The SUN HK

Singapore, Makati teams reap top prizes in bowling event

Posted on 17 April 2019 No comments

Part of the action.

By Vir B. Lumicao

Singapore-based Filipinos dominated the Australasian Filipino Bowlers’ Friendship Games 2019 held on Apr 6-7 in Hong Kong by winning the ladies’ singles, ladies’ masters and men’s masters.

But the bowlers from Makati took top honors in the overall team standing.

Hosts Filipino Bowling Club of Hong Kong picked up a gold trophy courtesy of its founder and president Jenny Gafate, who rolled 236 for the ladies’ masters high game.

The Hong Kong-based team reaped thanks and praise for their successful hosting of the event, which this year saw a team from Britain join their fellow Filipinos in the fun.

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On their flight back to London, the guys from the UK said the “fun and laughter were remarkable memories to treasure” while the Australia-based bowlers, on their journey back to Melbourne, called it “one helluva event”.

The two-day tournament opened on Apr 6 at Dacos Bowling Centre in Tsuen Wan with Deputy Consul General Germinia Usudan welcoming the various teams.

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Former Ambassador to Australia Minda Cruz, who had served as a consul in Hong Kong, set the tone for the tournament by exhorting players to help a charity of their choice through their events such as this.

Responding to her appeal, Gafate said part of the funds raised during the event was donated to the children’s cancer foundation that the retired diplomat was supporting.

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FBCHK’s Miko Cabazor, Jimmy Manalo and Jon Suarez added to the hosts’ trophies by finishing second, third and fourth in the men’s masters.

The Makati Thursday Bowlers Club Team 3 and Team 4, playing for the first time in Hong Kong, captured trophies for placing first and fourth in the team event with 112.5 and 25 points, respectively.

Filipino Bowling Club of Singapore Team 8 logged 62.5 points for second place and FBCS Team 12 scored 12.50 points to salvage fifth place.

Jun Orlina took two more gold trophies via his first place finishes in the men’s singles and all-events, while teammate Mark Matias placed fifth in the men’s masters and Manny Laurel took the silver in the all-events.

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FBCS, however, had the most copious harvest with gold trophies in the ladies’ singles via a first-place finish by Arlene Midoranda at 56.25 points, and in the ladies’ masters through Josie Isip’s 112.50 points.

The Filipinas from Singapore swept the ladies’ singles with Fay Lugue earning 31.25 points, Josie Isip 18.75, Sani Poseco 12.50 and Aida Rebellon 6.25 on the top five places.

Then Isip, Roselle Martin and Midoranda finished first, second and third in the ladies’ masters. In the all-events, Lugue was the only woman in the top three.

John Kiac added a gold trophy for FBCS by earning 112.50 points in the men’s masters while Ronnie Santos Jr rolled a 252 to win the gold trophy for men’s masters high game.
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Filipino exec’s alleged victim talks of in-flight indecent assault

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Domingo is accused of committing the indecent acts
aboard an Air New Zealand flight

By Vir B. Lumicao

The fate of a Filipino software company executive accused in West Kowloon Court of three counts of indecent assault on a 13-year-old Hong Kong boy will be known on Apr 23.

The trial of Rodolfo Domingo Jr got under way today, Apr 17, before Magistrate Edward Wong with his alleged victim giving evidence from New Zealand via an audio-video linkup.

The session began with Wong looking irked when the private lawyer of the defendant sought permission to have the proceedings conducted in Cantonese, instead of the scheduled English trial. The lawyer said he had already obtained the agreement of the prosecution.

The magistrate demanded the prosecutor to explain the language shift and the latter replied that the victim, a Hong Kong Chinese student in New Zealand, used Cantonese in his statements and video recorded interviews.

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Wong expressed his concern that the fairness of the trial would be questioned because the defendant, a Filipino, spoke English and Tagalog.

The lawyer said Domingo was to give his evidence in English, to interpreted by a court staff in Cantonese to the boy, while an English interpreter was to be provided the defendant throughout the trial.

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The magistrate eventually agreed, but the trial itself had not yet started when Wong, now speaking in Cantonese, vociferously took the prosecutor to task for disorderly court documents.

The elderly prosecutor tried to reason out but the younger Wong literally blasted him to acquiescence.

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The magistrate gave the prosecutor 10 minutes – “10 minutes sharp,” he stressed – to put his documents in order.

When the problem had been sorted out, the three charges of indecent assault were read to Domingo, to which he pleaded not guilty.

The charges said that the alleged offences happened between Dec 8 and 9, 2018, while Domingo and the boy were both on an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Hong Kong.

Domingo was arrested as soon as he disembarked at Hong Kong International Airport.

Wong then had a video call with the victim, informing him about the court proceedings that were about to begin and advising the boy to tell the truth.

A large canvas video screen emerged from the ceiling of the courtroom along with a suspended projector and soon, a video recorded interview by an investigator with the alleged victim was played back for everyone in the courtroom to see.

After the VRI, the video linkup with the boy began and the prosecutor asked him about what happened during the flight. The audio was Cantonese but the boy gestured that the suspect put his hand on the alleged victim’s knee, then move it up to his private part.

He said the defendant asked him, “Good?” and the boy said “No!” aloud. In English charges read previously in court, Domingo allegedly did the indecent act three times each time the boy fell asleep.

Magistrate Wong reserved his verdict for Apr 23.
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Day 5: Overseas voting picks up in Bayanihan as weather improves

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By Vir B. Lumicao

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Signs banning use of phones/cameras inside voting precincts are prominently displayed

More voters turned up at the Bayanihan Center in Kennedy Town today, Day 5 of the month-long midterm elections for Filipinos in Hong Kong, than on any of the past two days as the weather improved.

Consul Fatima Quintin, who was supervising the election secretariat, expressed hope that the voter turnout for each precinct will be better than on Apr 15 and 16, the first two working days of the week.

She said that on each of these days, the number of voters reached nearly 300, but declined to give an exact figure due to prohibitions from the Commission on Elections.

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In the voting precincts, most election inspectors said their vote counting machines had so far been “cooperative” with no malfunctions as more of the 87,441 registered Filipino voters in Hong Kong came to cast their ballot.

Only one of the nine precincts, the one used by Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI) 2 on the fourth floor of Bayanihan, continued to experience glitches as its vote-counting machine rejected ballots every once in a while.

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An inspector in the precinct said the machine that malfunctioned today was the replacement for the VCM that also could not read ballots cast on Tuesday.

One female voter said her ballot was rejected five times before the machine accepted it. Another voter, also a woman, said her ballot was invalidated.

Quintin said the voter accidentally dropped her marking pen, leaving a mark on her ballot that caused the VCM to invalidate her ballot.

She said around 3:30pm that the turnout today appeared better than on the previous two weekdays, probably due in part to the brighter and drier weather.

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“There are normally fewer voters on weekdays than on Sundays because most of the voters are working,” Quintin said.

The consul, nevertheless, expressed hope that more voters would come before the polling center closed at 5pm.

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Pinay loses job, gets suspended sentence for theft

Posted on 16 April 2019 No comments

Eastern Court in Sai Wan Ho

A 39-year-old Filipina domestic helper turned around on Apr 16 and admitted a charge of stealing assorted clothing items from a Causeway Bay outlet of Uniqlo a month ago. Her guilty plea drew a three-day jail sentence, suspended for a year.

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Lulu Pasia pleaded guilty before Eastern Magistrate Peter Law. But at her arraignment last month, she denied the charge

Pasia admitted entering the Uniqlo shop at Lee Plaza at 2:45pm on Mar 17, then took eight pairs of boxer shorts, eight pairs of socks, three umbrellas, one backpack and one handbag, which she all placed in her backpack.

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Unknown to her, she was seen by staff at the shop in the act of taking the items. When she left the shop without paying for them she was stopped and searched.

After all the stolen items were found in her backpack, the police were called.

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Law asked Pasia if she had anything to say before sentencing her. The woman replied “I was silly,” adding that all she wanted now was to go home for good as she no longer worked.

In an earlier hearing of her case, the prosecution said Pasia’s employer was going to terminate her job contract on Apr 5 because of the incident.