By Daisy CL Mandap
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| About 1,400 Philippine passports were seized by police during a raid on lending company OFC |
The Consulate has been swamped with requests for new
passports after announcing on Sunday, Jun 23, that it will replace all the travel
documents seized from a lending company raided by the police earlier this month,
but with restrictions.
Previously, all holders of passports lost to money lenders
were issued only one-way travel documents, and were told to apply for a
replacement at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.
According to Consul Paulo Saret, head of the assistance to
nationals section, clients of OFC, from
where 1,400 Philippine passports were seized by the police during a raid on Jun
5, have been coming in droves in a rush to apply for renewal or replacement.
“Ang dami nilang pumupunta, puno lagi ang ATN,” said Saret
in a text message.
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| Consul Saret |
So far, he said around 500 of the passports seized have been
turned over to ATN. But even those whose passports are not yet with them have
been pressing them to issue replacements.
“After receiving guidance from the DFA that all pawned
passports are automatically cancelled, we started processing the application
for renewal (for those whose passports have been turned over to us) or
replacement for lost passport (for those whose passports are not yet with us
but insisting on new passport) after they issue an Affidavit of Undertaking
that for the 1st offense, they will be placed under the DFA
Watchlist, but for the 2nd offense they will be denied issuance of
new passport,” said Saret.
According to ATN officer Danilo Baldon, those who apply for
renewal are required to pay the regular fee of $480 plus $200 for the
affidavit; but those who declare their passports as lost will have to pay
penalties, resulting to a fee of more than $1,000.
The record haul from OFC and the potential loss of job or
other problems that could be faced by their holders prompted the Consulate to
ask for permission from the DFA to process requests for replacements in Hong Kong.
At least two of the borrowers had already been sacked by
their employers for pawning their passports with a lending company, according
to Baldon. They were issued one-way travel documents so they could return to
the Philippines.
Those who needed to renew their working visas were also
issued travel documents pending the release of their new passports. ATN has
been giving them letters attesting to the loss after Immigration officers
reportedly demanded a police report from them before agreeing to process a new
visa.
During a briefing with the OFC borrowers on Jun 23, Baldon emphasized that the borrowers were not going to be let
off easily because their new passports will have the following restrictions:
1) They
will be valid only for 5 years, instead of the usual 10 years;
2) The
holder will not be able to get the cancelled passport back because it will be
sent to the DFA which will put them on a watch list;
3) Those
found to have pawned their passports at least once previously will be issued a
replacement just to allow them to continue with their work, but will not be
allowed to process a new employment contract.
Baldon also advised the 30 or so OFC borrowers who managed
to get their passports back from the police to surrender them either to the
Consulate or the DFA as they are deemed cancelled.
Told that some of them managed to leave Hong
Kong using the redeemed passports, Baldon said they should be
advised that they can no longer use them again. “Huhulihin sila sa airport,” he
warned.
The same practice was enforced with about two similar
incidents in the past, when hundreds of passports were seized by the police
from illegal money lenders in two separate incidents, one in Hung Hom, and
another in North Point.
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| OFC was besieged by borrowers after the raid |
The Police Public Relations Branch disclosed the number of
seized passports from the raid on OFC in response to an emailed query from The SUN earlier this
month.
The police also said a 35-year-old local man was arrested
for “breach of money lenders license
conditions” in an office on 206-210
Des Voeux Road Central.”
According to the police statement, an initial investigation
revealed that the arrested man had offered loans totaling more than $4 million
to more than 1,400 victims, who were asked to surrender their passports and
employment contracts as collateral.
The police, however, did not respond to a query on why at
least 30 of the passports were returned to the holders, instead of turning them
over to the Consulate in line with the standard operational procedure.
The suspect, a man surnamed Wong, part owner of OFC and Cheers
Holding Company Limited, was reportedly released on police bail and required to
report back in mid-July.
The District Crime Squad of the Wan Chai Police Station is
investigating the case.
The arrest was
apparently over the failure of Wong to register the Sheung Wan address in the
license issued to Cheers Holding. Its license shows addresses in Shamshuipo and
Wanchai.
Cheer Holding
also operates Cheers Employment Limited, with which it shares the Wanchai address.
Cheers
Employment recently had its accreditation with the Philippine Overseas Labor
Office suspended after being found to have collected the passports and Hong
Kong ID cards of its recruits from the Philippines, unless they paid
certain fees.
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