The SUN HK

By Vir B. Lumicao

Five Filipino tourists who were arrested in April last year after trying to steal the purse of a Korean woman inside the Central MTR station were found guilty of attempted theft on Apr 30 in District Court..

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The attempted theft happened on an escalator inside the Central MTR station

They will be sentenced on May 14.

The 50-page verdict by Judge David Dufton took one Tagalog and five Cebuano court interpreters nearly the whole day to read to the three female and two male defendants.

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The five – Zenaida Aviles, Rasim Linambos, Arlene Gerodias, Manuelito Camacho and Delia Tagalo – sat passively in the dock as their interpreters read the verdict to them. The reading began at 10am and continued at 2:30pm after the interpreters took a lunch break.

The judge said that in finding the defendants guilty, he used his local knowledge of the location of the Wanchai MTR station; the routes of both the MTR and the tramways and the location of Bank St and World-Wide Plaza.

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He also carefully considered all the evidence and the oral and written submissions of prosecutor Bina Sujanani and defense lawyers Andrew Raffell, John Marray, James Sherry, Paul Stephenson and Maurice Peter Tracy.

This included the absence of evidence the five came to Hong Kong together, or knew each other before meeting at the Southern Guesthouse in Jordan, Yaumatei.

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“I am satisfied so I am sure the prosecution has proved all the elements of the charge beyond reasonable doubt,” Dufton said as he pronounced all defendants guilty.

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Aviles, Linambos, Gerodias, Camacho and Tagalo were arrested on suspicion of trying to pick the wallet of Ko, a Korean female tourist, on the escalator at the MTR Central station on Apr 24 last year. They have been detained since their arrest.

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During their trial, which began on Feb 11, Raffell, for Aviles, insisted police had not positively identified the defendant.

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But Sujanani said the five defendants knew each other and had tried to carry out the theft in April last year. An undercover police officer noticed them going up and down the escalators in the MTR station in Wanchai and alerted nine other officers.

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The suspects then reportedly went out of the station and boarded a tram to Central, got off at the Bank St and walked to World-Wide House looking for a target. Then they walked to the MTR Central station, where they spotted Ko with a male companion.

The plainclothes officer shadowing the defendants said they sandwiched the pair down the escalator to the Tsuen Wan trains.

Near the bottom of the escalator, Aviles, who was directly behind Ko, unzipped her backpack and pulled out her wallet but released it when she found it chained to the bag.

At that point the officer tailing the group identified himself and radioed his colleagues. The defendants scattered and boarded a departing train to Tsuen Wan. Aviles followed suit but was arrested. Other officers collared the four others in Admiralty station.

Judge Dufton told the court to return on May 14 for the sentencing.

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Migrant workers at May Day rally: 'We are not slaves'

Filipino migrant workers have called for a new minimum allowable wage of $5,894 for all foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong in today’s rally held to mark International Labor Day.

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According to the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) which led the biggest contingent of foreign domestic workers at the rally, the increase in the salary is in line with an Oxfam study on what constitutes a living wage.

The big AMCB contingent

The group says the current minimum wage of $4,520 per month translates to only $9 per hour for a 16-hour work day, and $12 for those who work for 12 hours each day. That’s a far cry from the $54.7 hourly rate recommended by the Oxfam study.

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“A living wage is a fight of all workers in Hong Kong who endure slave wage level.

For migrants who are mostly domestic workers, the struggle to pull up the minimum allowable wage to a living wage is a constant struggle,” said AMCB in a statement.

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Apart from an increase in their monthly salary, the protesting migrant workers also reiterated calls for:

*an 11-hour uninterrupted rest plus meal breaks

Self-made posters list migrants' deplorable work conditions

*a clear stipulation in their work contracts on what constitutes unsuitable accommodations, an end to illegal collection and overcharging, passage of a comprehens;

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* legislating a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, and;
* abolition of all “discriminatory immigration policies” such as the “two-week rule”, mandatory live-in policy, denial of visa to suspected “job-hoppers” and ban on Nepalese workers

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The migrants said they stand solidly behind local workers in fighting for better pay and working conditions, and deplore efforts, “fanned by government inaction” to drive a wedge between them.