PCG fails to hit OVR registration target as for 2019

The number of Filipino voters in Hong Kong who have registered at the Consulate for next year’s midterm election in the Philippines is 7,000 short of the target figure of 30,000.

This was according to Jethro dela Cruz who is in charge of the overseas voter registration at the Consulate. As of Sept. 23, or just a week before the deadline for the nine-month registration, the total figure for registrants was just over 23,000.

Registration booth at the Consulate.According to Dela Cruz, it would be impossible to reach the original target, given that the number of voters who signed up at the Consulate averaged less than 100 daily. This is despite the recent surge of Sunday registrants due to members of the Jesus Is Lord church trying to beat the deadline. 

The total number of voters in Hong Kong is, however, still the highest for any post abroad. For the presidential election in 2016, the total number of registered voters was 93, 978, although only about half actually cast their ballots.

Mid-term elections traditionally attract less interest among overseas voters as they get to choose only 12 senators and one party-list group. In contrast, voters in the Philippines get to elect all members of the House of Representatives, all regional elected positions in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and all provincial-, city- and municipal-level elected positions. 

Apart from this, the seeming lack of organized effort in Hong Kong to get more voters to register this time could also have contributed to the low overall tally.

The month-long election next year is expected to run from April 14 to May 13.

Dela Cruz said that no new voter’s IDs will be distributed as the Commission on Elections has stopped issuing them in anticipation of the proposed national ID for all Filipinos.

But there are still unclaimed voter’s IDs in the Consulate for Filipinos who registered until 2014. – Vir B. Lumicao

Overcharging agencies reported to POLO

By Vir B. Lumicao

Three Filipino domestic workers have filed complaints at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office against two Hong Kong employment agencies for alleged overcharging of fees.

Labor Attaché Nida Romulo did not name the agencies, but said she had asked the agency owners and the complainants to a meeting at the POLO in the first week of October to sort out the dispute.

Labor Attaché Nida Romulo

Romulo said two of the workers complained against one agency, and the third, against another. The complainants were accompanied to her office by Esther C. Bangcawayan, case officer of the Mission for Migrant Workers.

According to Bangcawayan, staff from the two agencies have been ringing up the complainants since learning that they had complained to the POLO. She said the unnamed two agencies were the Hong Kong counterparts of the Manila-based Spear International Manpower.

Several cases of Hong Kong agencies who have reportedly overcharged their Filipina recruits in collusion with their partners in the Philippines have been brought to the POLO’s attention in recent weeks.

The cases show a pattern in which Hong Kong agencies recruit domestic workers through their partners in Manila, charging them ridiculously high fees, then telling them to pay back through personal loans from designated lending firms.

The workers are then made to pay back the loans in monthly installments of more than half of their monthly salaries for up to four months.

In the most recent case, the helpers failed to pay back the loans on time, so the agencies started harassing them with phone calls, forcing them to seek help from the Mission and POLO.

Initial investigations revealed that the workers’ contracts had been stamped by an accredited agency although they were recruited by sub-agents, in violation of their undertaking with POLO.

In the previous cases, Labatt Romulo ordered the offending agencies to refund the workers’ money, and also suspended their accreditation for breach of their undertaking.                                                                                                                                                                                             

Dismissal of fake US$5 billion bank draft case seen to benefit other Pinoys

By Vir B. Lumicao 

The Consulate has welcomed the dropping of the charges against three Filipino male tourists accused of using a US$5 billion fake bank draft in an HSBC transaction, and says it is looking at how the case can be used to help other Filipinos in similar situations.

Elmer Soliman, Eric Jude Soliman and Eliseo Martinez walked free from detention on Sept 18, three months after their arrest on charges of using a false instrument. The prosecution told the District Court the charges against them were being withdrawn because of insufficient evidence.

Eliseo Martinez (left), Elmer Soliman (right), supporter Pieter Nootenboom and Eric Jude Soliman take a coffee break afterobtaining a visa from the Immigration.

Consul Paulo Saret said he was seeking advice from the Consulate’s legal counsel, Melville Boase, on the possible benefit that can be had from the case.

“We are consulting Attorney Boase about what advantage under the legal system in Hong Kong we can gain from the current dismissal of the trio’s case because, of course, we also want to help the others. They have already served time like these three,” he said. Four Filipinos accused of the same charge of using fake bank documents are in jail, pending the outcome of their cases.

Saret said the ATN would also seek Boase’s advice on how to request for the case details on the withdrawal from the District Court so the Consulate can report the case to Manila.

The Soliman father and son, together with Matinez, were arrested on June 25 for allegedly trying to open a bank account at the HSBC head office in Central with a US$5 billion bank draft that its owner had purportedly received as a reward from ousted Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The three said they went to the bank to verify if the instrument was genuine, but a bank staff who they described as “overzealous” called the police. They were arrested along with two companions who waited outside the room but were later released.

The Solimans and Martinez, a lawyer, got off the hook on Sept 18 when the prosecution said after nearly three months of investigation that it did not have enough evidence to nail them on a charge of “using false instruments”. 

There are four other Filipinos separately facing a charge of “using false instruments” in the District Court in Wanchai for allegedly trying to pass off spurious money instruments as genuine in separate bank transactions in Hong Kong.

The four were arrested between Dec 9, 2016 and Apr 9 this year. All came to Hong Kong as tourists carrying questionable instruments, such as a check, bank drafts, a deposit slip and wads of traveler’s checks.

 The longest-detained defendant is 76-year-old tourist Maria Ilao Gosilatar, who allegedly tried to cash a US$50 million fake check at the Hang Seng Bank headquarters on Des Veoux Road Central on Dec 9, 2016. She was arrested along with a local male accountant on Dec 9, 2016. The man was later released.

Then on Oct 18 last year, 57-year-old Filipina tourist Elena S Orosa and her friend Veronica F Yambao, both visitors, were arrested while allegedly attempting to cash US$2 billion worth of fake bank drafts in a Hang Seng Bank branch in Tsimshatsui.

Orosa, a businesswoman, was scheduled for plea-taking in District Court on Apr 17, but her counsel said she was getting a Legal Aid lawyer and needed time for further advice.

Noel Rambuyon, 31, came to Hong Kong as a tourist with booklets of Thomas Cooke traveler’s checks denominated at US$1,000 each, or US$50,000 in total, around the Lunar New Year in February.

He was arrested while allegedly trying to cash them in a small bank in Central. He was charged with “using a false instrument” in Eastern Court. His case has been moved to the District Court.

The biggest of these false bank instrument cases involves Brudencio J. Bolaños, an elderly Filipino who allegedly tried to update his account at HSBC on Apr 9 using a US$943 billion deposit slip ostensibly issued by the bank on Jul 25, 1983.

He was arrested and charged with “using a false instrument” after he allegedly tried to convince staff the document was genuine. His Legal Aid lawyer said on Sept 4 that Bolaños was going to plead not guilty, so, his trial was set for Jan 29 next year.

HK OFWs call for sacking of lawmaker in airport rampage

The poster calling for Bertiz's ouster

By Daisy CL Mandap

Bertiz Alis!

This was the call sent out by United Filipinos (Unifil-Migrante) Hong Kong in the wake of a series of controversies involving party-list Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III, the latest of which involved him being caught on camera berating staff at the Manila international airport.

While airport officials and his fellow lawmakers are still looking into Bertiz’s latest gaffe, Unifil-Migrante has already begun exploring ways to get him expelled from Congress.

The group’s secretary-general Eman Villanueva said several options are being considered, including calling on OFW organizations to sign a joint petition for Bertiz’s ouster, and filing a formal complaint against him with the ethics committee of the House of Representatives.

In the meantime, the group has posted a BertizAlis poster online, and has asked people to show support by sharing it on Facebook.

Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong have long distanced themselves from Bertiz, even if his ACTS-OFW party-list purports to represent them in Congress.

The alienation grew when Bertiz engaged Villanueva in a shouting match in January last year, after the latter revealed that the lawmaker owns two employment agencies in Manila.

Another poster shows the heated dispute
between Bertiz and Villanueva

A video footage of the altercation has since resurfaced on social media, prompting Bertiz to claim he has already reconciled with Unifil-Migrante. He also spun a different version of the incident.

Villanueva has disputed both claims in his own social media account and on TV.

In an interview with ABS-CBN, Villanueva said his group had not spoken with Bertiz since the incident. He also said Bertiz was lying when he claimed that he had invited Unifil-Migrante leaders to take part in the dialogue because they were staging a rally in the rain at the time.

What really happened, said Villanueva, was Bertiz had gatecrashed a meeting his group had set up with Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod who was visiting Hong Kong at the time.

Bertiz, who had merely tagged along, tried to dominate the conversation, and got mad when Villanueva accused him of not being a true OFW representative since he owned an employment agency.

The rift worsened when Bertiz, in turn, wrongly accused Villanueva of being an undocumented OFW.

Bertiz’ latest trouble arose from a video footage that went viral on Oct. 1, which showed him passing through the x-ray machine at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport without taking off his shoes, in violation of security regulations.

 

Bertiz shoving his access card to the airport staff

When he was stopped just outside the machine for this breach, Bertiz shoved his access pass to the face of the airport personnel who accosted him, before snatching the man's staff ID away.

To make matters worse, Bertiz, in an attempt at an apology, said that he was having his annual “monthly period,” which provoked another outcry, especially from women who were angered by his use of their condition to explain his boorish behavior.

It was the second time he had angered netizens in as many weeks.

The previous week, he drew flak for joking that a new batch of engineers would not get their licenses because they did not know Special Assistant to the President Bong Go.

Again, this gaffe was recorded on camera.

2 Pinays held after fight leads to scalding

By Vir B. Lumicao

The fight between the two Pinays happened in this luxury estate in Yaumatei

Two Filipina helpers have been detained by police after engaging in a fight on Monday, Oct.1 that left one scalded and the other also injured, at their employer’s flat in a luxury estate in Yaumatei.

The two were sent to hospital by officers who responded to a 999 call about a fight in unit F on the 43^rd floor of Tower 2 at The Harbour Side at  around 10 am.

Their employer’s family was vacationing in Thailand at the time.

A police spokesman said the officers arrested a 48-year-old maid surnamed Salazar and booked her for wounding. The other maid, surnamed Fajardo, 34, was initially booked for assault causing bodily harm.

The spokesman said initial investigations showed that Fajardo had attacked Salazar with a bottle and the latter hit back by grabbing a pot of hot water and dousing her assailant with it. Both were sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.

As of this writing, Salazar and Fajardo were reportedly still in detention while police continued their investigation.

The two are expected to be charged in court after the investigation.

Meanwhile, Filipina neighbors of the two said Salazar and Fajardo had been quarreling for some time but they did not know the reason.

  

Pinoys in another inclusive gathering in Shatin estate

By George Manalansan

World-Wide Gardens in Shatin is a unique neighbourhood  because of its effort to gather all its residents – whatever their nationality, work or stature in life – during periodic parties held to celebrate festive occasions.

During its annual Mid-Festival Fun Night held on Sept. 24, Filipino migrant workers were among those who joined employers and their families, as well as the estate’s staff, in taking part in the program.

Everyone was enjoined to take part in the dancing, playing of musical instruments, and singing, in which, true to form, the Filipinos excelled. All those who took part received gifts.

The security guards themselves served ice cream cups and refreshments to the residents.

Pinays won gifts and coupons in the raffle draws.

Some Pinay migrant workers won small gifts from a fun raffle draw, such as $100 coupons for chocolates, assorted gift certificates for books, and containing bath towels, rugs and other personal items. More than 300 tickets were distributed to participants.

Among the winners were Brenda Resonable who went home with luggage straos and a hair blower; Donna Dumalay and Jelli Catoloco who each got $100 gift certificates for chocolates; and Joan Reyes who won herbal drinks.

The gifts may not have amounted to much, but it was the gesture of friendship and feeling of belongingness that made the Filipinas happy.

The annual event is organized by the Incorporated Owners of World- Wide Gardens and sponsored by the Shatin District Council.

Similar inclusive gatherings are held at the estate during other special occasions like Christmas.

The fun night new Venue this year, cleared the carpark area, the barbecue area where usually held was covered by fallen trees due to Typhoon Mangkhut a week ago.

Sali na!

Licensure Examination for Teachers
The Special Examination for Professional Teachers will be held in Hong Kong on Sept 30, 2018.
The deadline for submitting online applications has passed.
For updates, contact the National Organization of Professional Teachers through Gemma Lauraya, 6169 5181 or the Facebook page of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office

Coins for Bethune
Sept 30 is the deadline for submitting filled cans for the “Coins for Bethune” fundraising project for Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge. All Filcom groups are encouraged to join the fundraising for the shelter. Cans or jars for donations can be collected from the Mission for Migr
ant Workers office at St John’s Cathedral on Garden Road, Hong Kong, or from the Bethune shelter on #2 Jordan Road, Kowloon. Filled cans should be submited as soon as possible to #2 Jordan from Monday to Saturday, and to the Mission office on Sundays. For enquiries, please call 27213119, 25228264 or 93572125.

Caritas Health Courses for Migrant Workers
Sunday: Oct 14, 2:30-5:30pm for body check &
              Oct 28, 2:30-4:00pm for result and explanation

Saturday: Oct 27, 2:30-5:30pm for body check &
                 Nov. 3, 2:30pm-4:0pm  for result and explanation

A minimal fee of $20 will be collected from each participant
Venue: Caritas Fortress Hill Centre,G/F, 28A Fortress Hill Road, Fortress Hill

Contact: Caritas AMP (2147 5988; WhatsApp: 5497 2899)


Filcom group announcements:

Free Zumba Class
Sundays, 10am-11am (or stay longer if you want)
Pier 10, Central
Open to everyone
Offered by: Kayumanggi Zumba Fitness Group HK

Free Yoga Class 
Sundays, 8:30am-9:30am
Pier 10, Central
Open to everyone
Organized by: Andappan Yoga Community

What's on where

PUBLIC HOLIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT: 
The Philippine Consulate General and all its attached agencies including POLO will be closed on the following date:
Oct. 1 – PRC National Day (HK)
Oct 17 – Cheung Yeung Festival (HK)
There will be no official transactions on these dates.
In case of emergency, call:  9155 4023 (Consular assistance), 5529 1880 (POLO),6345 9324 (OWWA)

Coins for Bethune House 
Sept 30 is the deadline for submitting filled cans for the Coins for Bethune project.Cans are still available from the Mission for Migrant Office in Central or the Bethune shelter at Kowloon Union Church in Jordan Road, Kowloon. All Filipino community organizations are enjoined to participate in this yearly charity drive for one of the oldest shelters for distressed migrants. For inquiries, please call 27213119, 25228264 or 93572125

Bicol Tourism Festival
Sept. 30, whole day, Chater Road, Central
The show will highlight the different tourist destinations in Bicol Region
Organized by: Bicol Migrants Association
Guest Speaker: Consul General Antonio A. Morales
Contact: Art Buban, 6129 2907

FBC’s 7th Anniversary Bowling Party
Oct 7, 10am-4pm, South China Athletic Association Bowling Centre, Causeway Bay
Come in your funny costume, and join the games!
Organizer: Filipino Bowling Club Hong Kong
Contact: Jenny 9401 7051

Silid Sining Pinay: Unlocking Pinay Creativity
Painting Workshop Sessions for OFWs in HK with Filipino artist Grace P. Camacho
Oct 7, 9am – 12nn, PCG Gallery
Organized by: PCG with Pitter Painter
Requirements: HKID copy and one 2x2" photo
To register, visit the PCG Cultural Section or email cultural.pcg@gmail.com with subject: “SilidSining”

Couples for Christ (CFC) Christian Life Program
Oct 14, 1pm-5pm,
Bayanihan Centre, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong
For details, contact Bro Tony, 56231373; Sis Jing Mangente, 60131917 or Bro Leo Pasamba, 52741890

Second Session: Oct 20 (Saturday) at Wong Tai Sin Fire Station, 28 Fung Tak Road, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon
Twenty slots are available for each session. Certificates will be given.To register, send your name and mobile phone number by email to gadhongkong@gmail.com with the title: “FIRE”
For other details, check the Philippine Consulate General Facebook page

Nueva Vizcaya Day 2018
Oct 21 (Sunday), from 10 am, Chater Road, Central
Highlights: Search for Saniata ti Nueva Vizcaya 2018 and Sassy Look International 2018
Organizer: United Nueva Vizcayanos – HK

Katutubo Haute Couture 2018
VIP Opening Cocktail/Gala Dinner& Fashion Show
Nov 10, 6:30pm – 11pm, Sheraton Hotel TST, Kowloon
Tickets @$1,800 available through www.likhangpamana.com
Philippine Ethnic-Cultural Performance, Nov. 11, whole day
Chater Road, Central, Open to the public

POLO clarifies training requirements for new or returning migrant workers

Filipino domestic workers with a valid “National Certificate in Household Services” (NCII) need not pay for training again as long as they have worked abroad for at least 24 months.

According to Labor Attache Nida Romulo, qualified holders of the five-year NCII can just exchange it for the new “Domestic Work NCII” to be exempt from the training requirement.

Romulo clarified the rules through a memorandum posted on the Facebook page of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office Hong Kong. This was in response to a number of complaints from workers against employment agencies back home who require them to pay for costly training again, even if their NCII certificates are still valid.

One recent returnee said she was required by her Philippine agency which she named as Concorde, to undergo training in a designated center even after she showed her still valid Household Services NCII.

The worker said the agency told her the certificate was no longer valid and that she must train again so she could return to Hong Kong. She was reportedly charged Php18,000 but ended up watching videos with her group, instead of getting actual training.

Another worker who was sent to the same training center by a different agency said she was charged PhP30,000 for the training.

Workers who commented on the POLO’s post regarding the Domestic Work NCII were all against it. They claimed that it merely allowed agencies to charge them huge fees without providing them the skills they needed for their jobs.

The Domestic Work NCII was put in place in 2015 by the Technical Education and Skills Development Administration (TESDA) which mandates re-training for former overseas Filipino workers who apply to work overseas again.

Except for the change in name, the DW NC II is exactly the same as the HS NCII. Both confers a certificate to those with proven competency in house cleaning, washing and ironing of clothes and the preparation of meals and drinks.

The training and assessment for this qualification are offered by TESDA regional training centers, but accredited private sector operators are also allowed to offer the screening, without regulating the services they offer and fees they charge.

Recruitment agencies in the Philippines reportedly charge OFWs between PhP12,000 and PhP30,000 for the DW NCII. But not a few workers complain about not getting any re-training at all, while some say that they were taught Russian table setting, which was useless for their work in Hong Kong. – Vir B. Lumicao

DH jailed 21 months for burglary, illegal work

By Vir B. Lumicao

A Filipina domestic worker was jailed 21 months by a District Court judge on Sept 5 after she pleaded guilty to entering a company in Central and stealing $180,000. She also admitted breaching her condition of stay by working part-time for the firm.

Rochel Rosimo, a 35-year-old mother of two, stood calmly in the dock as Judge Frankie Yiu pronounced his sentence.

Since she had been in jail for seven months before Wednesday’s sentencing, Rosimo will have to spend only 14 more months in jail.

Rosimo was accused of trespassing on Feb 3 this year, along with unknown persons, into the office of Sante Barley (Hong Kong) Ltd. on the 10th floor of Lansing Bldg along Queen’s Road Central and making off with $180,000.

She was also charged of breaching her condition of stay by working as a part-time staff of Sante Barley doing sales reports, inventory counting and cashier customer service. 

The convict said she and another Filipino, Ronato Bagui, were the company’s only staff. 

On the morning of  Feb 3, Rosimo called up Bagui and told him the office had been broken into. Bagui rushed to the office and found the $180,000 cash missing from the box where he had locked it up the previous evening. The money represented sales of health products that the company marketed.

Police examined the building’s CCTV footage on Feb 3 and saw Rosimo, dressed is black and wearing a mask, entering Lansing House at 7:47am and leaving at 7:56 am. They arrested her outside the office on Feb 6 and she admitted to stealing the money.

Cash totaling $15,990 made up of bank notes of different denominations was recovered from her room in Wanchai.

In a video recorded interview on the same evening, Rosimo told police she was instructed by a Filipino couple named Jessica and David to open the office door and tell them where the money was. She said she did as told and the couple entered and took the money.

She said Jessica and David had promised to pay her loan at Public Finance, and indeed paid $6,000 to the lender. They also gave her an additional $10,000 with a promise to repay her loan balance.

The prosecution said there was no trace of Jessica and David. Except for the money recovered in Rosimo’s Wanchai room, the rest of the loot was still missing.

The defense lawyer said in mitigation that Rosimo, who took up an engineering course, came to Hong Kong on an unspecified date in March 2017 to work as a domestic helper. She has an 8-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter. Her husband is a construction worker.

The lawyer said Rosimo had taken out a loan to build her family a house.