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Filipina asylum-seeker jailed nearly 8 years for drug trafficking

Posted on 27 October 2019 No comments

by Vir B. Lumicao

The former helper was sentenced on Oct 25 in the High Court.

A 37-year-old Filipina former domestic helper has been ordered locked up for seven years and eight months by a High Court judge after pleading guilty to a charge of trafficking in dangerous drugs.

Josephine Felizardo showed no emotion as Judge Poon Siu-tung read out his sentence on her on Friday, Oct. 25.

Felizardo a mother of four who was on recognizance, appeared in court with Charlotte Marie Borrill, a British-Indonesian woman aged 20, on related charges.

Felizardo was charged with drug trafficking following her arrest in a police search on a residential unit at 119 Shanghai St in Yaumatei on Apr 28 last year.

Borrill, as the registered occupant of the flat, was also arrested and charged for allowing the premises to be used for drug trafficking.

Both pleaded guilty to the charges on separate occasions, but their cases were consolidated when they were transferred to the High Court, the prosecutor said.

Felizardo was arrested at about noon on Apr 28 last year when police armed with a search warrant entered the flat and saw her sit on a bed and put her right hand on a bag which was found to contain 23.09 grams of “ice”, 27.9g of cocaine and 18g of ketamine.

Some 23 grams of "ice" similar to this heap was seized from Felizardo.

The police also found two bottles with traces of drugs and $80,400 cash in a handbag belonging to Felizardo.

Felizardo told the officers Borrill owned the flat and she was just there for the night. She said she did not know two other people seen visiting the unit before the raid.

Borrill told the police her father owned the flat and that he let her stay there for the three months before the raid. She said she knew the two bottles had traces of drugs but that she was not aware narcotics were being trafficked in the unit.

The prosecution said Felizardo was convicted in December 2015 for breach of condition of stay for which she was sentenced to a six-week jail term suspended for three years. She later applied for recognizance.

Her trafficking offense took place while she was on suspended sentence.

In mitigation, the defense lawyer said Felizardo came here to work as a domestic helper in 2014 but was terminated in 2015. She overstayed, was arrested and convicted. She has a husband in the Philippines and four children who are all studying.

Judge Poon gave Felizardo a discount for her guilty plea, and ordered that her six-week sentence for breach of condition to be served concurrently with that for drug trafficking.

At the recommendation of Borrill’s lawyer Kamlesh Sadhawni, the judge postponed the sentencing of Borrill until Nov 1 pending her sentencing on a separate charge of drug possession.

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Manila syndicate behind UK visa scam in HK, court told

Posted on 25 October 2019 No comments

By Vir B. Lumicao

The 2 Filipinas will testify in District Court vs the HK woman accused of working for the visa scam gang

Two Filipinas who have admitted conspiring to use fake documents to apply for a British work visa will testify at the trial of a woman who is allegedly the local connection of the Manila-based syndicate behind the scam.

This is according to prosecutors who said the woman, identified only as Ms Chan,

will be tried in District Court around mid-January.

Due to this development, the sentencing of Criselda Bantasan, 31, and Cristy Par, 47, who both have pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge, was delayed until Mar 3 next year. They were supposed to be sentenced on Oct 24.

The prosecutor told Judge Li Chi-ho that Bantasan and Par provided information that led to the arrest of Chan, who ran an agency in Hong Kong recruiting applicants for purported jobs abroad.

In November last year, Bantasan and Par identified Chan in a video of the alleged Hong Kong link of the Manila syndicate that was behind the visa scam.

Chan was charged in Eastern Court after her arrest. Her case was moved to the District Court this year.

Solicitor Melville Boase, who represented the two Filipinas, told the court in an earlier hearing about the Manila-based syndicate that offers Filipinos here spurious jobs in Britain and supplies them with fake documents to support their applications.

Boase said Bantasan was a victim who had been helping police since day one to identify the syndicate members who conned her.

Judge Li extended the bail of Bantasan and Par until their next hearing on Mar 3. He

also granted Bantasan’s request to change her reporting from the Kwun Tong Police to the Western Police Station in Sai Ying Pun.

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Trial of Pinoy in US$100B fake check scam delayed anew

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Defendant fails to show up for trial for 5th time

A Filipino tourist accused of using a false instrument again failed to appear in the hearing of his case in District Court on Oct 24, reportedly because he was in hospital for treatment of a heart ailment.

It was the fifth time that Celerino L. Tinana failed to show up in court for the start of his scheduled three-day trial, his own lawyer, Andrew Bullett, told Judge K. Kwok.

Bullett, showing to the judge a medical advice from the hospital, said Tinana was expected to stay there for the next two weeks due a heart failure for which “too much medicine has been prescribed.”

He said the hospital had also advised that the defendant, who was arrested in November 2017 for trying to pass off as genuine a check for US$100 billion in Bank of China branch in Kowloon, would remain unfit for trial until Nov 12.

Bullett asked Judge Kwok to fix a new trial date and said the defense will get a detailed medical report on Tinana’s health condition from the hospital. He suggested a Nov 17 starting date.

Prosecutor Kamlesh Sadhwani, obviously impatient at the repeated postponement of the trial, objected and sought a Nov 12-14 trial date.

“I believe he (Tinana) is not really in hospital at this moment,” he said.

The judge, however, scheduled the next hearing for Dec 17 but instructed Bullett to make sure that his client would be present.

Tinana, an Ilocano, was granted bail in an earlier hearing in November 2018 by District Court Judge Eddie Yip. His trial was supposed to start on Nov 14, 2018, but his lawyer said he was sick and in hospital.

On Oct 30, the trial in District Court of elderly Filipino tourist Brudencio Bolaños will resume after it was adjourned on Sept 24 because of the absence of two witnesses, an HSBC forensic expert and a government psychologist.

Bolaños is being tried on a charge of presenting a fake deposit slip for US$943 billion at the HSBC main office in Central in April last year. - Vir B. Lumicao

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Usaping utangan, mas pinalawak pa ng Card HK

Posted on 24 October 2019 No comments

Ni George Manalansan

Image may contain: 13 people, people sitting

Tinuruan ang mga nagsanay na mag-impok para makaiwas sa utang

Nagkaroon ng mas malalim na pagtatalakay tungkol sa problema sa utangan ng mga migranteng manggagawa sa isinagawang financial literarcy workshop ng Card Hong Kong Foundation noong ika-20 ng Oktubre sa Philippine Overseas Labor Office sa Wanchai.

Ito ay matapos lumabas na sa 73 na dumalo sa pagsasanay, 28 lang o halos ikatlong bahagi ang may ipon. Ang ilan ay napagkakasya lang ang kinikita pero mayroon din na nababaon sa patong- patong na pagkakautang sa iba't ibang kadahilanan.

Batay sa kuwento ng mga kalahok ang madalas na ugat ng pagkakautang ay ang biglaang pangangailangan ng pamilya, pagiging iresponsable ng kabiyak na naiwan sa Pilipinas, pagpatol sa mga scam sa kagustuhang kumita ng malaki, pagtitiwala sa bagong kakilala, at marami pang iba.

Ayon kay Cecil Eduarte na trainor sa paksang “debt management,” hindi layon ng talakayan na husgahan ang mga nagkakautang kundi para magtulungan ang lahat sa paghanap ng solusyon sa problemang dulot ng pangungutang.

Tinalakay niya ang iba-ibang klase ng utang (para mapakita ang pagkakaiba ng “good debt” sa “bad debt”), paano i-compute ang interest o tubo sa utang, at kung sino lang sa mga miyembro ng pamilya ang dapat suportahan o sustentuhan.

Kasama sa mga nagsanay si Noemi C., 62, taga Quezon City at dumating sa Hong Kong noong 1996. Inilahad niya kung paano siya nabaon sa utang noon. Taong 1998 nang matangay ng isang illegal recruiter ang Php100,000 na ibinayad niya para makapagtrabaho sa Hong Kong ang kanyang asawa. Noong panahong iyon ay may pinapaaral siya sa high school at kolehiyo, at may isang anak na epileptic na binibilhan niya ng gamot. Ilang beses niyang na “re-loan” ang $40,000 niyang utang kaya inabot ng 2003 ang kanyang pagbabayad.

Sa ngayon ay nakaahon na raw siya, ayon kay Noemi. Mayroon na siyang ipon, may pension pa.

Ang una niyang payo sa mga kapwa manggagawa ay ang maging responsible sa pagbabayad ng utang. Sa edad niya ay maari na siyang bumalik sa Pilipinas pero mabait daw ang kanyang amo kaya nanatili pa siya dito.

Si Catherine A. naman na taga Pasay City ay naloko daw ng isang “kaibigan” na nakilala lang niya sa Hong Kong. Hiniraman siya ng perang pampuhunan at pinangakuan na hahatian sa kita mula sa pagbebenta ng mga bag, sapatos at damit sa online, pero hindi siya binayaran at pati ang kanyang kapital ay tinangay. Sa kaka renew niya ng kanyang loan ay umabot ng apat na taon ang kanyang pagbabayad. Ngunit dahil sa mga natutunan niya sa mula sa Card ay mag-iingat na daw siya at hindi basta-basta magtitiwala lalo na pagdating sap era.

Katakot-takot na pahirap naman ang sinapit ni Airilyn R. ng Bicol, na apat na taon na sa Hong Kong. Wala daw siya talagang ipon dahil tatlo ang anak niyang sinusuportahan, at nalulong pa sa droga ang kanyang asawa.

“Sa una pa lang ay naloko na ako ng nagpasok sa akin sa trabaho. Ginamit niya pangalan ko sa pag lo loan tapos hindi ako binayaran,” ayon sa kanyang salaysay.

Bukod sa anak na patuloy niyang sinusuportahan, nag problema din si Ailyn kamakailan dahil biglang nagpakamatay ang kanyang kapatid, at siya ang gumastos sa pagpapalibing. Ang kanyang payo sa mga kapwa migrante, “huwag gumastos basta-basta para hindi mabaon sa utang”

Image may contain: 2 people, including Edna LolaAktibista Aquino

Card HK founder tells participants to use what they learned to get out of debts

Natuwa naman ang founder ng Card HK na si Edna Aquino sa positibong pagtanggap ng mga dumalo sa pagsasanay. Nangako siya na papataasin pa ang kalidad ng workshop para mas maging kapaki-pakinabang ito sa mga migranteng manggagawa.

Pinayuhan ni Aquino ang mga nabaon sa utang na gamitin ang mga natutunan sa workshop upang bumangon unti-unti.

Ang katatapos na pagsasanay ay siyang pinakahuli ng Card HK para sa taong 2019. Para sa mga workshop sa darating na taon, iminumungkahi sa mga interesado ang mag “like” sa Facebook page ng Card Hong Kong Foundation at abangan ang mga anunsiyo tungkol dito.

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