizing that San Juan would not be able to finish his evidence by the 1pm break if the phone battery was to be charged up first.

San Juan is on trial for “committing an act outraging public decency”.

The magistrate admitted the video footage as evidence in the case, but disallowed a notebook on which the arresting officer wrote his initial interview with the suspect.

At the previous hearing, the arresting officer had alleged that San Juan admitted his iPhone’s video camera was running while he was behind the woman, Miss X, ascending an escalator at a mall in Kowloon Bay on Dec 23 last year.

The defendant was arrested by the plainclothes officer who tailed him after seeing him holding a mobile phone and following the woman, the prosecution said.

When all three got to the upper floor of the mall, the officer alerted the woman, then accosted San Juan and checked his phone.

In his testimony, the officer said San Juan initially denied he had taken upskirt photos of Ms X but later told him the phone’s video camera was on.

The officer also said he wrote the defendant’s statement on his notebook. But Magistrate Chu rejected the notebook as evidence after the defense lawyer said the statement was taken without San Juan being allowed to contact his employer first.

However, the magistrate said San Juan had a case to answer regarding the video footage.

San Juan, who was free on police bail, was accompanied to court by two female friends. 

DH walks free as sexual assault case dropped

Pinay DH set free in Kwun Tong court

By Vir B. Lumicao

The Filipina domestic worker in the much-publicized vibrator assault case walked free from Kwun Tong court on Dec 8 after the prosecution withdrew a charge of ill-treatment of a child against her for lack of evidence.

Gina Buduan, 38, shed tears of joy after Magistrate Don So told her she could go.

The Filipina had been in police custody since last October after she was arrested for allegedly using her employer’s pink vibrator to assault her two-year-old female ward.

On Dec 7, the prosecutor told the court she was withdrawing the charge because investigators could not gather enough evidence against Buduan, despite a medical report showing the child “had rashes and abrasions on her body”.

The helper, whose eyes were smarting when she appeared on the dock, finally walked free after the magistrate said no one could tell how her ward got hurt.

“A two-year-old cannot tell between a lie and the truth. How she hurt herself is a mystery”, So said.

The prosecutor said the child could not tell her mother and the investigators how she got injured. Likewise, she could not tell the exact date when she suffered those rashes and abrasions.

A police report on the incident said the employer, from Lohas Park, Tseung Kwan O, discovered in mid-October that her daughter had pain in her private part.

She took the child to a doctor, who prescribed ointment for the redness on the girl’s genitals. When the mother applied the ointment in the evening, the girl allegedly told her Buduan had poked the dildo on her private part and tied a black mouth gag on her thighs.   

The employer reported the matter to the police and Buduan was arrested. When she first appeared in court on Oct 31, the helper denied the charge.

    

High Court rejects bail bid by overstayed Pinoy

By Vir B. Lumicao 

High Court judge said defendant might disappear again
ahead of  his trial for overstaying his visa for 19 years

A Filipino male who overstayed his visa for 19 years failed in his High Court bid on Dec. 6 to post bail for his temporary release.

Manuel C. Sy, Jr., who appears to be in his 20s, had gone underground after being refused a dependant’s visa in 1998.

He was arrested only in recent weeks when he tried to make off with $54 worth of food items from a supermarket in Hong Kong Island.

Court of First Instance Judge Kevin Zervos refused Sy’s bail application ahead of his trial on Dec. 21 in Shatin court for breach of condition of stay.

The judge noted that the defendant had failed to show up in court for an earlier hearing and might repeat the misdeed.

According to court records cited by Zervos, Sy came to Hong Kong in 1998 to join his mother, a permanent resident of the city. But for some unspecified reason, his mother’s application to take him in as a dependant was denied by immigration.

Sy was granted bail initially after he said he would live in his mother’s rented house. But the bail was cancelled and an arrest warrant issued by the magistrate after Sy did not appear at the July 28 hearing.

“I did not go to the hearing because I had no money,” Sy replied when asked by Zervos why he did not go to the court.

Police who checked the home of Sy’s mother discovered that he was not staying there, in breach of his bail application. The officers also found out he had no communication with his mother for the past two years.

“I’m not prepared to grant you bail because it is likely that you won’t appear again at the appointed date of trial,” Zervos said.

The judge set Sy’s trial for Dec. 21.

Gay Pinoy tourist jailed 2 months for offering sex-for-fee to cop

By Vir B. Lumicao

A 20-year-old Filipino gay tourist was ordered jailed for two months at Eastern court on Dec 7 after he pleaded guilty to soliciting sex for a fee from an undercover police officer and for breaching his condition of stay.

Gene Belonio, who is said to be a university student in the Philippines, appeared before Magistrate Bina Chainrai wearing a miniskirt dress and sporting shoulder-length hair.

He arrived in Hong Kong as a tourist on Nov 27 and was allowed to stay until Dec. 11.

A report read out in court said that at about 12:57am on Dec 6, plainclothes officer Anthony William Lothian was carrying out an anti-vice operation outside Wanchai Central Building on 89 Lockhart Road when he was approached by Belonio.

The transvestite reportedly offered the officer sex for $1,000. When Lothian agreed, Belonio hailed a taxi and took the officer to a hotel in Causeway Bay.  

When they got to the hotel, Lothian identified himself as a police officer and placed the defendant under arrest, the report said.

At the police station, Belonio was charged with “soliciting for an immoral purpose,” a euphemism for prostitution, and “breach of condition of stay” for working illegally.

Chainrai convicted Belonio after he pleaded guilty to both charges.

In mitigation, the duty lawyer said the defendant came to Hong Kong to earn tuition money so he could finish his course. The counsel said Belonio was remorseful and had admitted his guilt.

The magistrate meted the defendant a discounted two-month sentence for each offense, to be served concurrently.                                                                                                                                                                              

Even worst employers will change—Daddy Leo

By Vir B. Lumicao

The bad or good treatment that you get from your employers depends on your attitude towards them. Show them goodness and their conscience will change them.

That’s what domestic helper, Filipino community leader and movie celebrity Leo Selomenio told her fellow OFWs when she spoke at the International Forum on Migration in Hong Kong held on Nov 19 at Admiralty Convention Centre.

“Dito ko na-realize na ang ugali ng mga amo pala, depende iyon sa ipinapakita mo sa kanila. Kasi kahit gaano kasama ang isang tao, kapag ipinakita mo ang kabutihan, makukunsensiya siya, eh. Iyon talaga ang experience ko. Kahit gaano kabait ang ating amo kapag tayo naman ang abusado, wala tayong magagawa dahil abusado ka eh,” said Selomenio, chairman of Global Alliance.

Her sharing appears to have impressed one of the groups that attended the event that they invited Selomenio to be their guest speaker at the National Forum on Migration to be held at the Philippine International Convention Center on Dec. 18. The group, Philippine Migrants Watch, will shoulder all her costs, including air fare and accommodation, says Selomenio.

In her Hong Kong speech, Selomenio shared how she had gone through a lot of hardships as an OFW. After graduating cum laude with a BS Education degree major in physical education from the Western Visayas State University, Selomenio decided to go abroad to work, with Singapore as her fist destination. 

While many helpers in Hong Kong complain about going to bed at 1am or 2am and getting up very early, Selomenio said, wala pa sa kalingkingan ng naranasan ko when I was in Singapore.”

There, she said it pained her to realize that she, a college graduate, would be working as a servant. Worse, she had to work until 2am, look after two children, put up with the whims of the stay-in wife of her employer and make do with little, mostly leftover food.

“Hindi naman tayo sanay kumain ng tira-tira, pero no choice ka naman, kung hindi ay magugutom ka,” she said.

Her male employer used to tell her she was his 14th helper, a hint of how unbearable the working conditions were in the household. But Selomenio said she persevered because she dreamt when she was just a child that she would be president of the Philippines. Her patience eventually paid off because she was able to change the attitude of her employer towards her.

“Kung marami kayo diyan na masama ang amo, mas matindi talaga ang amo kong iyon. Hindi ko na lang isa-isahin kung gaano siya kalupit. Petmalu talaga. Pero tiniis ko lang, kasi yun ang purpose ko, eh, na one day yayaman din ako. So I stayed there for six years,” she said.

Selomenio’s “insatiable desire” to prove herself drove her to move on to Kuwait, where she worked as a helper for four years before coming to Hong Kong in 1994. She has been with her present employer for 12 years.

It was in the SAR where her journey as a community leader started, with full support from her employer who allowed her to rest on Saturday, and use her Sunday for community work.

She attributes her leadership to her being top of the class from Grade 1 to her senior year in high school, and then graduating from the university with honors.

“Hindi ako kasi sanay na ako yung sumusunod. I was born kasi to be a leader. Kasi simula noong maliit ako gusto ko talaga yung ako ang nagunguna. Ayaw kong sumunod sa iyo. Why should I? Magaling naman ako sa iyo. Kaya na-instill sa utak ko na kailangan I have to be a leader. I have to do it,” she said.

Then in 2014, newbie director BabyruthVillarama came to Hong Kong looking for a community leader who would play a key role in “Sunday Beauty Queen”, and Vice Consul Fatima Quintin suggested Selomenio.

The Filcom leader agreed, and the director and her crew followed her around Hong Kong, as she did her daily chores such as taking her ward to and fetching her from school, and on to her Sunday community activities, mainly volunteering at the PCG and helping workers.

The movie eventually won the Best Film award at the Metro Manila Film Festival last year, and made Selomenio a star, especially among her fellow OFWs.

Selomenio advises domestic workers not to think of the hardships here, otherwise their lives would be like hell. “Isipin mo talaga na kaya pumunta ka dito para sa family mo, para sa sarili mo… alam natin ang magiging trabaho natin dito. Hindi tayo mga turista rito,” she said. 

It doesn’t hurt either to love what you do, and extend the same to your fellow workers.

“So, love your work, nasa puso natin iyan,” she urged her compatriots. “Pero ang pagmamahal mo sa kapwa, yung integridad mo sa community, they will never forget you. Kasi marami kayong nagawa para sa kanila.”

Selomenio says she will be proud of her many experiences in life as a helper when she returns home for good. “Marami akong pinagdaanan kaya I’m proud of myself. And I’m proud to be a domestic helper.”

She says her fervent hope is that the Philippines “will stop exporting mothers, and mothers will stop exporting their daughters as well “kasi napakasakit talaga sa isang mother na iwanan ang anak niya. So that tomorrow we will have a different perspective of not leaving our families behind.”

Agency loses license for not giving copies of job contract

An employment agency in Taiwai, Shatin that failed to provide a copy of the job contract to employers and the foreign domestic helpers it recruited has been stripped of its license by the Hong Kong Labour Department.

In a press release, the LD said its Employment Agencies Administration revoked the license of Festival City Employment Service Co Ltd for failing to meet standards set out in the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies.

The EEA, the industry watchdog, took action after Festival City Employment did not rectify irregularities detected earlier despite repeated warnings.

A department spokesman reminded agency operators to conduct their business in compliance with the law and the code at all times.

The spokesman said EAA will conduct regular and surprise inspections to agencies and issue warning letters to those found contravening the code, to rectify any irregularities detected.

If an agency still fails to comply despite warnings, the commissioner may consider revoking or refusing to renew the agency’s license on the grounds that the licensee is not fit to operate an agency.

Festival City Employment is the fifth agency to have its license revoked this year. Included among these is Java Maid Recruitment Service in Causeway Bay which lost its license after it was convicted of overcharging a job-seeker.

Three other agencies, namely Sunday Employment Agency in Prince Edward, Chun Hing Agency in Sham Shui Po, and In On Domestic Employment in Kwai Chung, also had their licenses revoked for varying offenses.

Sunday Employment was found to have contravened the code by abetting employers in deducting the fees they paid to the agency from the wages of their domestic workers.

Chun Hing was found in breach of the code for withholding passports from FDHs without reasonable excuse, and In On was prosecuted for failing to draw up service agreements with job-seekers and employers.

Another agency with a Chinese name in Mong Kok had its license renewal refused because its operator was an undischarged bankrupt.

For enquiries or complaints about unlicensed employment agencies that overcharge job-seekers, call the EAA at 2115 3667 or visit its office at Unit 906, 9/F, One Mong Kok Road Commercial Centre, 1 Mong Kok Road, Kowloon.